BUSINESS
owners who run close corporations (CCs) won't have to rush out any time
soon to convert their businesses to one of two newly proposed business
forms, if recommendations released in the new Companies Bill are carried
out.
The new bill proposes the phasing out of CCs as well as private companies
in favour of the introduction of two new forms, widely-held and
closely-held companies.
But Tshepo Mongalo, the project manager of corporate law reform at the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), says a decision to do away with
the CC Act, and effectively CCs, will only be taken in 12 years time
following further discussions around the business form.
There are currently over one million registered CCs and more than 350 000
privately-held companies.
Mongalo says the new Companies Bill further aims to encourage
entrepreneurship and promote investment by reducing the regulatory burden
placed on small firms.
“Currently
the Companies Act of 1973 has a number of requirements that need to be
fulfilled before registering, but under the new regulations these
requirements will be done away with,” says Mongalo.
Closely-held
companies will have fewer disclosure and transparency requirements and
won't require the appointment of either an auditor or an accounting
officer to report on financial statements.
Widely-held or public interest companies, however, will be required to
appoint at least four directors, an audit committee and comply with
financial reporting standards.
Directors who run widely-held companies will also have to appoint an
auditor and conduct auditor
reports on their financial statements.
The Companies Bill defines a public-interest company as either being a
widely-held company, or not-for-profit company, or a closely-held company
that satisfies any two criteria as specified.
To qualify as a widely-held company a business will be required to fulfill
at least two of the following three requirements, namely over the last
continuous three
years report:
-
A turnover
of at least R50 million.
-
Assets of at
least R25 million.
-
A staff
complement of at least 250.
The Minister
of Trade and Industry may vary the categories and thresholds by gazetting
regulations from time to time.
Trade and industry minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said the overhaul was long
overdue and that the 1973 Companies Act was outdated.
This is government's first significant review of South African company law
in over 30 years.
The Minister will take the Companies Bill back to Parliament in June — a
move that is intended to give the public more time to comment.
The bill is open for public comment until March 19.
Business owners wishing to comment on the Companies Bill can email
linda@thedti.gov.za. Contact
Linda van Dieman on 012 394 2536.
See the seda website
for more information on Closed
Corporations.
---»Pg. Top
BUSINESSES
with a turnover of under R5 million a year do not need to comply with the
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) codes but will need to compile
certificates stating that their turnover is below that of R5 million.
Ivan van der Merwe from BEE consultancy Matchmakers says business owners
can compile this themselves through their auditor or their accountant.
They do not need to approach rating agencies in order to have the
certificate done, he says.
He says because many buyers in corporate companies are not up to date on
BEE he has started offering a service to business owners exempt under the
new BEE codes by offering to write them a letter stating their exemption.
Contact Matchmakers on 021
852 4402.
See the seda website
for more information on BEE
issues.
---»Pg. Top
BUSINESS owners who pay out dividends to
shareholders will see relief in the form of the lowering of the
secondary tax on companies (STC) from 12,5% to 10%.
The move announced by Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel (pictured here)
in the Budget speech last month, forms part of the first step in
government's plan to tax each shareholder for dividends received, rather
than tax companies on the dividends they disperse.
In his budget speech, Manual, said the
new STC rate of 10% on dividends would come into effect from 1 October
this year
As from 2008, subject to the renegotiation of several international tax
treaties, STC will be phased out and renamed a dividend tax.
Companies will be required to deduct a tax of 10% from the dividends
handed out to each shareholder and pay this over to the Receiver.
Other measure announced by Manuel were:
Manuel said in his budget speech that some
12 000 business owners had applied for the government's tax amnesty,
which is aimed at business owners who run businesses that have a
turnover of less than R10 million a year and who have never paid tax
before.
The amnesty runs until the end of May this year.
See the seda website for more information
on tax
issues.
---»Pg. Top
BUSINESS
associations are using SMS and email alerts to inform their members of
crime hotspots and crime trends, while Middleburg business owners have
even paid for a microlight for local police to patrol the area with.
