The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way small businesses operate. Many businesses have been forced to anticipate reductions in demand, employee health concerns or disruptions in their supply chain. In Denmark, many small businesses and companies have had to overhaul and rethink, in record time, in order to keep their business running.

Thankfully, the ‘Kompas - Northern Jutland competence boost’ project is working to help companies in the North Jutland region through this difficult transition. With support from the European Social Fund (ESF), the project assists companies experiencing new needs and challenges due to COVID-19 by offering skills development and masterclasses.

Run by Danish entrepreneur Dorthe Klitgaard, DearBaby made toy boxes for children on a subscription basis during the pandemic. Due to a very high demand, a deluge of product orders almost brought her company to its knees.

‘I tried to handle over 100 customers on my phone and MacBook,’ she says. ‘It didn't go well – customers got the wrong items, and we spent an incredible amount of time on manual order handling.’

Dorthe decided to enlist the help of ‘Kompas’ experts, who digitised and professionalised DearBaby’s customer records and order management. This change has had a profound effect on how Dorthe’s company operates, and the business is now far better equipped to scale its digital operations.

‘This means that today we spend far less time not least on the return process, and we use that time instead on developing the toy boxes,’ she explains.

The project provides expert advice to help companies adapt to the digitalisation of operations, contribute to solving their strategic challenges as well as helping them make the kinds of changes needed in order to thrive in the COVID-19 and post COVID times. Project manager Ulla Møller Jakobsen sums up how the project has helped her:

‘Seen from our eyes, ‘Kompas’ has been a success because we have reached many companies for which there are not many other business promotion offers.’

The project has become quite popular – around 140 companies and several hundred employees have sought out, signed up or already received ‘Kompas’ expertise for a competence boost. Courses have been in such demand that there are now waiting lists for the remaining ones. Thanks to ‘Kompas’, companies are thriving by adapting to the challenges and changes in doing business imposed by the pandemic.

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