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It wasn’t the first pandemic. Ebola had plagued other parts of the region before. But leaders of a green energy company in West Africa were not expecting it to strike again, at least not in their area. So when a new Ebola outbreak emerged, the company was still focused on growing the sales of its low-cost solar cells to consumers through retail outlets and a partnership with a union serving agricultural workers. Then the pandemic hit its headquarters city and shut off all commerce. The venture’s American founders and its local general manager quickly decided to send employees home for a month-long quarantine with a bonus of a month’s wages in advance, enabling workers to buy what they needed for their families and to stay well.
