ENTREPRENEURIAL PEOPLE IN PANDEMIC by Grażyna Pilarczyk | g.pilarczyk@gdynia.pl
Gdynia inhabitants are known to be entrepreneurial and able to cope with temporary difficulties. Even now, with the pandemic still ongoing, more companies are established than closed. Economic statistics give grounds for cautious optimism.
tant. We have also launched free professional consulting services on a large scale. We helped not only to navigate through complicated government aid applications, but also in a wide scope of law, taxes, finances and development of business’, says Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychala.
According to statistics, inhabitants of Gdynia are eager to set up companies. We can observe an upward trend: more companies are being entered in the register than removed. The specificity of Gdynia market is the prevalence of small, local companies, employing up to 9 people (97 % of all entities).
Different sectors working together to defeat the crisis
‘At the end of September 2020, there were over 42,000 companies in Gdynia. More than 1,100 new companies have been opened, while less than 500 have been closed since April. This upward trend has continued for many years’. Another positive phenomenon is the fact that Gdynia has not experienced a dramatic wave of unemployment. In July 2020 the unemployment rate in Gdynia amounted to 3.1 % and was nearly 50 % lower than in Poland (6.1 %) or in the Pomeranian Voivodeship (5.5 %)’, says Deputy Mayor for economy Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała.
The Economic and Social Council for Adaptation to Life after Pandemic, composed of scientists, businessmen and third sector representatives, also operates in Gdynia. Together with authorities, the Council analyses economic situation and implements measures to limit the crisis. It has, among others, conducted a survey on how the pandemic affected the business. The results helped to prepare optimum forms of support, but also to diagnose companies’ situation. The results of independent rankings also prove that Gdynia is doing well despite difficult time. In this year’s Emerging Europe ranking Gdynia took fifth place in the “Quality of life” category.
Shelters for business Already on March 18, Gdynia announced help for entrepreneurs, consisting mainly of deferral or partial cancellation of local payments. Immediately after, different support programmes called “Gdynia storm shelters” were launched. The first one, “Storm shelter for Business”, provided support schemes for entrepreneurs. 265 entrepreneurs benefited from various kinds of exemptions and deferrals of payments proposed under the programme (as of the end of August 2020). ‘Many of them considered closing the business and dismissing employees already in the first days of the lockdown. That is why helping this group of inhabitants was so impor7
