Tag: Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)

High on the agenda of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s supplementary budget speech on Wednesday 24 June was the need to support the economy as it gradually reopens as well as to get businesses moving again. Notably, Mboweni announced amendments to the COVID-19 guaranteed loan scheme that was introduced at the beginning of lockdown, offering some relief to struggling businesses.

At the core of our work and social lives, connectivity and online functions like email, e-commerce, apps, and instant messaging, seem to dominate everything we do in the modern world. Made even more apparent by the lockdown and its restrictions, few businesses can trade effectively without connectivity, and a reliable data network has become a must-have for all businesses, regardless of size or sector.

A number of fundamental changes to the Competition Act demonstrate government's strengthened policy commitment to drive radical economic transformation in South Africa and are likely to be more regularly used in the midst of COVID-19.

The outbreak of global pandemics such as COVID-19 comes with a huge price tag. The South African Reserve Bank estimates the current nationwide lockdown will cost the economy about three weeks’ worth of GDP, or 5.8% of R5.3-trillion, which amounts to a staggering R300-billion. 

On 18 May 2020, the Competition Commission published its final Buyer Power Guidelines (the guidelines). Earlier this year, the new buyer power provisions of the Competition Act 89 of 1998 (the Act) came into effect. These provisions prohibit dominant buyers in designated sectors from imposing unfair prices or trading conditions on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and firms owned and controlled by historically disadvantaged persons (HDP).

As the economy opens up, following the slow phasing out of the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, many businesses are returning to work. For small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who have lost out on eight weeks of trade, the process of reopening their doors and scaling up production is going to be difficult.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked financial havoc throughout the nation, leaving many small business owners struggling in its wake. According to our research, 86% of small businesses said they had suffered negative effects as a result of the pandemic and only 14% of small business owners said they had experienced limited effects.

As many small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa reel from the financial repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, it is important that they embrace technologies that will help them overcome current challenges and ready themselves for a ‘new normal’.

We have prepared a short summary and useful infographic following the president’s announcement of a R500 billion economic and social relief package in his address on Tuesday night 21 April 2020. The source of the remainder of the R500 billion financing outside of the R200 billion loan guarantee scheme, budget reprioritisation of R130 billion and around R100 billion from multilateral sources and global partners

Employee quarantines, reduced demand, disrupted operations and restricted movements are just a few of the challenges faced by business during the Covid-19 pandemic.