Tag: Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)

The South African Reserve Bank’s decision to keep the repo rate unchanged at a record low of 3.5% and prime lending rate at 7% eases pressure on the ailing economy and debt burden for businesses and consumers.  This will help to support SMEs who continue to struggle financially due to the persistent impact of COVID-19, while trying to recover as quickly as possible.

As the COVID-19 crisis redefines how economies and society as a whole function, human ingenuity has sparked a wave of innovation set to be the blueprint for the decades to come. According to the 2021 Trends, organisations will have the opportunity to map out new territory as they embrace new strategies, services and experiences to meet evolving human needs.

According to our recent report, ‘How businesses can minimise the cost of a data breach’, enterprises in the META region with outdated technology can lose 16% more money when they suffer a data breach compared to those who update everything in a timely manner.

A global pandemic and the ensuing lockdown implemented in South Africa disrupted businesses across most sectors, putting small and medium sized businesses, in particular, under immense pressure. If 2020 has taught us one thing it is the extent to which we have come to rely on the internet.

Gone are the days when small businesses need to sell their products to just the people who live or work in the immediate vicinity. Digital platforms and partnerships are now empowering micro-companies to extend their offerings, opening new doors for business growth and development.

Running a business in what we assumed would be a post-COVID-19 world this year has turned out to be a continuous challenge, taking on various strains from last year’s pandemic. A common denominator for many small business owners is steady cashflow throughout the year.

Parliament has been warned of the risk of billions of Rands of capital investment leaving the country unless local investment incentives like those under Section 12J of the Income Tax Act are permitted to continue. Our presentation was made during the Select Committee of Finance’s public hearings on the TLAB, TALAB and Rates Bills.

Despite a legal requirement that invoices and claims be paid within 30 days or within the period contractually agreed upon, a Public Service Commission (PSC) report has revealed that South African small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are owed billions in unpaid invoices by government departments.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on 12 November 2020 that employment in South Africa increased by 543,000 in the third quarter of the year – recovering some of the 2.2 million jobs lost during the lockdown-hit second quarter.

Our 2020 Global Entrepreneurship Survey found that entrepreneurs who had a website were less likely to close their businesses during COVID-19 lockdowns than those without one. We also discovered that those with a website were more optimistic about future growth, with 31 percent projecting growth of at least 50 percent versus only 23 percent of those without a website.