Leadership Creativity in Entrepreneuring People With Special Abilities Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic suppressed Indonesia’s domestic economic growth by 2.97% in the first quarter and 5.32% in the second quarter. In addition, the pandemic has impacted disabled people or people with special abilities. The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic affects the community’s economic sustainability, especially for people with special physical limitations and mental retardation. Leadership creativity in developing the entrepreneurship spirit of people with special abilities is crucial in reducing their economic dependency. This paper portrays the entrepreneurial leadership creativity of a village chief in Indonesia in empowering and enhancing the people with special abilities in his territory. Data were gathered from observation in the actual daily life of the people with special abilities, interviews, and focus group discussions with the village chief and several apparatus. The results show that the village chief provides training, skill guidance, craft innovation, and entrepreneurship development for people with special abilities before and during the pandemic with different approaches. The programs have succeeded in decreasing the number of the poor group by 45.4%, the nearly poor category by 39.7%, and the very poor cohort by 14.0%. The village chief is living evidence of leadership creativity that can overcome the problems faced by the community with all his patience and empathy amidst the Covid-19 pandemic