First, it is clear that for all of us at AVP, the wellbeing of the community is our first and foremost objective. Health and safety of our team and all those we interact with is at the forefront of all our concerns and is the driver of all our decisions. We’ll give you a few more details later in this note about the way we are currently operating.
But, this crisis also makes us realize what “living in society” means. Beyond the protection of our team, taking the right decisions also contributes to the safety of all and is a basic act of solidarity. Adopting and encouraging responsible behaviors, while keeping a capacity of judgement, understanding what is at stake and the reasons why responsible behaviors are important is a duty not just of all individuals, but also of all businesses. This is why, at AVP, in every country in which we operate, at a minimum, we comply carefully with the directives of public authorities. Even more, we have chosen to let our team exercise their judgment, but also encouraged them to align with the most prudent guidelines, for instance through a strict confinement policy.
More generally, we are convinced that everyone can and should contribute beyond adopting responsible behaviors, by more direct actions sometimes. For example, as far as we are concerned, we will hold regular open hours for entrepreneurs who need advice or help, we will support our companies that have specific initiatives to support the community in this period, such as K4Connect, Happytal and others, and to have a long-term charitable donation policy, initially focused on helping organizations engaged in the battle against the virus and its effect on communities.
Our global organization allows our entrepreneurs to benefit, during “peace time”, from our global viewpoint. It also allows us now to have first-hand information regarding the evolution of the situation in each market, on different continents, to exchange daily with our local partners, to observe and share how local stakeholders react, as well as how our companies adapt and what the measures they put in place are. More than ever, we are convinced by the strength of our global footprint.
As far as our day to day operations are concerned, we anticipate no particular issues as our platform is managed in a decentralized and virtual manner by design.
And, even if it may be premature to say this, we also think that every crisis is a source of opportunity, the occasion to learn, to reinvent ourselves, and to adapt. It will be absolutely necessary that society as a whole understands what happened and learns the lessons about all this. Our job, as investors, implies that we anticipate and quickly incorporate these lessons.
This crisis should also be a reason to remain humble. While, as investors in technology, we have an immense faith in the benefits of innovation for the society, we must also recognize that our world remains very vulnerable and that, despite the progress in biotechnology, this virus is a real crisis, and despite what Artificial Intelligence and Big Data allows, Nature/God/Destiny (choose what you want) still has a few “Black Swans” for us which are neither modeled, nor predictable. It is a therefore clearly a lesson of humility…
Remaining adaptable and agile in this ever-changing world, being useful to the entrepreneurs that we support and accompany during key moments and contributing to the development of the society in which we live, are essential motivations for us at AVP.
Let’s take care of each other.
Stay safe.
Best regards
The AVP team