Anna-Marth Ott, the head of the Middleburg Chamber of Commerce, says the
chamber, through its 300 members – half of which are small firms – was able
to fund a R200 000 microlight to combat crime.
Two police pilots have been flying the microlight regularly between
Middleburg and Witbank since November 2005.
Using the microlight the police have already helped to recover some R240
000 in
stolen goods, including stolen vehicles hidden in the bush, says Ott.
In nearby Nelspruit business owners are being informed through emails of
suspicious activity in the area.
David
Pretorius, head of the Nelspruit chapter of Business Against Crime (BAC),
says the association is presently establishing a database on crime in the
White River area and sends out email alerts in the area to Nelspruit
businesses.
He says BAC helped to gather about 75 names of businesses in the area. He
says emails inform business owners in the area of trends such as the
recent one in the area of computer companies being hit when they open or
close at night.
Presently, a lack of funds means that his BAC chapter can only send out
alerts sporadically.
Though he didn't have access to the exact figures, he says feedback is
that crime is slowly coming down.
He says at the regular Community Policy Forum, where he estimates some 30
business owners to meet, police explain how business owners and the
community can get quick action. He says BAC also monitors police reaction
time.
In Durban a similar project over the December to January holidays helped
combat crime along the beachfront, renowned for crime.
Kelvin Glen, BAC head of KwaZulu-Natal says during this time Durban
businesses received notifications via SMS and email on crime hot spots.
Glen says though he didn't as yet have exact figures, the project, which
included daily meetings
between BAC and police, did have the effect of bringing crime down. He
says there are plans to extend the project to run all year round.
Contact Business Against Crime Nelspruit on 013 744 3555 and BAC Durban on
031 332 0437.
---»Pg. Top
BUSINESS
owners in Soweto are up in arms about the high number of hijackings and
armed robberies on businesses in the area and have come together to form
an action group.
Tebogo Mashoeng (pictured here), the chairperson of Soweto Business
Against Crime, says a group of concerned business owners, fed up with
crime, decided to form the group in January.
Mashoeng says they presently
have between 70 and 80 business owners as members.
The seven-member committee plan to engage Business Against Crime and the
MEC for community safety in Gauteng, Firoz Cachalia.
Mashoeng, who is a tour operator and runs a driving school, Mr T and
Tours, was himself a victim of a hijacking in October last year when
criminals hijacked him at gunpoint while he was in his car dropping off a
learner driver student in Joahnnesburg.
“It
was very traumatic, because you are sitting thinking about your family,”
he says.
He later
spotted the car driving around in Johannesburg CBD, with just the plates
changed, but he was almost struck again when armed men approached his
private sedan while he was driving in Orlando. He was saved by a taxi
driver who tried to run the men down.
“I
said if they're going to shoot me, they're to shoot me, because this
(another hijacking) isn't going to happen again.”
In December a
shoot out by robbers injured several people in a hardware store opposite
his business.
He says his association has launched a project called "Blow a whistle on
crime" and has encouraged members to fit their businesses with alarms and
to sign up with armed response companies.
The association is working with community radio and engaging the local
community policing forum.
Several volunteers in the community have already begun patrolling the
streets of Soweto and the
association is now looking at a two-way radio system and reflective
clothing to identify patrolling members.
Contact Soweto Business Against Crime on 073 445 9157.
---»Pg. Top
WITHOUT the
necessary support business owners who start their own business can easily
become part of the 80% of firms that fail within the first four years.
But
three business owners who turned to the Small Enterprise Development
Agency (seda) for help not only acquired the technical knowledge and
marketing sense to become the first black-owned company in the canopy
manufacturing industry, but also built the foundations for their business
to last long into the future.
Victor Modise,
marketing manager of Rainbow Canopies, a company that manufacture their
own canopies for bakkies, says they were looking for an opportunity to
compete with the mostly white-owned, bigger companies in the industry.
He says since
none of the three partners had any experience in technical design - he
came from a marketing background and Trevor Bevie and Howard Vogt from a
sales environment – they were looking for an industrial engineer to design
machines for their factory and to maximise the usage of space in their
factory.
