I talk a lot about how small businesses and their survival are key components to community resilience. It can be from just tax purposes (which help pay for municipal services) or drawing residents to a town. It can also be from just being open after a disaster has hit and all people want is something resembling normal.
Well I have a doozy of an example of this concept in action for you!
In the Ukraine, yes, that Ukraine that has been engulfed in a war with Russia for over 2 years, there is a nail salon in Kyiv that is open and serving the community despite air raids and power outages. Why?
War has an emotional toll. Getting a manicure allows people to feel purpose and feel something better. Purpose? Yes. It shows Russia that the war has not broken them. It boosts morale. Ukrainian women have adapted to the war by wearing sneakers (to run when air raid sirens go off) or put their hair in updos when there is no power or hot water to style or wash their hair. But they still get their nails done. That makes them feel good. That makes them feel normal.
This is similar to what Jose Andres did in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Being an international Michelin-rated restaurateur, he knew the power of food and the logistics of bringing it to the people. He also founded World Central Kitchen which brings meals to communities that survive disasters. He knew the spirit of the Puerto Rican people would be raised by comfort food. Think discussions over beans and rice and jamon con queso sandwiches…which he helped bring to the survivors through the existing network of mom and pop shops on the island. He immediately started injecting money back into the economy and fed stomachs and souls.
So if you think a newspaper or a cup of coffee or a meal or a manicure are silly little things when recovering from a disaster, they aren’t silly to the staying power of the people. They aren’t silly when they make something feel normal in a very unusual time. They are neither silly nor little. They are the key to community resilience and small businesses are the ones responsible for brining life back.
Investing in small businesses is important, and making sure they survive and thrive is the moral imperative of business continuity.
**This is a picutre of the nail salon in Kyiv written about in the NYT article that inspired this post.
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