Tag: Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)

According to the Facts and Figures 2023 report, just 37% of Africa’s population uses the internet, representing a digital divide for hundreds of millions of people. Only a tiny fraction of the continent’s people have access to a high-speed broadband connection at their homes.

Small and Medium Enterprises are the cornerstone of the global economy. The 2024 United Nations General Assembly designated June 27 as "Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Day" to raise awareness of their contributions toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - specifically SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure).

South African women are closing the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity. Driven by many factors ranging from perceived opportunity to job scarcity, they are starting businesses which in turn creates employment opportunities for others, with the country boasting one of the highest proportion of women-led companies employing 20 or more people globally.

Skills development in the form of learnerships is an essential element of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) scorecard, accounting for a significant portion of the score for large enterprises in particular. However, not all businesses have the capacity, availability, or ability to take on sufficient learners to meet their obligations.

Having an established and well-communicated company purpose in place can be a powerful driver of positive change. This statement holds true in terms of a company’s broader social impact, but there is also a strong business case to be made for purpose-driven culture and as its value as a driver of employee engagement.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa continue to face a business landscape that is simultaneously full of challenges and brimming with opportunities. A still-struggling economy, rising costs, high unemployment figures and an uncertain political future have created a business backdrop against which only the most resilient and innovative businesses will thrive.

Paying employees sounds straightforward, but it is not unusual for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to make mistakes in managing their payroll. These errors can have serious consequences, ranging from damaging employee morale to fraud losses, and tax penalties for late or incorrect tax payments and submissions.

Determining the right amount of funding a business needs is a common challenge for many small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This is due to several reasons or practical challenges. To begin with, no business is the same. Funding requirements and the use of credit will vary based on business life stage (start, run or grow), operating cycles, growth plans, industry, and market conditions

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be a topical conversation, but it is proving to be an invaluable time saver and productivity enhancer. In 2023, Microsoft introduced Copilot to a select group of organisations and teams to assess how well the technology reduced their ‘digital debt’ and delivered on their daily productivity and time-saving requirements.

In the landscape of South Africa's corporate engagement within rural and peri-urban communities, a recurring narrative persists: a bias towards non-core Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) programmes and interventions overshadows the essential need for holistic, forward-thinking ESD strategies to boost small business growth.