Table 2.

DIRI survey 2 results on COVID-19 impact on women entrepreneurs.

Responses	N	Count	%
Business preparation:
Cash-on-hand to cover three months or more of payroll and expenses	74	31	41.9
Good access to business support services and crisis guidance	74	20	27.0
Financial reports for YE2019 and YTD2020	74	19	25.7
Up-to-date on account receivables	74	18	24.3
Accounts with lender on SBA lending programme list	74	16	21.6
2020 sales forecast easily adjusted for estimating potential losses	74	16	21.6
Sufficient inventory to support operations for three months	74	13	17.6
Cost-cutting actions taken:
Cutting office expenses	74	34	45.9
Reducing marketing spend	74	32	43.2
Freezing all hiring	74	24	32.4
Reducing salaries/hours	74	19	25.7
Renegotiating vendor contracts	74	18	24.3
Postponing new product launches	74	15	20.3
Postponing R&D investments	74	10	13.5
Deferring lease payments	74	8	10.8
Laying off employees	74	7	9.5
Terminating a lease early	74	4	5.4
Temporary business model adjustments:
Offering virtual office visits	74	15	20.3
Streaming classes or services	74	15	20.3
Marketing/promoting in a different way	74	15	20.3
Offering new products/services	74	9	12.2
Other	74	14	(< 5.0)
Permanent business model adjustments:
Offering new products/services	74	30	40.5
Marketing/promoting in a different way	74	25	33.8
Streaming classes or services	74	11	14.9
Offering virtual office visits	74	6	8.1
Other	74	12	(< 5.0)
Business relief programmes applied to:
SBA Emergency Disaster Loan	74	25	33.8
Paycheck Protection Programme	74	30	40.5
Expected time to recovery:
≤ one year	58	25	43.1
> one year	58	20	34.5
Don’t know	58	13	22.4

SBA: Small business administration.

n = 74; 92% USA-based firms; 58% in Finance, Professional Services and Wholesale/Retail Trade; 76.4% with < US$1 million revenue; 21% solopreneurs; 76% with < 50 employees; 49% less than five years; 8% VC-funded and 20% ‘essential services’.