The term ‘passion economy’ has been floating around technology ecosystems like Silicon Valley for a few years. Broadly, it represents an economic movement that offers people fresh and flexible ways of making money by building businesses around what they love, as opposed to the ‘gig economy’ that focuses on services workers in commoditised industries like food delivery and taxis. Passion businesses tend to focus on creative or unique services, rely on a range of digital delivery platforms and technology to reach customers, and are often operated by a sole trader. These businesses, especially at the start, are founded by people who run these enterprises in their spare time or as a ‘side hustle’.
As the world emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, many sectors are experiencing a loss of talent, which some are calling the “mass resignation”, as many people leave to work in projects that they feel are more fulfilling or passionate about. Many of these new entrepreneurs are looking to focus their passions on their businesses and not on financial admin tasks.
Passion project, side hustle, full-time or part-time, these new entries into the economic landscape are still businesses which require support from the banking industry, such as dealing with invoices, expenses, taxes, and sometimes payroll. All activities that suck time and resources away from entrepreneurs. As many banks still struggle to support traditional small and medium-sized companies, is the industry ready to offer services to this smaller sized, but fast-growing segment of the corporate market?
