NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

It’s hard to believe, but it was just over a year ago that COVID-19 claimed its first life outside of China, marking the start of the virus’ deadly rampage around the world. Since then, the pandemic and its economic fallout have become dominant facts of life in every country, taking a particularly heavy toll on vulnerable communities – and the businesses that serve them.

As an open forum for the development through enterprise sector, NextBillion has been chronicling COVID-19’s impact on emerging markets business since it first began. Our “Enterprise in the Time of Coronavirus” series, launched the week after the WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic, has drawn nearly 100 guest-written articles from entrepreneurs, investors and other thought leaders, exploring both challenges and opportunities emerging from the crisis. Combined with our comprehensive “Coronavirus Resources for the Social Impact Sector” page, this coverage has established NextBillion as a key knowledge platform for impact-focused businesses and investors as they navigate the pandemic’s challenges.

Now, as a vaccine promises to gradually bring an end to this dark period, we anticipate that the conversation around COVID-19 will evolve in the coming year. We expect to see many social businesses and development organizations move from responding to the immediate public health and economic crises, to a longer-term effort to “build back better.” To that end, NextBillion will expand upon our COVID-19 coverage through a new special series called “Recovery 2021.” The series will focus on the social impact sector’s efforts to help communities and businesses recover from the pandemic’s lingering effects, while building their ability to navigate future threats. It will highlight the new challenges and innovative solutions involved in this coming recovery phase, aiming to support enterprises, NGOs and funders as they work to convert this unprecedented crisis into an equally historic opportunity for greater resilience.

We invite you to check back regularly for new content in this series. And if you or your business or organization would like to discuss your own recovery-focused initiatives or share insights related to these efforts, contact our editor to explore potential coverage. NextBillion is also accepting formal sponsors for Recovery 2021 – if you’d like to draw special attention to your own (or your partners’) COVID-19 recovery efforts in the series, reach out to our team to discuss options.