The corona pandemic shows us in a very throbbing way how intertwined the private sector, government and the people are. For many companies, in the formal and informal sector, it is pure survival. The numbers might differ from country to country but in the same way as Covid-19 hits us with different strength – from mild flu symptoms to severely sick until fatally ill – the corona pandemic hits the companies in different ways. Some are just struggling a bit but will survive whereas others are severely challenged and might not make it another few months until a vaccine is available. A smaller percentage, e.g. logistics and e-learning platforms, are even getting stronger during this crisis.

In the last six months quite a number of resources have been made available. They reach from providing information on what to do when such crisis hits your company to the development of new toolkits, platforms, alliances or providing access to financial and technical support. No one had a plan at the beginning of the crisis as there is no blueprint for such a worldwide catastrophe. Besides compassion and innovations, it became quite clear that the most needed component and key to overcome this crisis is collaboration. No one can go through this alone. The disruptive force of Covid-19 unites us at the same time globally in an almost enigmatic way. Or at least in a way that nobody would have thought of one year ago.

Building-back-better with more green and inclusive growth requires disruptive collaboration and partnerships and disruptive new frameworks and regulations. Inclusive businesses have shown that they are better equipped to deal with such crisis but much more needs to be done. While and after building-back we need frameworks and businesses that are better equipped to address such external shocks. New ways of collaboration between companies and governments are needed. We cannot expect that we will be innovative enough when we work together with the same partners as before and follow the same frameworks and regulations. This counts for the private sector but even much more for the public sector and other stakeholders of the Inclusive Business ecosystem. If this crisis teaches us that we can survive only when we collaborate and work together then we have also a new chance to grow together afterwards and become even stronger and more resilient than before the crisis. As a down-to-earth optimist I believe it is possible.