Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are particularly vulnerable to pandemics. Therefore, resilience and adaptation to shocks from pandemics such as COVID-19 are urgently needed. However, despite some coping strategies already in place among SMEs, research on their nature and effectiveness is limited. Thus, it remains unclear how effectively and sustainably documented coping strategies reduce SMEs' vulnerability and increase their resilience to pandemic risk. This article reviews academic literature for evidence of pandemic risk impacts on SMEs, coping strategies in response to these impacts, and the degree to which these strategies reduce SMEs' vulnerability and increase their resilience. According to the literature review, seven essential pandemic risk impacts were identified for SMEs - human movement restrictions, financial constraints, operational challenges, logistics difficulties, delayed business reopening, short-term policy focus and tacit knowledge workers. The study also outlined eleven critical coping strategies, notably structural or physical and behavioural changes. Study analysis reveals that resilience research among SMEs is predominantly conceptual with limited empirical evidence. To conclude, this study urges more adaptation research focused on developing new forms of pandemic risk education for SMEs addressing their complexities.

This study utilized instrumental variable techniques and the Driscoll-Kraay estimator to examine the effect of democracy and natural resources on income inequality using a comprehensive panel dataset from 43 sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The findings from our empirical analysis indicated that natural resources and democracy indices such as electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian drive income inequality in SSA. Regional comparative analysis also showed that the democracy indices increase income inequality in West, Central, and Southern Africa while having a neutral effect on income inequality in Eastern Africa. Natural resources were revealed to reduce income inequality in West and Southern African countries while increasing income inequality in Eastern Africa. In the case of Central Africa, natural resources play an insignificant role in income inequality. The interactive effect analysis indicates that the democracy indices interact with natural resources to increase income inequality in SSA. Finally, the democracy indices interacted with natural resources to drive income inequality in Eastern and Southern African countries while exerting an insignificant effect on income inequality in West and Central African countries. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.