In these tough and trying times, many businesses, big and small, have felt the crumble and are dwindling on their financial as they are hit by the pandemic brought by the COVID-19. Some were forced to shutdown their businesses while others cut-off their manpower. Multi-billion companies are affected too and there’s nothing that they can do to outwit this pandemic that resulted to financial losses for the past half of the year.
Small and medium businesses, especially those who’ve just opened up their business are suffered also, and even with the government’s aid, many of them could not continue their operations because of too much losses.
It’s a welcome gesture that Facebook, through its initiative, is offering cash grants and some ad credits to small business owners to keep up with this challenging times.
Facebook’s small business grants programme will be able for up to 30,000 eligible small businesses in more than 30 countries, and this little financial support can go a long way for them.
To eb eligible for the cash grants, a business should have between 2 to 50 employees and have been operating for over a year. Business owners should certify that they have experienced challenges due to COVID-19 and they are near a location where Facebook operates.
In the Philippines, a *survey released by the Asian Development bank (ADB) showed only 4% out of 100% businesses maintained full operations from March 16 - July 2020. The remaining percentages were either have closed temporarily, reduced their operations, or have operated in half capacity.
In September, some establishments and enterprise are slowly opening again, as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Tourism (DOT) have allowed tourism in many areas that can help in the reopening of gateways for business operations.
The impact of COVID-19 has a domino effect that would break the economy for a very long time unless the government and private sectors work together to find ways to prevent it from happening. A private sector and the government recently launched Ingat Angat Tayong Lahat campaign that will help bring back consumer trust and bring back economy.
Facebook’s programme will be a big help for small and medium businesses to bounce back and keep the financial growth of the economy running.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/business/small-business/grants to find out if your business is eligible and to know more about the cash grants programme.