The Journey of a Mompreneur during Covid - part 1

2020 was a year that changed the entire world as we knew it. Covid came and destroyed businesses within a year. As an entrepreneur, the loss of losing a business that you have poured your time, blood, sweat, and tears into is devastating. Covid forced companies to change how they operate and owners were forced to change their leadership styles if they wanted to survive this pandemic. This was the same for Arra. Every day I was amazed by the stories I heard about how women were changing their businesses to adapt to Covid. Many women entrepreneurs have had to completely restructure their businesses to be able to survive, especially since governments in many low- and middle-income countries have not provided financial compensation for the loss of income due to the pandemic. While many women entrepreneurs are unfortunately struggling to survive, we also learned that more women have to become entrepreneurs due to the necessity created by the pandemic. The biggest change I had to make during Covid was my leadership style. We have the opportunity to objectively assess the current state of our leadership and apply new behaviors that we already know are most effective. I don't know what will happen next but I'm convinced that outdated methods of leadership will not work in this new world. There's no getting around the harsh truth that leadership is not where it should be in this pandemic. As we've been reminded on every flight we take, in an emergency, you have to take care of yourself so you can take care of others, so does organizational leadership in times of crisis. My leadership style may have served me well so far, but I knew I needed to revisit and adapt to this extraordinary and unprecedented crisis. To that end, developing the flexibility to address challenges, the agility to address them with ease, and the empathy to help others overcome rapidly changing realities are essential tools I had to develop within myself. Leading teams in a crisis like COVID-19 requires faster decision-making and faster change. As a mother and a woman entrepreneur, I have always aimed to be a role model. To show compassion, to show empathy and to support those in need. A Mompreneur must wear multiple hats, for their family and their business. My business hat focused on new ideas and keeping up with the new trends. The designer hat to always have a fresh perspective and come up with new designs which can be worn by women around the globe to represent who they are through what they wear. And during Covid, the Covid hat - to be able to continue to give work to help sustain the artisans and their families. Empathy and compassion but on a much larger scale and giving back to the community more consciously. We would love to hear your thoughts and your experiences while either working or managing your own business!