Daniels Ikajevs was prepared when the coronavirus pandemic settled in to the United States.
Ikajevs has a cousin in Italy and by February, had ordered masks, toilet paper and hand santizer for his eco-friendly coworking space, The Ring.
His preparation paid off — and now he wants to give back.
"I see established companies have reserved funds to help with shocks — startups are always cash-strapped," Ikajevs said. "They don't have additional funds. In many cases, it's paycheck-to-paycheck but I want to give them the tools and funds to weather this out."
Ikajevs donated $25,000 to St. Petersburg's Fighting Chance Fund on May 7, a fund created to help businesses and individuals during coronavirus. The emergency grant fund provides $5,000 to eligible businesses and $500 to impacted individuals. Mayor Rick Kriseman stated with the fund's recent widening to include businesses that have been in operation less than a year, the funds will help significantly.
“Daniels Ikajevs has a passion for entrepreneurship," Kriseman said in a statement. "He recognizes the challenges facing our business community, especially those in the nascent stage of their operations. We recently expanded our criteria to include businesses that have been in operation for less than one year and the contribution Daniels has made will help to ensure our funding of those businesses can continue."
Ikajevs is now donating roughly 2,500 masks throughout the Tampa Bay region, with at least 300 of those intended for the startup community.
"I think some of the community leaders have come out strong, but we can always do more and I hope to inspire others to do more," Ikajevs said. " For us, you see restaurant opening up with smaller seating and (customers) are afraid to catch the virus, but we can help win customers back and give a safer environment (with the masks)."
He added this may not be the last effort he does to help coronavirus' impact in the community.
"We don't know where this is going, if there is a second wave, but we are prepared to weather this for awhile," he said. "And to help the startup community if there is a second shock. We haven't exhausted all possibilities, financial-wise or from a maintenance standpoint."