But because
the company did not have the funds available to pay someone in the private
sector they decided to approach seda for support.
Seda is the
government's agency that assists business owners with business support
such as the development of business plans, marketing, training and
tendering.
Modise says
seda sent out their operations specialist Benney Chabalala to their
premises to evaluate their business.
Chabalala then
arranged with Seda's technology department which helped them to make use
of the latest technology in producing quality canopies.
Seda also
helped their company to conform with safety and health requirements and
with an ISO 900 accreditation. All this was provided free of charge by
Seda.
Modise says
Seda also helped them to develop a brand name and a marketing plan to
promote their company.
Encouraged by
seda's support, Rainbow Canopies then approached the Tshumisano Trust, a
government sponsored organisation which offers free technical support to
owner-managed businesses.
Modise says
they became aware of Tshumisano Trust after they read about them in a
newspaper article.
Tshumisano
sent technical experts in the materials and processing technologies from
their Vaal University of Technology Station to their business premises.
The experts
helped them to develop their own canopy mould which set them apart from
their competitors.
Together with
the technology side of seda, Tshumisano Trust helped with the
technological development of speedy and cost-effective manufacturing
processes for their factory by making use of the latest technology, says
Modise.
Recently
Rainbow Canopies received a visit from seda's executive manager of
products and services Thandile Ghbevu.
Ghbevu was
fulfilling seda's policy of personally visiting projects they have
supported. Ghbevu, who
stood in for the CEO of seda Wawa Damane, declared himself happy with
their interventions and the way Rainbow Canopies have implemented it.
Modise says
the reason why they have managed to secure the help of seda and the
Tshumisano Trust is because they kept on hounding them. He says they
responded to their in-your-face attitude.
Rainbow
Canopies was opened in September 2006 after Bevie and Vogt approached
Modise at a church they all attend.
Bevie and
Vogt, who between them have worked for canopy manufacturers for over 30
years, realised there was a gap in the market for them as the demand for
canopies was too much for all the companies to deal with. Rainbow
Canopies currently employs seven people.
---»Pg.
Top
BUSINESS
owners can now access free business support, training and IT services from
the Mitchells Plain Digital Business Centre which was launched
recently.
The centre is a joint project between three departments within the City of
Cape Town, namely the Urban Renewal Programme, the Department of Economic &
Human Development and Smart City Information Systems & Technology
E-governance.
The building the centre will operate from has been funded by the Urban Renewal
Programme, Economic & Human Development and the ICT infrastructure provided
by the Smart City E-governance branch of the IS&T department.
The Mitchells Plain Digital Business Centre (MPDBC) is one of four
business support centres in Cape Town which allows business owners to
access telephone, internet, fax, email and web development as well as training programmes.
Lynette Maneveld, project manager at Informations Systems and Technology,
says the MPDBC aims to transform informal businesses into formal
businesses by providing them with training that will enable business
owners to operate more professionally.
“The
project is mainly aimed at those (business owners) in the craft and
cottage industries. We're trying to get them to stop operating off the
street and to ensure that they are computer literate,” says Maneveld.
She says
currently no costs have been decided upon for telephone, fax and internet
services, but training programmes such as web development and allowing
business owners to create their own websites will be free.
“One
training programme will be able to accommodate fifteen people and will be
run twice a week,” says Maneveld.
The centre
also has conference facilities where business owners can meet with
clients.
However, she says the centre's operating times run during weekdays from
8am to 5pm and changes are likely to be made to accommodate business
owners who only have time after working hours.
“We
also have security who guard the centre 24/7 and are planning to further
strengthen security in future. It is very critical to make people feel
safe,” says Maneveld.
Refurbished
computers will be on sale to business owners and open source software will
be provided to the business owners.
Contact MPDBC on 021 391 7124.
---»Pg. Top
BUSINESS
owners who fail to report stolen identity documents to the police run the
risk of being blacklisted and of accumulating thousands of rands worth of
debt due to fraudulent accounts.
So says public relations coordinator at the Credit Information Ombud’s
Office, Caroline Buthelezi.
