Re-skilling for post Covid-19 recovery: evidence from minority African and Caribbean micro-business owners in the United Kingdom

The paper is drawn from an ongoing three-year project that seeks to address a critical need for African and Carribean micro and small businesses to innovate and re-skill in response to the disruptions precipitated by Covid-19 pandemic. It focuses on understanding business resilience from the perspective of this an underserved group. Drawing from the mixed embeddedness approach, the paper aggregates evidence and insights from a recent intervention project aimed, within the context of post Covid-19 recovery. The Coronavirus pandemic has had a big disruptive impact on the global economic landscape, with many businesses forced to scale down or shut down activities. Resource constrained, micro enterprises have struggled more, with minority enterprises forced to grapple with the additional institutional and cultural disadvantages associated with positioning as an underserved business community. This paper discusses the outcomes of series of workshop and mentorship sessions aimed at minority entrepreneurs, and how it is shaping their strategy for post covid-19 recovery. Our paper provides unique empirical insights about minority enterprise coping strategies in crisis situations. Therefore, the paper present findings from a number of interventions designed to support African and Caribbean businesses focusing on re-skilling businesses for new opportunity in the COVID 19 in the United Kingdom. The study has implication for practice and policy makers