SMALL businesses that have experienced crisis within the past are evidently more concerned about crisis events than people who haven’t experienced crisis (Spillan and Hough, 2003; Mikusova, 2011; Herbane, 2013). Most SMEs typically don’t start crisis-management planning until after an actual catastrophic experience.
In small, open economies such as Guyana, economic policy measures are often limited.

Since the longer term within the context of a dynamic business environment is extremely uncertain, and further deterioration of economic conditions is predicted, economic policies must specialise in a minimum of three basic areas.

These are reduction of uncertainty in the business environment and much of this in Guyana’s context has got to do with the inherent intricacies of the economics; strengthening the basic social network; and preservation of future fiscal power (Bole, 2009).

The labour market is affected the most in every crisis. Therefore, one among the foremost important policy challenges is the way to design and implement measures that are socially sensitive and at the same time economically effective.

In order for SMEs to reply better to crises, they have to acknowledge that the danger is present, and that they must do something about it. In fact, not only should SMEs be proactive, but promoting resilience is also vital.
Secondly, SMEs need to be realistic on what they will plan for and what’s likely possible post-crisis. Researchers contend that in situations where there’s extensive crisis experience, those seeking to reply invariably confront unforeseen situations. It is important for SMEs, when planning for crises, to be mindful that ‘unexpected’ means their plan won’t be realisable, and evaluate what they consider as crucial for the survival of the enterprise after a disaster.

Thirdly, SMEs should conduct a risk assessment to assess the potential impacts of various events on all levels. They should assess the vulnerabilities of an infrastructure towards different types of events, different locations, or different activities.

Fourth, SMEs shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the people factor. The reality is that all employees might not be available after a crisis, and thus it can’t be predicted how employees would react in stressful situations (Dahlberg & Guay, 2015).

Organisations eager to perform well at crisis strategic planning must do the following: be able to pre-plan and yet be fluid enough to adapt to changing circumstances; have leaders who are ready to inspire their people with a way of hope and direction, while also being grounded with realism about things they’re faced with; have an organisational culture that values disciplined planning, whilst fostering a capability to be creative and innovative; plan, and make decisions carefully and in a structured way; yet be responsive and ready to move quickly and boldly; and have teams that are ready to recognise patterns and integrate disparate information so as to form sense of chaotic situations, while being sensitive and aware of subtle changes to the environment as the situation evolves.

Crises often present a nexus of serious risks alongside substantial opportunities. These factors, however, are typically not managed by one coherent set of processes, but rather by two separate disciplines — crisis management and strategic planning. As such, effective crisis strategic management and planning; that’s, the method of surviving the crisis while finding the bright side, involves four key enablers: leadership, culture, deciding and situation awareness. These must be viewed from the perspective of duality involving planning and adaptiveness (Vargo & Seville, 2011).

Effective crisis management of SMEs, researchers suggest, involve proactive business mindsets for sustainable growth and continuous expansions (Hong & Li, 2012).
There is need for creative solutions to administer support for SMEs within the case of Guyana’s COVID-19 response.

The Small Business Bureau, for example, operates a US$5 million revolving fund administered through the commercial banks. This fund can be re-calibrated to support measures to keep SMEs afloat and employees on the payroll.

It should be noted that during the past 10 months, significant work has been done to return the country to some level of normalcy while battling the pandemic.

Government has rolled out the $25,000 relief cash grant programme for households; allocated $750 million to support rolling out of COVID-19 vaccines; $51 million in grants from the Small Business Bureau (SBB); $20 billion in annualised benefits from the 2020 Emergency Budget measures; $60 billion in annualised benefits from 2021 National Budget measures; $80 million in the 2021 budget for the training of women; giving multimillion-dollar COVID-19 relief fund for Amerindian villages; intensified procurement of Personal and Protective Equipment (PPEs) and COVID-19 tests; engaged in countrywide distribution of educational booklets; and ease restrictions on businesses and travel to ‘breathe life’ into the economy and particularly ailing sectors.