Tag: COVID-19

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen all businesses, save essential services, asking their employees to work from home, in an effort to practice social distancing and lessen the impact of the virus. Remote working is effective on multiple levels.

Recent weeks have seen the local market hit by a triple whammy. Both local and global markets have crashed as the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic begins to be felt resulting in a market sell-off; a rapid decline in oil prices has created a global supply shock. In addition to that, ratings agency Moody’s downgraded South Africa’s credit rating to junk or sub-investment grade.

Read our exclusive cover story titled COVID-19 | HOW TO SURVIVE FROM CRISIS TO CONTINUITY? by Michael Davies, CEO, ContinuitySA, as well a host of other topical management articles written by professionals, consultants and academics in the April/May 2020 edition of BusinessBrief.

An interview with Yasmine Wilson, Associate, Norton Rose Fulbright, and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing the impact of COVID-19 on force majeure clauses in contracts.

The scale of the national COVID-19 lockdown is unprecedented in living memory. The repercussions – personal, professional, national and international – will reverberate for years to come. As entrepreneurs, we need to be making the right decisions for right now to ensure that our businesses and our people’s livelihoods do not become another casualty of the virus. 

It is understandable that business owners feel panicky because of the toll Corona is taking on business income. However, many businesses realise that if they implement wholesale retrenchments they will not only lose valuable skills but will also reduce the buying power of the public. This would then further reduce the business’s ability to earn an income.

Following announcement of the actions taken by government to combat the COVID-19 crisis, many South Africans may be aware of the proposed tax measures that are effective from 1 April 2020.

The scale of the national COVID-19 lockdown is unprecedented in living memory. The repercussions – personal, professional, national and international – will reverberate for years to come. As entrepreneurs, we need to be making the right decisions for right now to ensure that our businesses and our people’s livelihoods do not become another casualty of the virus.

The South African agriculture sector as well as consumer can breathe a sigh of relief following the announcement of a massive fuel price decrease of R1.76/ litre of both the retail price of the 93 ULP and LRP petrol, with the 95 ULP and LRP petrol falling by R1.88/ litre for Gauteng.

At a time when many small businesses in South Africa are already struggling as a result of the recession, the global COVID-19 crisis is a bolt out of the blue. It is an event that has caught even the best prepared businesses by surprise, and it is a genuine existential threat for many of the small businesses we deal with in our daily lives.