Tag: Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)

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.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world with devastating speed and there is no doubt that small businesses will be the hardest hit. Although we are hoping for everything to get back to normal and finally get to put all the anxiety, fear, and tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, no one knows how severe the economy will get impacted or how long the recovery process will take.

In response to the COVID-19 emergency, the South African Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) and the South African financial sector regulators, the Prudential Authority and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), have implemented several mitigation measures to support the economy and companies.

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.

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.

Further to the fiscal package as outlined by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his speech on the Escalation of Measures to Combat COVID-19, the Minister of Finance has announced on 29 March 2020 certain exceptional tax measures to be implemented.