UNDRR Asia-Pacific COVID-19 Brief: Business Resilience in the Face of COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on businesses across Asia-Pacific. Many are closed while others are struggling to maintain operations while ensuring the safety of their workers. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)- which comprise more than 90% of all businesses in most Asia-Pacific countries- are especially hard hit.  However, businesses that can adapt their operations to the new environment stand a chance of not only surviving the crisis, but emerging leaner and more resilient.

This brief, developed by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, highlights the challenges businesses face in building their resilience and offers recommendations to business owners and policymakers. This brief reflects the interventions and feedback of speakers and participants in the webinar on Business Resilience in the Face of COVID-19, co-organized on April 23, 2020, with the ARISE network and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC).