Covid's Entrepreneur Explosion

High unemployment, the magnifying power of the web and fresh fintech financing are fueling an eruption of startups not seen in decades. And America will never go back to business as usual.

- Maneet Ahuja

IN THE GRITTY, GRAY CONCRETE LOBBY of Firebrand Collective – a women’s coworking space in Kansas City’s Industrial West Bottoms District – Jackie Nguyen makes lattes laced with cardamom and lychee from her colorful mobile coffee shop. A colossal dragon head covers the shop, Cafe Cà Phê, painted the bold yellow and the red of the South Vietnamese flag, with dashes of bright blue in a nod to the French influence on the country’s food. “And of course, this is Kansas City,” says Nguyen, 32. “They’re the colors of the Chiefs and Royals, too.”

Cafe Cà Phê serves “Hella Good Lattes” and “Saigon” iced coffee to some 200 customers a day. Monthly revenue is roughly $30,000. “It’s been a crazy, amazing ride,” says Nguyen, a first-time entrepreneur. “The only business I knew before this was show business.”

A little over a year ago, Nguyen was an actress who had spent nearly two decades in musical theater. Before the pandemic, she made $90,000 a year on the touring production of Miss Saigon. On March 15, 2020, she performed in Fort Myers, Florida. The next day, the lights went out on Broadway. “I didn’t have a house, car or any significant savings,” Nguyen says. She moved to Kansas City from Long Island City, Queens, investing $10,000 from her scant savings and an additional $13,000 from Kickstarter (it helps to have 4,000 Instagram followers). She’s never going back to the Great White Way. “As an actress, my career was always at the mercy of someone else,” she says. “Now I get to make all my choices and get to be very intentional behind what I choose.”