Courageous doers: the future belongs to them

The Corona crisis had little impact on the number of new companies founded in the first quarter of 2020. The still high number of new companies gives confidence for the future - courageous doers are now in demand. Nevertheless, a decline in the number of start-ups is to be expected in the second quarter of 2020, which will be due to the global consequences of the coronavirus. Start-ups often take several weeks, which is why there are currently few meaningful facts available, according to the IFJ Institut für Jungunternehmen.

February 2020: the month with the highest number of start-ups in a multi-year comparison

The analysis of the first quarter of 2020 by the IFJ Institut für Jungunternehmen shows that January 2020 recorded a high number of start-ups with 3,701. With a difference of -1.8%, the peak value of January 2019 was only just missed. February 2020 registered a record multi-year monthly comparison with 3,939 new startups. This represents a year-over-year increase of 1.8%. The month of March is marked by the global impact of the coronavirus and the lockdown in numerous countries, including Switzerland since March 17, 2020. On the side of company formations, however, it can be noted that despite the adverse circumstances, 3,718 new companies were founded in Switzerland. This corresponds to a decrease of -6.1% compared to the previous year 2019 with 3,958 new company formations.

Start-ups by industry

In terms of company formations by sector, the IFJ analysis shows strong increases in the first quarter of 2020 in the architecture & engineering and marketing & communications sectors (+14% each), consulting (+7%) and private & business services (+4%). More new firms were also founded in the Craft Trades and Culture & Nonprofit sectors (+1% each). Fewer companies were founded in the first three months of 2020, particularly in the high-tech (-26%), wholesale (-15%), real estate (-13%), IT & ICT (-10%) and mobility (-10%) sectors.

Courageous doers interviewed

The lockdown, which was decided by the Federal Council on March 16, 2020, is hitting the hairdressing industry hard. This also applies to Daniela Luchetti and Severina Brägger, who started their own business six months ago with Coiffeur Blum GmbH in St. Gallen. They have been working together as a team for over 15 years and do their best to ensure that every customer leaves the salon satisfied and with a smile.

How does the current situation affect your business?
Of course, we also have to make our contribution to the current situation and accordingly had to close our salon due to the issued BAG regulations from 17.03.2020 for our customers. This means that almost all of our income has been lost from one day to the next, while our cost base remains almost unchanged. On the revenue side, we are left only with the online sale of individual hair products. On the cost side, we cannot declare short-time work, as we are both self-employed and have no salaried employees. What remains for us is to apply for compensation of max. 196 francs per day each.

How do you ensure funding?
These are the three different measures we have taken:

1. Since we opened our doors 6 months ago and business has been positive from the beginning, we were able to build up certain reserves.
2. On the cost side, we are trying to keep running costs to a minimum and delay payment of current invoices due to the new guidelines.
3. New revenue streams: Via Instagram, we advertise to our customers which hair products they can use to care for themselves at home. This allows us to generate new sources of income through the online sale of hair products and at least a little mitigate the shortfall. In addition, we also use this way to deliver small tokens of appreciation such as our famous banana bread to customers. This also allows us to strengthen and intensify individual customer relationships.

How satisfied are you with the measures that the Federal Council has decided to take?
For us, this depends heavily on the ongoing request regarding daily allowances from the AHV compensation fund. If we receive these at the maximum amount of 196 francs per person per day, this helps us enormously. Of course, we will never be able to cover all our losses with this amount, but we will be able to ensure our basic salary and the minimum required liquidity in the company. With this help, we are also not forced to make use of the loans offered by the federal government. If these funds are disbursed quickly as planned, we are very happy about this support and thus also very satisfied with the measures taken by the federal government.

Source: IFJ Institute for Young Enterprises