The economy has been one of the aspects most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and launching new business ideas is for many the option to cope with this situation. According to the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, more than 10,000 companies were created during the quarantine alone.
“Entrepreneurship implies being constant, having discipline and understanding that, just as there are good days, there are also days where we lose all hope”. These words are said by Nicolás Camacho, a 36-year-old man who loves airplanes and cooking. The same words that have not been out of his head during the last ten months, the time that the coronavirus pandemic has been in Colombia and the same one that has remained at home as part of an unpaid leave that he was given at the airline for the who has been working since 2012. He is a pilot.
He is part of the high percentage of personnel who were sent home by the airlines as a measure to suspend flights due to border closures. “Starting in March, when the pandemic hit Colombia, they sent a large group of employees on unpaid leave. When I stopped at work I was on flights to Europe, on large planes. If it hadn’t been for the coronavirus, at this time, I would be in the transition from being promoted to commander of smaller planes, ”says Nicolás. The pandemic slowed his rise, completely stopped his professional life.
After the coronavirus entered Colombia, the labor sector began to feel the effects, the quarantine, the closure of companies and the economic crisis caused the increase in unemployment figures. According to DANE, April and May are two months that reflect the strongest stage of home confinement and quarantine for the productive apparatus. While in April the unemployment rate was 19.8%, in May it was 21.4%.
For Daniel Oviedo, director of DANE, 43.5% of the unemployed registered in the labor market in May, that is, 4’694,000, lost their jobs due to the pandemic. By age ranges, Colombians between the ages of 25 and 54 were the most affected in terms of unemployment, particularly women. “The gender gaps in this area are still significant with respect to the historical average,” says Oviedo.
“But crises can be opportunities”, this has been the motto for many during the pandemic, and Nicolás is one of them. The first months at home served to share with his wife and son, to whom because of his work as a pilot he could not dedicate so much time, “but as the days went by I despaired, I am a person who is used to working, to being in movement, so, in the company of a friend, I decided to give life to a hamburger that I had thought of for some time ”. He gave life to Bieri Good Burger, a fast food startup.
“My passion for cooking was born in Europe, I was 18 years old, my mother is a Swiss national, so I lived in this country, I was part of the Swiss army, where for more than two months I had a role in the kitchen. That was when my taste for cooking opened up. I was working in Switzerland for almost two years in the kitchen, then I traveled to Spain to study gastronomy and put all my skills into practice ”, explains Camacho.
Follow the news of El Espectador on Google NewsUpon his arrival in Colombia, he decided to work at the restaurant Te encantaré, where for six months he learned more about this cooking practice. “Then I decided to set up, in the company of a partner, a kitchen called El taller de la pasta, where we gave cooking classes. Unfortunately, this project only lasted a year and a half. I definitely detached myself from the subject of cooking and decided to follow my second passion: aviation, a passion that was born to me by my father, who was a pilot for more than 30 years ”. His training was received in the United States.
But in May 2020 the passion for this art of cooking returned to his mind, which, beyond a taste, was a necessity. With the help of his wife, he managed to set up a hidden kitchen in his apartment, where at first he sold one or two hamburgers a day. “I bought some plates and started the project. At first I was selling to my friends, my cousins, friends of my friends. I started with eight hamburgers sold per week, the following month I closed with 200 per week, ”says Nicolás.
For him the key was to remain calm, to understand that undertaking required discipline and perseverance, since he was not always able to sell, there were days when he spent clean. “A month ago, in November, we decided to open the kitchen in Usaquén, with a terrace so that people can more easily find Biere Good Burger”. He currently has three collaborators, a family that from the beginning was working with him in the delivery of homes and who had lost their job due to the pandemic.
“Lucho is the one who is 100% in the kitchen, he learned the recipe for hamburgers and it is as if I was cooking. Luz Dary, Lucho’s wife, is the administrator of the place, and Camilo, their son, is the domiciliary ”, explains Nicolás, who has recognized the importance of entrepreneurship in society, since they only benefit those who are rudder, but also those who manage to ride the boat.
For Camila Salamanca, executive director of Endeavor, microenterprises or entrepreneurships are a relevant source of job creation, especially for young people, recent graduates and people with difficult employability. In addition, they are attractors of foreign investment to the country that might not otherwise arrive. In general, ventures allow to boost economies and generate employment. Entrepreneurs, for their part, are people who generally want to turn this society around and motivate other people to undertake as well ”.
In figures from the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce (CCB), during the quarantine, in the Colombian capital and some territories of Cundinamarca registered with the entity, the number of companies created amounted to 10,201, of which 10,106 are micro, 76 small, 11 medium and 8 large. For its part, the Colombian Confederation of Chambers of Commerce (Confecámaras) ensures that 84,724 companies were born between July and September 2020, 2.9% more than a year ago.
Economic experts say that, although entrepreneurship is not for everyone, it is the best way to survive the crises the world is facing.