This warning from Credit Information Ombudsman, Manie van Schalkwyk
(pictured here), comes after a man recently discovered he was blacklisted
more than a year after his ID book was stolen from his house.
Despite having a good credit record, the man could not get finance when
trying to buy a new car.
“To
his surprise his application for finance was declined because he was
listed for having defaulted on payments,” says Buthelezi.
Someone had
opened an account in his name and had made a number of purchases of which
he had no knowledge.
Buthelezi says the above scenario could have major implications for
business owners.
“Talking
in terms of a small business where the owner and the business are not
separate entities, this has the same effect on his business as it does on
him.
“The
blacklisting might have a huge negative effect on him receiving finance
for his business,” says Buthelezi.
“Clearing
one’s name involves a great deal of effort as many people only discover
the consequences of not reporting their ID book stolen when the credit
bureau has already handed the matter over to their lawyers,” says
Buthelezi.
The
consequences of ID theft might be even more exacerbated by the fact that
attempts to have matters resolved are complicated by having to deal with
attorneys, Buthelezi says.
After obtaining an affidavit from the police station and faxing the
affidavit to the attorneys as instructed by the Credit Bureau, the man’s
name has not yet been removed from his credit record.
Buthelezi says blacklisting could also result in business owners having
problems becoming suppliers for big business, but this ultimately depends
on the big business’ policies.
In the event of having one’s ID book stolen, business owners should report
it to the police as soon as possible.
“Report
the stolen ID, get affidavits and a case number which you will need to
produce to credit grantors and credit bureaus as evidence that the
blacklisting does not belong to you,” says Buthelezi.
The credit
bureaus must then conduct an investigation that will assist in clearing
the negative information from the credit record, if it was as a result of
a stolen ID that was used to purchase goods fraudulently.
If the credit bureaus fails to conduct a proper investigation, business
owners should contact the Credit Information Ombud’s Office who will then
conduct its own investigation free of charge.
Contact the Credit Information Ombud on 086 166 2837.
---»Pg. Top
|
|
THERE is plenty of money to be
made through advising business owners on Black Economic Empowerment (BEE),
but it's not just from business owners themselves that consultants can make a living,
but also from corporates.
Companies with a turnover of over R5 million can score points on the BEE
scorecard if they record how much they spend assisting small black-owned
or black-empowered firms in training or supporting them through such
things as credit facilities or discounts.
This is recorded on the BEE scorecard under the Enterprise Development
element.
The final
version of the BEE codes, released in January, specifies that businesses can
score a maximum of 15 of the 100 points on the
scorecard for carrying out Enterprise Development and should aim to spend
three percent of net profit after tax or turnover, on the element.
To score points on Enterprise Development, businesses need to assist firms
that are 50% or more black-owned, or those with an annual turnover of less
than R35 million that are 25% or more black-owned.
Corporates who carry out enterprise development on businesses that are 50%
or more black-owned can score more points, because they can multiply their
monetary value they spend on these businesses by a factor of 1,25.
A business
can score a further two bonus points - one for spending their enterprise
development on black-owned firms and a further bonus point if the
beneficiary is a firm owned by a black woman.
Ivan van der Merwe (pictured here) of BEE consultancy Matchmakers estimates that in
the Cape Metropole alone the spend on Enterprise Development could total
R1,3 billion a year.
"Businesses aren't traditionally doing this kind of thing, therefore most
businesses will need help with the enterprise development element of the
scorecard," he says.
Van der Merwe says supporting black-owned or black-empowered firms also creates an opportunity for a corporate to promote its
name in the media. In some instances spending on Enterprise Development can
motivate a corporate's staff if they themselves are involved in training beneficiaries.
He points out that a business need not only earmark its suppliers as
beneficiaries of Enterprise Development, but could look at supporting
businesses in the wider community that wouldn't necessarily have to arise
from the same industry sector.
He says
business consultants can assist corporates with their Enterprise
Development in a number of ways, namely:
-
They can help a corporate to determine their
approach to Enterprise Development and write a document detailing this.
-
They can help them to identify suitable
business owners as beneficiaries.
