#WayForward with Frederike Asael, Managing Partner Impact Hub Bern, Switzerland

In the #WayForward series, CEOs tell us what’s on their mind in coronavirus times. Read how Frederike Asael, Managing Partner of Impact Hub Bern, sees things.

I’m mostly concerned about our members. Many of them have small businesses and are potentially very vulnerable. Our focus is on helping them as much as we can – by developing alternative forms of delivering their services, making them visible and providing them with information and resources.

We are closed for the public and remain open for members who cannot work from home. Our hosting is reduced to cleaning and disinfecting the space. The weekend after March 13, we developed the strategy for taking our business online and by Wednesday noon, we were functional again. We moved 30 offline events online and created a platform that enables people to host their online events. This means new opportunities for our community to learn, grow and be seen.

My hope is that this becomes a moment of “now or never”. That we reflect on what we stand for individually, as entrepreneurs and as communities. The purpose of work will become more important to many people and there is a huge demand for more value-based and sustainable businesses.

Frederike on their own situation and what shocked her: “Our own business risk is mitigated because we have a diverse portfolio. But for our community, it’s crucial that the small businesses get financial help in unbureaucratic ways so they can rapidly get back on their feet. I was shocked to learn how many companies – small and medium-sized ones among them – have a very little runway. I would like to address this in our network once the worst part of the crisis is over.

#WayForward Table Of Contents: Click here to get to the #WayForward series’ Table of Contents with all the posts we did with CEOs plus recordings of media events where the WayForward insights are discussed.