Yaneek Page | Options for entertainment entrepreneurs

QUESTION: It has been over a year now since Jamaica locked down all entertainment, and I am at a total loss. From March last year ,it is only four proper events I have done, which was a party and some small weddings. My business is sound-system operations. Normally, I would be booked every weekend, especially November coming right back to summer. I would have even three events on a Friday and Saturday.

I did not get any relief or grant. I have tried everything. I bought screens and equipment so I could do more streaming events. I even try with social media parties but that is not something anyone is willing to pay for. I want to know how much longer you think this will last before the bigger heads free up. I owe so much people right now. My landlord gave me notice, and I will need to move soon because of back rent, and I can’t even pree where to locate to. When will things go back to normal programming?

– Oneil

BUSINESSWISE: You have put to me a question that even the world’s best infectious disease experts have struggled to answer with any assurance or accuracy since 2020. I have no idea when things will go back to normal or even what that new normal will look like in the coming years for many industries, especially in-person entertainment and events.

Your industry, because of its face-to-face human interaction and personal engagement, has been one of the worst affected and hardest to recover from astounding losses in these times.

In May 2020, noted research firm Ampere projected that the entertainment industry would lose out on US$160 billion in growth over the next five years because of the pandemic. Yet even that staggering estimate has been challenged as too conservative by some who believe that the losses are far more substantial.

In fact, for 2020 alone, Australia estimated losses upwards of A$35 billion for business events. This does not include tourism as a whole, just business events. In a desperate attempt to save jobs and breathe life back to the sector, the Australian government deepened efforts with the assembly of high-level think tanks and key industry players and other experts to brainstorm concrete recovery strategies.

Since late 2020, they have upped the ante and invested heavily in promotional campaigns, such as ‘It’s Got To Be Sydney’ and ‘Be the First’, to stimulate growth in events and tourism, respectively, as well as several support programmes for entrepreneurs in the sector. Early indications are that these initiatives are bearing some fruit.

Remember that business events are regarded by some as among the least risky of in-person events, because there interaction is more formal. There is usually less touching, hugging, laughing, drinking, frolicking, and general close contact.

The question now is, will mass vaccines answer your prayers for a restart of in-person entertainment events? Some countries are opening up, yet others are still holding firm to restrictions. Early indications around the world should give you cause to pause as the world’s most vaccinated countries have been reporting worrisome surges in COVID-19 cases. Seychelles, Chile, Bahrain, Maldives, and Uruguay are among countries where most eligible citizens, those aged 18 and under, are now vaccinated, yet they are all trying to control an uptick in COVID-19 infections.

This growing concern and uncertainty is a point I need to underscore so that readers understand the gravity of the situation governments, industries, and entrepreneurs now face. The proposed panacea for this pandemic, a vaccine, which was expected by some experts to have almost immediate impact, ‘ain’t giving what they said it would give’ as the popular saying goes on social media to describe something that was overly hyped by influencers but disappointing when tried or applied by their followers in real life.

This is not to say that vaccines aren’t useful or that they aren’t key to ending the global health, social, and economic crisis we now face. On the contrary. However, the slow and inequitable pace of the roll-out, the unavailability of vaccines in poorer countries juxtaposed against wealthy countries scrambling to donate close-to-expiry-date excess stocks, the proliferation of new variants, lagging vaccine approval for youth, and questions over vaccine efficacy for some widely distributed brands have thrown multiple spokes in the global recovery wheel.

Jamaica and most other countries across the region are terribly affected by the current circumstances, further dimming the recovery prospects for the industry.

The unfortunate reality is that there is no easy solution for in-person events and entertainment. You will likely have to continue to adapt by exploring other markets, other services, partnering with hotels and other industry players along the ‘resilient corridor’ for events, and so on.

Now is also a good time to work closely with the Government and other stakeholders in the events and entertainment sector to arrive at protocols that may support your new business models until the global health crisis abates.

One love!

- Yaneek Page is the programme lead for Market Entry USA, a certified trainer in entrepreneurship, and creator and executive producer of ‘The Innovators’ and ‘Let’s Make Peace’ TV series. yaneek.page@gmail.com