Hope Stories : From Kabul with Love<br /><br />Our small business hero today comes from Kabul, Afghanistan.<br />When lockdown closed their businesses, food sellers adapted their carts into mini disinfection units to tackle the outbreak.<br /><br />“Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, and most of the population cannot afford the sanitising product, which have higher prices,” <br />said Farhad Wajdi, who founded Banu’s Kitchen in 2018.<br />“Our mission is to reach these underprivileged families, <br />these impaired families who cannot afford to buy sanitising products.”<br /><br />But he hopes that eventually things will return to normal and <br />Banu’s Kitchen’s female workers can return to selling food.<br />“We hope to see the end of the coronavirus, so we can <br />convert these disinfecting carts back to the Zero-Carbon food carts.”<br /><br />Moral Of the Story:<br />To survive the Covid pandemic turn your business into an Essential Service.<br /><br />Essential reading:<br />1. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/10/street-snacks-to-sanitiser-the-afghan-women-fighting-coronavirus-in-kabul" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/10/street-snacks-to-sanitiser-the-afghan-women-fighting-coronavirus-in-kabul</a><br />2. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-afghanistan-disinf/solar-powered-food-carts-converted-to-virus-disinfection-vehicles-in-kabul-idUSKCN2260XS" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-afghanistan-disinf/solar-powered-food-carts-converted-to-virus-disinfection-vehicles-in-kabul-idUSKCN2260XS</a><br /><br />Our second story is hard to swallow as well a source of great hope to help small businesses survive the Covid19 pandemic and thrive in the Post Covid business atmosphere.<br /><br />87% of African small businesses fear they may not survive Covid-19 crisis – survey<br />Nairobi, Kenya – Almost 90% of African small businesses fear they may not survive the Covid-19 crisis, and need access to practical tools and support to prevent financial loss, according to a recent survey of entrepreneurs by the African Management Institute (AMI). Of entrepreneurs participating in AMI’s free COVID-19 Business Survival Bootcamps, 87% are worried about surviving the current crisis, while 67% of those surveyed said business has been hit hard since the introduction of social distancing, lockdowns, and curfews on the continent.<br /><br />African Management Institure (AMI) is offering<br />The free virtual Business Survival Bootcamp programme <br />includes:<br />* A 90-minute interactive webinar led by AMI’s expert business facilitators<br />* Online access to two of AMI’s practical tools within the company’s online platform to help implement what entrepreneurs learn in the webinar;<br /> * A Risk Matrix Tool to help business owners generate potential coping strategies<br /> * Cash Flow Projection Tool to help them manage business cash flows<br />* The opportunity to connect with other African entrepreneurs, who are also trying to navigate the challenges of COVID-19<br /><br />Link to the webinar:<br />Businesses and entrepreneurs can register for the webinars on AMI’s website at<br /> <a href="https://www.afri" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.afri</a><br />...<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2MWvfVU8HM" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2MWvfVU8HM</a>