In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses, leaving the streets of Athens empty and online businesses emerging.
Since then, student entrepreneurs at the University of Georgia have had to get creative with the ways they run their businesses due to the pandemic. The businesses that have found the most success in the pandemic are those that became comfortable with working online, according to Forbes.
As of February 2021, 10% of small business owners have shut down their businesses and have yet to reopen, and 20% of small businesses were shut down temporarily and have since reopened at limited capacity, according to CNBC. GoDaddy, the market leader of web hosting platforms, has seen a 48% increase in new paying subscribers from February to April 2020.