Author(s): Rajesh Sannegadu
The Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak continues to affect negatively the global economy, industries and corporations. In many countries, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are severely hit by the pandemic as they are not prepared to face the unimagined and unprecedented changes in the global economic activities. This situation is more daunting for SMEs in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) who are resource constrained in overcoming the pandemic challenges. Therefore, SMEs should be supported to ensure their survival in this completely new and disruptive business climate. Against this backdrop, this paper aims at suggesting ways to help SMEs overcome local and international challenges in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The suggestions are drawn from existing body of knowledge on the challenges faced by SMEs during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the policies implemented by governments to tackle this unprecedented situation as well as recommendations made by international institutions such as the Organisation for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) to overcome the COVID-19 challenges. These suggestions represent useful inputs for policy makers in their ongoing consideration of policy development and program improvement for assisting SMEs to overcome the COVID-19 challenges. Building resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic will help in safeguarding, protecting and sustaining the visibility of SME in 2020 and beyond.