Finding Opportunities Amid Pandemic: TS Darbari
TS Darbari says that there is a famous saying that necessity is the mother of invention. Though COVID19 has brought distress and agony, we have not to dishearten in this battle against virus and life. TS Darbari says that only light can drive out darkness, therefore, we must light the candles instead of disheartening ourselves. The coronavirus pandemic has a lot of dark sides. Around the world, people get ill and die, schools close, the healthcare system is overloaded, employees lose their jobs, companies face bankruptcy, stock markets collapse and countries have to spend billions on bailouts and medical aid. And for everyone, whether directly hurt or not, Covid-19 is a huge stressor shaking up our psyche, triggering our fears and uncertainties.
TS Darbari further adds that no matter how serious and sad all of this is, there are upsides as well. Therefore, TS Darbari suggests that let’s make the best of what the crisis gives us. This opportunity does not make huge profits by benefitting your companies through those who are hurt by the pandemic rather it si an opportunity to find new opportunities with an objective to serve the society and benefit the people along with setting up a business that will establish yourself as an entrepreneur. For example, those who started manufacturing PPA kits and made India from an importer to an exporter of kits. Other one is the invention and manufacturing of COVID19 vaccine by Indian Pharmaceutical companies. These both are perfect examples of grabbing the opportunity along with an objective to benefit the society. PPE kits and Vaccines produced in India are far cheaper than any PPE kit or vaccine produced by any other company across the globe. There are numerous such examples set by common men across the globe.
With opportunities, TS Darbari also means general opportunities that are available for most people affected by the crisis. The current crisis offers at least seven of them:
Here is the list of opportunities suggested by TS Darbari:
More Time to Think & Re-Discover Yourself:
TS Darbari says that we should not only follow the guidelines issued by the government but also utilize this time to re-discover ourselves. Covid-19 shows why: because we have stacked our week with social gatherings and entertainment such as going to the theater, birthdays, cinema, restaurant, bar, sportclub, gym, music, festivals, concerts and what is more. Suddenly, all of that is cancelled or forbidden, giving us significant amounts of extra time. And still, life goes on. This shows us how easy it is to clear our calendars.
Start doing Yoga, meditation and learning the skills that will enhance your career. The fact that the coronavirus disrupts our day-t0-day lives provides an opportunity to reflect on things and to reconsider what we do, how we do it and why we do it. Things we took for granted — like going to the gym — are suddenly not possible anymore. Furthermore, many people have had to change their mode of working and work from home instead of at the office. This means that a lot of our routines are interrupted. This offers a great opportunity to rethink our habits and routines and make changes.
Opportunity for Invention:
Many organizations suffer from slow procedures, complex bureaucracies and rigid hierarchies making organizational life less than pleasant. The coronavirus has forced many of them to break through these rigid systems and act instantly. Suddenly procedures can be skipped or accelerated, rules can be side-tracked and decisions can be made more autonomously without formal approval. And suddenly employees are allowed to work from home without direct supervision which proves that there were lot of processes and procedures that can be avoided. This leads to remarkable innovations. Not being allowed to open their doors, restaurants, for example, are shifting to delivery mode. And schools suddenly do much of the teaching and even some of the testing online. This brings the opportunity to create innovations now that can be maintained after the crisis. And it also can help to keep the current speed and innovation mode afterwards.
Reconnect and Build Relationship
Challenging times offer a great opportunity for social bonding and other ways of connecting to and helping people. Of course, not being able to visit friends or family has increased isolation and feelings of loneliness in some cases. But the feeling of “we’re in this together” has also triggered interesting ways of connecting.
Online Entertainment and Services
In such a situation when gathering at social places is prohibited or should not be allowed, we can find ways to provide the entertainment and necessary services online. TS Darbari says that youth can analyse and find ways to avail these opportunities to start their own business with an objective to serve the society. TS Darbari says that undoubtedly goal of the business is to earn profit but we must not forget that originally, the goal of the business was to provide support and service to mankind. We must not indulge ourselves into the rat race of earning profits because businesses with trust among the people serve in the long term and the businesses established only for the sake of earning profits at any cost run towards their doom at supersonic speed.
Apart from this, utilizing the time to restructure the business models and reinvent the processes and procedure will help the companies and entrepreneurs endure this unprecedented situation.
