Upside Out - Renaming Adversity as Possibility Upside Out

Covid_19 has brought a lot of disruptions to our lives and our economy. It has had huge impacts on supply chains and brought massive challenges for companies that rely on global resources. That means that many companies had to slow down production, rethinking their supply chains, turn towards local providers or completely pivot their businesses.

Like many industries, the mobility industry has been heavily impacted by the pandemic. The isolation measures have not made it easy for shared-mobility companies. Next to the movement restrictions that prevented people from needing transportation on a scale as before, the behavioural changes that the virus has brought with itself have also impacted the potential future of mobility. As people are afraid to get infected, sharing vehicles has shown to not be the desired choice.

One company that offers a potentially more favourable alternative is Unu, a Berlin-based company offering a battery-powered, smart electric scooter that you can basically charge from anywhere and can lease on a monthly basis.

Mathieu Caudal the Co-Founder & COO of Unu has been resiliently redefining his company’s new direction and together with his team they’ve been implementing new innovative ways on how to embrace the new normal and build collectively a better future for the mobility industry.

Times are really hard at the moment. But in order for us to thrive in adversity, we must rename uncertainty as possibility.

The tech community has been incredible at showing us how to pivot fast and adapt to these changing times. One of many companies that had to redefine the way they are moving forward is EyeEm - the community and marketplace for photographers and videographers. With more than 20 million creators using the service, EyeEm had to not only think fast about how to support their community but also had to change their internal structure to accommodate remote working, new ways of communicating, to redefine their strategy and to deal with the psychological challenges everyone is facing.

Ramzi Rizk the Co-Founder & CTO of EyeEm has been working relentlessly to make sure they not only focus on keeping the company afloat but to work towards building a strategy that takes him and his team out of this crisis stronger than ever.

Times are really hard at the moment, and they will get harder. We are loosing loved ones, the economy is crumbling down and our mental health is seriously being challenged. But we need to go forward and we will. If anything, history has shown us that going through adversity is the best way to push societies towards a substantial change. We can't control what will happen, but we can control how we react to it and which values we'll embrace.

This is an opportunity to be vulnerable and find courage to redefine the way we live, work, love and achieve our potentials. We are stubborn optimists. And we believe that by looking at the upside of things and breaking out from the external boundaries we have set for ourselves we can find opportunities for something better.

In the transition between old normal and new normal we can all choose to see a possibility of something better and we can see this current crisis as a wake-up call. Maybe the “new normal” will be better after all. At least, for now, this idea can bring us hope.

In order for us to thrive in adversity, we must rename uncertainty as possibility. How exactly, we are unsure as well, so we decided to ask amazing Entrepreneurs, Chefs, Athletes and Artists to inspire us by sharing how they are embracing the upside.

When Jessica was young she dreamed to either build a company, become a fashion designer or become the pope- not because she was religious but just because she found it unfair that women can't attain that position. 

Her ambition led her to pursue Entrepreneurship and fix problems that are close to her heart. While building her first startup she experienced first hand how difficult it was to deal with the traditional banking industry so she decided to join forces with 6 other amazing entrepreneurs and build the fintech company Penta.

They managed to raise more than 35 million euros to build an online banking solution for startups and SMEs. 

In this interview we chat about how the current crisis with Covid 19 is impacting the startup world, what the future of work will look like and the importance of having a strong vision for your company. 

 

Chef Bo Songvisava is the founder and Chef on the incredible restaurant Bo.lan which was selected as one of Asia's best restaurants and awarded a Michelin Star for its impeccable food. 

Realising that traditional Thai food is in danger of dying out, Bo together with her husband Dylan took it upon themselves to save it, so they opened Bo.lan. Bo was presented with the inaugural award for Asia's best female chef and was featured in a great episode on the 5th season of Chef's Table on Netflix. 

And in addition to being a world-renowned Chef, she is also an environmental activist working to fight industrialisation and support small scale farmers. 

She is immensely ambitious and resilient and leads her life through a strong sense of purpose.