Tag: Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)

It is particularly costly for small businesses in South Africa to access justice. Without access to justice, these businesses cannot resolve important disputes or see their rights or interests vindicated in a legally recognised fashion. There are certain things Parliament can do to make the courts accessible to small enterprises.

Several advantages make owning commercial or business property a viable prospect for small businesses. These include the benefit of asset appreciation, enjoying full control over interior design and renovations, security of tenure and avoiding above-inflation rent hikes.

While health laws and regulations are always made with the best of intentions, the costs that they represent to the economy – particularly in trying times like today – are unacceptably high. This is especially true for small businesses that must comply with a host of First World standards. It is time to reassess.

South Africa’s labour-law regime is difficult, if not impossible, for small businesses to comply with. It imposes a relatively higher cost on them than on large firms. This leads to fewer people employed in small businesses, and often leads to small businesses not being formalised and therefore certainly not complying with the law.

Despite their ostensibly noble intentions, licensing laws protect incumbent firms by preventing new, small businesses from entering the industry and competing. This is in addition to creating new avenues for corruption, and criminalising ordinary economic activities. South Africa’s licensing regime must be significantly scaled back.

With citizens, governments, and businesses more dependent than ever on digital connectivity, one of the most pressing sectoral issues for this decade is cybersecurity. While this issue has been in the public consciousness for some time now, there is still a wide perception gap between organisational executives, who feel positively about their cyber resilience, and security leaders who do not.

Leaked documents detailing the forthcoming launch of ‘Project Fela’ – a new marketplace with its own membership programme owned by Amazon – has prompted much industry speculation and debate around the role that competition plays in sector development.

Historical land dispossession has handicapped South Africa’s economic development, particularly of small businesses and small-scale agriculture. This, combined with continued restrictions on subdivision, lack of secure title, and threats to constitutional property rights, impede rapid land reform and economic growth.

While corporate travel is starting to recover, the pandemic continues to impact the industry, and industry players can see a change in booking behaviour. For example, the shift to last-minute bookings, necessitated by the uncertainty of the past two years, hasn't subsided as quickly as expected.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have always been compelled to find and leverage every opportunity to remain competitive and stay ahead of the curve. Amidst all of the disruption of the past two years, this need has become a business imperative.