As you know, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a three-week lockdown in the country due to the spread of the coronavirus. The lockdown commenced at midnight on Thursday, 26 March 2020. We have been working with various stakeholders across government and our professional bodies to determine the level of support available for SMMEs. The BC team has prepared a document to assist SMMEs in navigating this time. We have included the information that we believe to be

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a three-week lockdown in the country due to the spread of the coronavirus. The lockdown will commence at midnight on Thursday, 26 March 2020. In his speech, the president announced the following measures to support South African businesses: 1. Using the tax system, the government will provide a tax subsidy of up to R500 per month for the next four months for those private sector employees earning below R6,500 under the Employm

Our article last week, How Can SMEs Prepare For The Impact of the Coronavirus, explores some tactical ways that SMEs can be better prepared. In addition to the tactical moves highlighted in the article, the right mindset and behaviours are key for entrepreneurs to successfully navigate the current environment. The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation (AGOF) sampled 1,200 start-up and established entrepreneurs to identify key entrepreneurial competencies and behaviours. The article bel

The coronavirus outbreak has affected thousands of people globally. Furthermore, we have seen the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy over the past few weeks. The focus of this article is on how SMEs can prepare for the potential impact of the virus on their business activity. While larger companies may be able to weather the negative economic consequences, SMEs may find it more challenging and therefore need to prepare to ensure that they can continue to run thei

In our previous two articles, we discussed how SMEs are contributing to employment and SME age in South Africa. Some key findings: The National Development Plan (NDP) envisioned that by 2030 SMMEs will generate 90% of the 11-million new jobs in South Africa. While we believe that SMMEs have the potential to play a crucial role in reducing the level of unemployment, in reality, this is not currently the case. Data from SME South Africa indicates that 87% of SMEs employ less th

Following our previous post regarding how SMEs are contributing to employment in South Africa, we consider SME age and how long SMEs survive, below. Currently, SMEs are not making a material difference to employment in South Africa as most SMEs are less than 5 years old and have not survived long enough to make a significant contribution to employment. Source: SME South Africa, An Assessment of South Africa’s SME landscape Challenges, Opportunities, Risks and Next Steps, Nove