Canadian Businesses That Are Thriving During Covid-19

There is no doubt that the pandemic has turned the Canada's economy upside down.

From the most established and top Inc 500 companies, to mom and pop stores Canada wide, everyone is struggling. In most cases, in a very negative way. Some are getting multiple e transfer payday loans just to get by.

Every single business and individual has been effected by this Covid-19 “plague” and that is just the reality.

That said, there has been some tremendous amount of innovation during this period. Making many people first time millionaires. Or at the very least, keeping things afloat. 

Let’s have a look at who took this Covid-19 “lemon” and started making lemonade out of it.

Face Mask Providers

This was the first product that came out of the pandemic. Although wearing face masks is kind of a normal thing in most east asian countries, when the whole world was forced to wear it, the supply just wasn’t there.
 

After all, no one ever thought that one day, the entire world will need face masks . . . and practically all at the same time.

This forced many clothing manufacturers (People who once sold clothing, apparel, etc), to pivot and start making face masks. 

Since they already had textile manufacturing equipment, with a little ingenuity and hard work, these manufacturers found a way to solve a massive and sudden issue in the marketplace. Which led to making tremendous amount of coin in the process.

Since the demand is so high, there are now several providers of face masks in each city. Best part, they are all super busy. Some face mask manufactures have even added their own style to the product by creating custom face masks. With textual messages and different colours, etc.

Manufacturing face masks is a perfect example of using what you have been given, and creating something amazing out of it.

PPE Makers

After the introduction of face masks, PPE equipment was naturally the next step. PPE is an abbreviation by the way and it stands for Personal Protection Equipment.

Like face masks, PPE was introduced out of necessity. This time, we needed equipment to protect our hospital personnel and pretty much anyone who was serving the public.

Soon things like face shields, hand sanitizers, dispensers designed for hand sanitizers were being produced like never before.

So naturally, when the demand skyrocketed for these daily essentials, companies there were involved with manufacturing, or 3d printing, suddenly switched gears and started making PPE equipment like their life depended on it. Which if you think about it, it kind of did. Both for the makers and the people who need them. A win-win situation.

In fact, the city of Surrey in British Columbia even had a dedicated program for this called “Surrey Makes PPE”. An industry leading program strictly designed (Different than short term loans) to help qualified businesses produce PPE equipment.

This program alone has helped business earn millions in profits while helping British Columbians and Canadians country wide. Especially the ones on the frontlines.

Although these products were already in the market, local Canadian companies jumped on the chance to help fulfill this incredible demand. Best part, they are generating amazing revenue while doing something that’s truly noble.

Now this is all great and all but has there been any new innovations during this “strange” time as well?

Or the real winners are people who are simply producing more of what was already there?

Well, reality is there has been tons of new product and service that have gone to market during Covid times.

Everyday people, just like you, are doing tremendous things which are not only bringing much needed joy to their local communities, but also creating some wonderful inventions along the way. 

Especially the Canadian youth.

Let's have a look . . .

GrocerCheck

Take Brian Chen and Andy Liang as an example. When the first lockdown was on the way, everybody panicked and rushed to the grocery stores. Hoarding became a massive issue along with long line ups at the grocery stores.

Despite such a confusing time, Brian and Andy saw an opportunity. They came up with an app called GrocerCheck that helped people know in advance when a certain grocery store had a massive line up or not. 

This helped many Canadians buy groceries at a specific time that worked just right for them. Eventually, the lineups became less busy for all as people started timing their grocery buying. This app helped tons of people especially seniors. As they are the most vulnerable to this virus.

Thanks to GrocerCheck, seniors could now see when the least number of people were in a line up. This allowed them to quickly go and get whatever they needed and continue surviving.

The GrocerCheck app has been downloaded well over 100,000 times and guess what? It made these two high schoolers real software developers in the process. 

Helping people and learning a powerful skill? That is just amazing.

Food Delivery

Covid-19 pretty much delivered a knockout blow to the restaurant industry. Many Canadian restaurants are on the verge of closing and even more have already completely disappeared.

However, a few restaurant owners decided to not give up and pivot instead.

Instead of throwing the towel and shutting down, some restaurant owners in Canada came up with the concept of cooking people’s food but instead getting them to dine-in, they started offering roadside-pickup or home delivery through food apps. 

Although it’s not the same as it was before, local restaurants are still holding strong.

Which is a great thing.

Some restaurants have taken things a step further and are now offering complete meal deals and other services to make sure there is food on their table as well.

Zoom Personal Workout Businesses

Now one of the companies that is benefiting immensely from the pandemic (We are sure it’s not what they intended to do), is Zoom (Zoom Video Communications).

Zoom is a company that provides face to face chat services. They have literally become the knight in shining armour for millions of self employed personnel and entrepreneurs. 

Embraced by businesses and individuals, the Zoom platform has inspired many people to use this technology to their advantage.

One group who has done this in a phenomenal way are fitness trainers. Especially private fitness trainers. 

Before the pandemic, they use to offer in-house or personal 1 on 1 classes. Whether it be Yoga, general fitness, or other similar services.

Thanks to Zoom, this group is now offering the exact same services but online. Best part, they are protecting themselves and others while continuing their respective health and medical practices.

Anyways, this is just a little sample of Canadian businesses and people who are doing great things to improve their financial situation during Covid times.

One thing is for sure . . . when the going gets tough, Canadians get going.