Tag: Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)

According to a recent National Small Business Chamber (NSBC) poll, 86% of small businesses in South Africa said they had suffered negative effects as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. And as the economy gradually begins to open up again, every small business owner will be looking critically at their business and creating a business continuity plan.

For most South African SMEs already contending with a contracting economy, the additional shocks from COVID-19 have placed further pressure on their operations. For some, this may not be a bridge too far as analysts at Sasfin are predicting that around 60% of SMEs may close before the crisis is over.

Entrepreneurial businesses both small and medium have been particularly hit hard in these challenging times, and many are now facing an existential threat. However, there are ways to rethink their business models and adapt to a world which is unlikely to return to its old habits. 

Managing and growing a business is no easy feat, this task becomes even more difficult when you factor in recessions, economic downgrades and pandemics. But the hurdles entrepreneurs and their businesses are currently facing can also be an opportunity to pivot their companies and brands.

With the easing of the nationwide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the Government's 'Risk Adjusted Strategy' (comprising of five lockdown levels), more and more business can lawfully operate again. As a result, employees will be returning to work and employers will be obliged to remunerate them again.

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).