-
They can assist in training beneficiaries in,
for instance, financial assistance, lend them assets or infrastructure and
introduce them to supplier opportunities.
Van der Merwe says some organisations are busy setting up specific
enterprise funds, where money injected into the fund as part of each
company's Enterprise Development spend could be used to pay for support to
black-owned or black-empowered firms.
But he believes that consultants will still have the advantage in the
market because they will be able to assist businesses to meet their
Enterprise Development targets in a more focused way.
Fund managers at enterprise funds won't necessarily be able to report on
how each business's Enterprise Development contribution is used, he says.
Examples of Enterprise Development initiatives
outlined in the BEE codes are:
-
Grants,
loans, guarantees or investments with small black firms.
-
Credit
facilities or preferential credit terms made available to small black
firms.
-
Training or
mentoring to black firms which will assist in increasing their
operational or financial capacity.
-
Direct costs
incurred in assisting and hastening development of beneficiary entities.
-
Overhead
costs directly attributable to Enterprise Development Contributions.
-
Maintaining
an Enterprise Development Unit which focuses on supporting black
business owners.
-
Payments made
to third parties to perform Enterprise Development on the Measured
Entity’s behalf.
See the seda
website for more information on BEE
issues.
---»Pg. Top
BLACK Economic Empowerment (BEE) consultant Ivan van der Merwe has a
three-point feedback programme in place when it comes to assisting
businesses with Enterprise Development.
Enterprise Development forms one of seven elements outlined in the BEE
codes. The final codes were released in January. Businesses can score 15
points out of a total of 100, for Enterprise Development.
Van der Merwe says when it has finished advising a business on their
Enterprise Development Matchmakers provides businesses with an audit
trail. He says this consists of:
-
A report from the entrepreneur themselves detailing what assistance they
received and how they benefited.
-
A report from
the consultant.
-
An overall
report drawn up by Matchmakers describing the value that Enterprise
Development has been able to contribute to the corporate's business.
Van der Merwe
is currently setting up an organisation for BEE consultants to improve
standards and training. He hopes to launch it this month. Presently, most
of the names are of BEE consultants based in the Western Cape.
Contact Matchmakers on
021
852 4402.
---»Pg. Top
PAUL Janisch, from BEE consultancy the Caird Group, says the most important
thing for business consultants who approach corporates to assist them with
their enterprise development is to ensure that the training or funding
they grant business owners will make business sense for the corporate
sponsoring it.
Businesses with an annual turnover of over R5 million can score points on
the BEE scorecard for assisting black-owned or black-empowered businesses.
Janisch says it is important that the corporate benefits in a business way
from assisting small business owners, the best he says, is if the
assistance complements the corporate's own business.
He gives the example of ice-cream giant Nestlé who recently set up distribution
points in townships and approached the Umsobomvu Youth Fund to train up
unemployed people in the township to become vendors.
He says in this way business consultants could look at a corporate's business model
and advise them on which beneficiaries to set up with and perhaps even
conduct a screening process on the corporate's behalf.
Kilson Kalandra of Kbonga BEE, says business consultants should aim to
create a pool or database of micro or Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs)
that they can then approach corporates with, to tap into.
But Kalandra says a consultant should first advise big company's buyers or
BEE managers to look at spending on their own suppliers first before
looking outside of this, because corporates can get an extra bonus point for spending on suppliers.
Contact the Caird Group on 011 666 0928 and Kbonga BEE on
021 421 4940
---»Pg. Top
BUSINESS
consultants
are often faced with having to advise business owners on the correct
procedures when it comes to dismissing an employee. Failure to follow the
procedures can result in business owners being dragged before the Commission
for Conciliation, Arbitration and Mediation (CCMA) by the fired employee.
But Nerine Kahn, commissioner for the CCMA, says when it comes to
following the correct guidelines on dismissing an employee one should look no
further than the Department of Labour's Code of Good Practice on
Dismissals.
Speaking to Seda Business Brief, Kahn said many business owners are holding
unnecessarily long and technical dismissal hearings when it comes to
dismissing employees.
