New Business Opportunities during

the post COVID business recovery

Opol Community College
Poblacion, Opol, Misamis Oreintal
December 7, 2021
Numbers don’t Lie
• As of December 3, 2021 there have been
263,563,622 confirmed cases of COVID-19
worldwide (WHO)
• Including 5,232,562 deaths
• In the Philippines from January 3, 2021 to
December 3, 2021, there have been
2,833,473 confirmed cases of COVID-19
with 48,752 deaths reported to WHO
COVID-19 IMPACT ON MICRO, SMALL,
AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
UNDER THE LOCKDOWN
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB 2020a) estimated that regional
economic growth in developing Asia would decline sharply from
5.1% in 2019 to ‒0.4% in 2020 due to the pandemic’s effects.
• According to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies
(Abrigo et al 2020), the Philippines may suffer economic losses
between P276.3 billion and P2.5 trillion due to the COVID-19
pandemic
• The most affected business sectors will be manufacturing, with
losses between P82.1 billion and P855.2 billion, wholesale and
retail trade, with losses between P93.2 billion and P724.8 billion,
and transport/storage/communication, with losses between
P11.7 billion and P124.3 billion.
Impact on MSME Sales
• The survey found that 59.9% of microenterprises had no sales in
March 2020 due to the temporary closure of business, followed
by small firms (44.8%) and medium-sized firms (35.8%),
suggesting a more serious impact on microenterprises
• MSMEs that operated continuously during the lockdown faced a
significant drop in sales: 27.7% of micro, 43.6% of small, and
41.0% of medium-sized firms experienced a sales decrease of
over 30% in March from February (the month before the
lockdown)
• All three industrial sectors; services, manufacturing, and
agriculture also had no sales immediately after the lockdown
(more than half of MSMEs in each sector)
• However, some MSMEs had a sales increase due to special
demand during the lockdown, such as retail trade offering daily
goods and food.
The Best Business Ideas to Launch After
Lockdown
1. Online Services
• Now that more of us have learned about the joys of online
streaming and other services, there’s no turning back for this
trend. 
• One area that’s seen a huge boost during lockdown is
webinars
• If you’re an expert in your field, webinars and online
tutoring are fantastic examples of how you can use your
existing skills to start an online services business during and
after lockdown
2. Garden & Landscape Business
• We’ve been spending loads of time in our gardens over the
past couple of months, and with only 7% of people making
plans to go out on ‘Super Saturday’ when pubs and
restaurants re-opened, gardens and other spacious outdoor
areas are going to be an important place for all of us.
• Gardening and landscaping businesses are set to boom, and
if you’re already a dab hand, you won’t need to invest in
training right away.
• To get started, make sure to hand out plenty of 
business cards to friends and family, as word of mouth
marketing is one of best methods for attracting people to
your new gardening business.
3. Food & Drink Delivery Business
• From brownie delivery businesses to cocktails on the go,
there’s been a huge rise in demand for food and drink
delivery businesses, which is a great starting point for your
business before venturing into running a café, bar or bakery. 
• Remember to use custom stickers with your logo on to brand
your packaging so everyone knows it’s from you! Extra
brownie points (anyone else craving brownies?) if you
include a thank you postcard with your social media handle
on there to encourage repeat purchases.
 
4. Crafting & Gifts
• With high street retailers having to close their doors during
lockdown, many have discovered the wonders of buying
personalized gifts online.
• From isolation gifts to help friends and family with loneliness
to lockdown birthday surprises, the online gift market is
booming in the past few months.
• If there’s something you’ve always wanted to try your hand at
making, be that crochet patterns, printed mugs, or even card
designs, now’s the perfect time to sell your creations.
• If you’re not as gifted in the crafting area, create hampers
using things everyone loves – such as bath bombs, scented
wax melts, chocolate, tea and coffee.
5. Online Freelance Work
• If you’ve recently gone from office work to working from
home, you might be finding yourself being more productive
since you have more time and energy for working.
• From writing, editing and design to managing a business’s
social media account, use your most productive hours to
start your own freelancing business.
• The best bit about this kind of service is you can start off by
moonlighting after work and at the weekends, only taking on
as much work as you can handle before progressing to doing
it full time.
• Plus, you choose your own hours, you can get cracking on
your jobs whenever you like.
Conclusion
• The COVID-19 crisis has hurt a lot of businesses, but has also
yielded business opportunities for innovators and
entrepreneurs.
• Most of the opportunities have emerged in the digital
technology sector.
• Small firms can use digital platforms to improve customer
service or sell new products to other firms.