Facebook Announces $100mn Grant for Small Businesses Disrupted by Coronavirus

Bollywood34

Editor

posted on 4 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

34
views

With coronavirus disrupting economies and livelihood, Facebook has said that its grant will be available to 30,000 small companies across 30 countries.

Facebook on Tuesday announced a 'Small Business Grants Programme', which sets aside a special grant of $100 million for small businesses that are seeing their operations and entire business model disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic. The full details, which are now published on the company's official blog, states that up to 30,000 companies from across 30 countries will be made available this fund, in the form of cash, advertisement credits and more.

The company wrote on its blog, "We know that your business may be experiencing disruptions resulting from the global outbreak of COVID-19. We’ve heard that a little financial support can go a long way, so we are offering $100M in cash grants and ad credits to help during this challenging time." With gross revenue of $70.7 billion in 2019, the $100 million grant will only be a fraction of Facebook's total cash in hand, but may help towards helping small businesses such as tourism, small-scale retail or hyperlocal services keep up with the losses that are certain to be incurred due to coronavirus lockdown protocol being enforced in various countries.

Facebook has mentioned that areas where its grants may help businesses would include continuing payments to workforce, pay rent, cover operations and in future, even connect with more targeted audiences to grow their businesses back in scale. The company has said that it will "share more details as they become available," before adding that applications for receiving Facebook's grants will be opened in the coming weeks.

With the coronavirus pandemic reaching alarming status, many organisations of varying scale have been pushed towards working from home. While some are being put in quarantine, others are being asked to stay away from public spaces in order to prevent chances of contracting the coronavirus. Such times will be trying for local small scale businesses, among others. If you run such a business and are facing similar circumstances, sign up for Facebook's updates on the matter by clicking here.