Are SME's Resilient Against COVID-19?: Evidence in Zambia

COVID-19 affected countries on both health and economic level due to preventive measures imposed and implemented to curb the spread of the virus. Preventive measures included restriction of movements, change of business operation hours and total lockdown that impacted the income generation and performance of businesses just like any other country Zambia WAS also not spared. The study sought to determine SMEs resilience against COVID-19 crisis. It further, looked into the impact of COVID-19 specifically in the tourism sector on SMEs such as bars, hotels & lodges, restaurants and travel agents. The research was carried in Lusaka and Livingstone, which is the tourism capital city of Zambia. With much concentration on the tourism sector, with SMEs such as bars, hotels /lodges, restaurants and travel agents as respondent. A qualitative research method was applied in this study because of its focus on getting a detailed understanding of a situation in assessing the resilience of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) against COVID-19 pandemic in hospitality and tourism sectors. Semi structured interview questions were administered to business owners and workers to assess the impact occasioned by the COVID-19 restrictions, effect on labor and employment, strategies they adopted to resuscitate them businesses when the restrictions were released. All the research respondents stated that they were negatively impacted by COVID-19 pandemic as some companies had to close down due to lack of operating capital; others had to lay off staff to inability to pay salaries, but did not close their business and kept it the running as a going concern. The conclusion was that SME?s are indeed not resilient against COVID-19 as evident by their way in which businesses crumbled, some closed down, some laid off their employees whilst others failed to keep their businesses afloat.