She says a business owner need only follow steps laid out in the Code of
Good Practice when it comes to firing employees.
These steps include:
-
Convening a
hearing after telling an employee of an offense,
-
Giving
employees the chance to respond and
-
Having an
independent adjudicator, who can be drawn from inside the business
itself, preside over the hearing.
She says it is
a misconception that cases at the commission take too long to wind up,
saying cases are resolved on average in under 90 days.
She also disputes the fact that employees can flood the commission with
frivolous cases and says 35% of all cases are “screened out” at the front
desk.
This despite the fact that the commission is mandated to take all cases
regardless of their nature.
Kahn says in the run up to the 2002 amendments to the labour legislation
industry, government and labour had discussed the possibility of excluding
employees who were dismissed while on probation from seeking grievance at
the CCMA, but that the Department of Labour had decided against it
In accordance with the 2002 amendments, however, commissioners are asked
to apply their minds differently to cases involving employees dismissed
while on probation.
She says these particular cases are also handled in the con-arb process,
where conciliation and arbitration are held jointly in a single step.
Presently, over
half of all cases are handled by way of con-arb, says Khan.
But Jan Truter, a labour law consultant from Labourwise, a labour law
advice service aimed at business owners, argues that reading the code is
not sufficient enough on its own for business owners wanting to get to grips with the
correct disciplinary procedures.
He suggests that business owners should speak to other business owners who
have attended hearings or send staff or themselves on labour law seminars.
He agrees that the CCMA has improved its turnaround time spent on cases.
But he says the commission has lately placed a greater focus on winding up
cases in the initial conciliation stage, which has meant business owners
are often placed under undue pressure by being pressed
by commissioners to make a settlement in favour of the aggrieved employee.
Contact Labourwise on 021 852 3499. To read the Code of Good Practice on
Dismissals, visit www.ccma.org.za and
search under Codes and Procedures.
See the seda website
for more information on labour
issues.
---»Pg. Top
TO widen their client base business
consultants should consider assisting those business owners who operate
informally from garages or from their homes, to register and formalise.
The FinScope Small Business Survey Report, which surveyed 2 001 business
owners based in Gauteng, was released in November last year by FinMark
Trust.
The authors of the survey introduced the
Business Sophistication Measure (BSM), a model, closely resembling the
Living Standards Meausure (LSM) categories used by marketers, to describe
the varying sophistication levels of different businesses - with BSM1
being the least sophisticated and BSM7 the most sophisticated.
The survey found that BSM6 and BSM5
businesses operate mostly from their homes or from garages. Many of these
business owners are on the cusp of registering their firms.
Most of the business owners in these two BSM groups are between 35 and 49
years old. A third or more have matric, while 21% of BSM6s have a post
matric qualification.
Only 10% of BSM5 and 15% of BSM6, respectively, are sole proprietors.
Thirteen percent of business owners under BSM6 operate from a garage.
Further, only 24% have computers, while just 46% have landlines. Under
BSM6, 19% of business owners do not have a business bank account.
Business consultants could target these types of businesses with financial
management assistance especially because:
-
Only 17% of business owners who fall under
BSM6 have business plans,
-
Less than a third, or 27%, keep business
budgets.
This contrasts with BSM7 business owners
who run the most sophisticated businesses. Most of them have business plans and financial records.
There is also plenty of room for business consultants to offer further
assistance as business owners who fall under BSM5 and 6 list their biggest
problems when it comes to starting up to:
-
Marketing their business,
-
Sourcing finance and
-
Finding business premises, as most operate
from home or a garage.
The survey also showed that many business
owners are unaware of the advantages of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE)
or how to put it to use in their business.
The survey recommends that business support centres and government should
become more targeted in its support offered to businesses. It should aim
at BSM5 and BSM6 businesses as these are the businesses that begin to
employ staff.
---»Pg. Top
A NEW measure could help business consultants to better understand the
complex small business sector and focus on developing strategies and programmes to assist business owners grow and enter the formal sector.
The FinScope Small Business Survey Report surveyed 2 001 businesses in
Gauteng, just 18% of which were formal or registered businesses.
