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Mask-making and entrepreneurial opportunity in the time of COVID-19

ABSTRACT At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, shortages of personal protective equipment in the United States inspired individual makers to produce handmade face masks from home. We conducted a multimethod qualitative study with over 2,000 respondents who engaged in some form of entrepreneurship to fill this essential public health need, which could not be met by large manufacturers early on. Our resulting collective case study presents four mask makers representative of emerging categories: the artisan entrepreneur, the conscripted arts professional, the para-craftivist, and the social entrepreneur. While motivations and distribution approaches varied among our participants, this study has implications for entrepreneurship theory in areas such as entrepreneurship during crises, arts and entrepreneurship, microbusinesses, and social entrepreneurship. Additionally, through the examination of an untapped pool of skilled individuals, mostly women, who had not considered entrepreneurship before the pandemic, this research offers new ground for exploring entrepreneurial readiness in women entrepreneurs.