Online Workshop organized by the Private Sector Development Research Network (PSDRN)
The Private Sector in the Pandemic:
From Impact to Recovery
September 21-22, 2020
The Topic
In July 2020, five months after the coronavirus COVID-19 started to spread globally, the private sector is still facing unforeseen hardship across countries, millions of workers remain unemployed, while trade, investment and financial markets have collapsed. As more enterprise surveys and related research are rolled out, we begin to understand better the different aspects of the crisis. Yet still a lot of policy action and support is taking place in the dark with even less clarity on possible trajectories of recovery.
The objective of this seminar is to highlight new findings on the ongoing impact of the pandemic to the private sector and discuss scenarios about the recovery phase that will follow. The discussion will focus in particular on:
- New findings on heterogeneous impact of pandemic on regions, countries, sectors, types of firms and activities and its evolving patterns.
- Evidence on private sector-led innovations in response to crisis and impacts on entrepreneurship ecosystems.
- Evidence on the effectiveness of response strategies.
- Scenarios of recovery trajectories across regions and sectors.
- Strategies to support recovery and repositioning of the private sector to work better for development.
The workshop will be structured around four sessions in two consecutive days combining presentations and closing with a panel discussion. The workshop will be held online.
Day 1 | September 21, 2020
Time in EST
(Eastern Standard Time) |
Session Description |
|---|
| 8:30 am |
Opening Remarks
by Hans Peter Lankes, Vice President for Economics and Private Sector Development, IFC, World Bank Group
|
| 8:40 am |
Keynote Address: Scaling up Private Sector Solutions for a Resilient Recovery
by Mari Pangestu, Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships, The World Bank
|
| 9:00 am |
Session 1a: Surveys and Analyses of the Impact of COVID-19 on Firms
- Moderator: Alexandros Ragoussis, IFC
15’ presentations with 5’ discussion on each survey:
- Cevat Giray Aksoy and Alexander Plekhanov, EBRD
- Rania Nasir and Matthieu Teachout, IGC
- Patricia Yañez Pagans and Diego Vera, IDB Invest
|
| 10:00 am |
Virtual Coffee Break |
| 10:15 am |
Session 1b: Surveys and Analyses of the Impact of COVID-19 on Firms
- Moderator: Alessandro Maffioli, IDB Invest
15’ presentations with 5’ discussion on each survey:
- Jurgen Vermeulen, FMO
- Jorge Rodriguez Meza, World Bank (Enterprise Surveys)
- Leonardo Iacovone, World Bank (Business Pulse Surveys)
|
| 11:15 am |
Virtual Coffee Break |
| 11:30 am |
Session 2: Panel Discussion – Private Sector-Led Innovations during COVID-19
- Moderator: Paddy Carter, CDC
Panelists:
- Irene Arias, IDB Lab
- Alix Zwane, Global Innovation Fund
- William Sonneborn, IFC
- Bernhard Kowatch, WFP
|
| 12:30 pm |
Closing of the first day |
| |
|
Day 2 | September 22, 2020
Time in EST
(Eastern Standard Time) |
Session Description |
|---|
| 9:30 am |
Session 3: Effectiveness of Private Sector Support Interventions by Governments and DFIs
- Moderator: Neil Gregory, IFC
Five 10’ Interventions followed by 20’ discussion
- Ernesto Lopez-Cordova, World Bank
- Alexandros Ragoussis and Jonathan Timmis, IFC/World Bank
- Mari Tanaka, Hitotsubashi University
- Dirk Willem te Velde, Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
- Prashant Yadav, Center for Global Development (CGD)
|
| 11:15 am |
Virtual Coffee Break |
| 11:30 am |
Panel Discussion: The Development Priorities for Repositioning the Private Sector Tomorrow
- Moderator: Hans Peter Lankes, Vice President for Economics and Private Sector Development, IFC, World Bank Group
Panelists:
- Agathe Demarais, Global Forecasting Director, The Economist Intelligence Unit
- Rachel Glennerster, Chief Economist, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), United Kingdom
- Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
- Carmen Reinhart, Chief Economist, World Bank Group
- Eric Verhoogen, Professor, Columbia University and Research Program Director, International Growth Centre (IGC)
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