From this the authors of the survey developed a model, closely resembling
the Living Standards Meausure (LSM) categories used by marketers, to
describe the varying sophistication levels of different businesses,
calling it the Business Sophistication Measure (BSM).
Sophistication was judged on a range of measures, including: whether a
business kept financial records, had insurance, paid taxes, had partners
and shareholders and what type of premises it traded from.
The measure is divided into seven levels,
with level one being the least sophisticated and level seven being the most
sophisticated.
Level one to level five are characterised by informal businesses, while
level 7, and to a lesser extent, level 6, describe formal and registered
businesses.
Characteristics of BSM 7 businesses are that:
-
They are mostly run by white or Indian
male business owners who live in suburbs, are 35 years and older and who
have either a post-matric qualification, a bachelor or post graduate
degree.
-
Have an annual turnover of above R50 000 a
year. Only 18% of BSM 7 businesses have turnovers of above R300 000 a
year.
-
Mostly involved in the service industry
(36%), the sale of goods (19%) or are professionals (15%).
When it came to opening and registering a
business, 43% of businesses in BSM7 listed their biggest problem as
creating awareness of their business, followed by finding money to start
their business (36%).
Twenty-four percent listed sourcing staff as a problem and 23% said
compiling a business plan was a problem.
The survey also found that the level of education a business owner has is
proportional to the sophistication of their business, with those with
post-matric qualification more likely to start up formal, registered (BSM
7) businesses than those who just had matric.
To read the full report go to
www.finscope.org.za/sme.html
---»Pg. Top
WHEN it comes to business support, legal
advice, business plan writing and marketing assistance are the most
popularly requested by business owners from consultants.
This, according to a new survey called the FinScope Small Business Survey Report, which
was released by FinMark Trust in November last year and surveyed 2 001 business
owners based in Gauteng.
The survey found that most business owners use support centres for legal
advice (12%), followed by business plan writing (11%) and marketing
assistance (10%).
In comparison, only three percent of business owners had recently used
support centres for tender advice or technical assistance.
Interestingly, the survey found that female business owners are more likely
to seek help in their businesses than male business owners.
The survey also found that businesses in the service industry are more
likely to use support centres for marketing assistance, research and
information and credit referencing information, while manufacturing
are more likely to request business planning advice. Professionals who run their own businesses are most
likely to seek financial advice.
See the seda website for more information
on business
plans.
See the seda website for more information
on legal
issues.
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BUSINESS
consultants who have clients who do business in design or coastal protection or marine management, should advise them about a
new Dutch initiative.
The Netherlands is sending two trade missions to South African shores
which can lead to work opportunities for local companies in the design and
water technology industries.
The trade missions aims to enhance joint trading opportunities through
shared knowledge, training, skills and funding.
It forms part of a commemorative programme to celebrate 150 years of
diplomatic ties between the Netherlands and South Africa.
Dutch design industry and water management experts will be visiting South
Africa to meet their local counterparts for information exchanges and
matchmaking discussions.
Marloes Mantoua (pictured opposite), general manager of the South African
Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (SANEC), which facilitates links between
South Africa and the Netherlands by bringing together potential trade
partners for matchmaking, said the trade missions came about as part of an agreement between
the two countries to strengthen relations.
The water technology mission, which consists of 13 different companies and
20 experts, will address issues concerning embankments, harbours and
coastal protection.
The workshops will also expand on the problems of providing adequate
drinking water and dealing with waste water.
The design industry mission, comprising 20 designers and 16 agencies, will
take part in discussions including issues around new design trends for
public spaces, packaging and buildings.
Mantoua says the Netherlands expects to bring up to six trade missions a year to
South Africa.
These will target areas such as logistics, transport and the 2010
Soccer World Cup.
South African companies wishing to be considered for partnerships should
contact Marloes Mantoua on 011 263 5800 or Gerhard Offringa on 012
330 9039.
To get involved with the Dutch South African Design Matchmaking contact
Carol O'Brien on
021 342 8382 or
info@obrienhunter.co.za
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