Resilience reflects the ability to deal with adverse events through adaptation and flexibility. The Covid-19 crisis affected the lives of individuals, which also reflected in the economy of several countries. In a pandemic context, several businesses had to interrupt their face-to-face activities, as well as adapt to the new normal. Small businesses, in general, are flexible, but tend to suffer from a lack of resources, and small businesses from poor communities also lack institutional resources, including health resources, which makes them more vulnerable in a pandemic. In view of this, this research aims to investigate how small businesses in poor communities were impacted by the Covid-19 crisis, what were their responses to the crisis and how the process of building resilience among entrepreneurs in these businesses occurred. Based on 38 in-depth interviews, this qualitative research, which used the multiple case study method, explores the role of human, social capital and the context in the process of building resilience capacities. The results of the study show that the context and human capital directly influence the responses of small businesses. Those who developed the most responses to the crisis were the ones who suffered most from the impacts, especially in terms of revenue. However few have developed resilience skills to adapt / learn and prepare for future events. Based on the findings, academic and managerial contributions and suggestions for future research were elaborated.