Tag: Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)

In the vast expanses of the African continent, a beacon of entrepreneurship and innovation shines brightly. Nestled at its southernmost tip, South Africa is not just a country, it's a dynamic marketplace brimming with potential. Yet, it's not just the sprawling savannahs or the captivating cultural heritage that make this nation remarkable.

It’s time for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to recognise that using data and analytics is not as scary or expensive as they may think - and that the benefits can be significant.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are warned not to be too desperate. South Africa’s SMEs are struggling to survive power cuts. Many have shut their doors, but those that remain are desperate for power and may take cheap shortcuts that turn out to be more expensive.

On Wednesday, 24 May 2023, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (MTIC) published the Energy Users Block Exemption and Energy Supplier Block Exemption. The Energy Users Block Exemption allows for collaboration between energy users to respond to the current electricity supply constraints subject to a process of notification to the Competition Commission and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC).

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software has seen rapid growth in recent years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though it can be deployed quickly, ERP systems are complex and require significant computing resources, which can be expensive to acquire and maintain in-house.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the global economy and offer an untapped opportunity for Communications Service Providers (CSPs). As they emerge from the pandemic, SMEs have been spending more across a range of technologies, with spending on IT and digital services set to increase by 7.6% CAGR to reach $1.7 trillion by 2026.

The untapped potential of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in the country is astounding. However, the red tape placed on them is even more startling. In South Africa we wouldn’t stand for our national teams playing with their hands tied behind their back.

In September 2022, the Copyright Amendment Bill was passed by the National Assembly – giving South African artists, creators and entrepreneurs more benefits and rights, including receiving adequate remuneration.

As we move into 2023, many small and medium enterprise (SME) owners and leaders anticipate another difficult year. Yet they are comfortable knowing they've endured a lot since the start of the pandemic. SMEs have survived, and some have even thrived, despite COVID-19, unrest, extreme weather, the global energy crisis, and the return of high inflation and rising interest rates.

With entrepreneurship critical to SA’s economic recovery, there are resources to help aspiring entrepreneurs get ahead. Entrepreneurship has been hailed as the key to South Africa’s economic recovery – and the good news is that all signs point to it being on the rise.