We have noticed an increase of web search traffic on our site relating to labour laws and their affect on SMEs.  If you wish to know more on this topic, you may view the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) report that was conducted in 2010 on selected provisions of the recently proposed Labour Amendment Bills.  SBP was integral to the development of the RIA report, which is freely available for download at www.labour.gov.za or you can download it here.FINAL_RIA_PAPER_13Sept2010-1

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In the rich layer of data produced by SBP’s SME Growth Index a relief of the underlying
structure of the South African economy is clearly visible, and it does not look good for
the development of established small and medium enterprises, and consequently for
economic growth.

The picture that emerges is of a landscape inhabited by lumbering giants – corporates,
parastatals and conglomerates – that can easily squash any smaller species that do not
find a way of hanging on and moving with them. Click here to download the paper

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“Rapid and sustained economic growth is critical to stem the tide of job losses. Our prospects of achieving such growth are highly dependent on the economy’s entrepreneurs and businesses. Without a strong business sector and bold entrepreneurs, we have as little chance of prospering”

“Despite acknowledgment of SMEs’ potential as employment generators, they are a poorly understood and inadequately documented sector. Even information on the number of SMEs is unreliable. State efforts to assist the sector have had very limited success. Moreover, partly due to the lack of robust data, the debate around SMEs and their ability to assist in employment growth has become heavily weighted with ideology, assumptions and anecdotes.”

Download the SME Growth Index report here

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“Experts on business development have coined the term “gazelles” to describe high growth companies. The gazelle encapsulates characteristics such as speed, energy and dexterity, and provides an apt description for successful, expanding firms. The gazelle, however, is not an animal given to domestication. Studying it requires a process of patient observation. Similarly, understanding what differentiates the small business that scrapes by year to year with no real prospects of growth, from the firm that achieves gazelle status and expands employment, requires careful and considered analysis, over a period of time.”

SBP alert – Growing Small Firms, Growing Employment

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SBP hosted a small high-level roundtable discussion at the end of September. Participants in the roundtable were drawn from government – including the Presidency – business chambers, parastatals, research organisations, and major private sector players engaged in small business development. This SBP Alert is an edited version of the day’s discussion, summarising key points that emerged.

SBP_alert_-_Accelerating_Small_Business_Growth_in_South_Africa.pdf

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Effective small business development on the scale needed in South Africa requires a new, sustained engagement between the private sector and government at national, provincial and local levels. There is a large and pressing agenda, but crucial issues include improving the regulatory, administrative and operating environment, and ways to expand market development for SMMEs. Most important of all, small business development initiatives must get down to the level where small businesses actually operate, and must be closely targeted in different sectors and value chains, and in specific localities – in our cities, small towns and rural areas – to grapple with their diverse characteristics, needs, constraints and opportunities.

SBP_ALERT_smme_development_in_SA.pdf

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Can the creative energies of South Africa’s young people be turned into one of the country’s greatest assets, and a source of economic growth and prosperity? The new National Youth Development Agency will have to prioritise its interventions. South Africa’s enormous unemployment challenge is particularly concentrated among the country’s youth. This SBP Alert argues that a strong focus on entrepreneurship should be among the NYDA’s top priorities. It should operate as a facilitator and catalyst, enabling social partners – from community groups to corporations – to develop practical and effective programmes to build the culture, skills, operating environment and networks necessary to support entrepreneurial growth. We suggest that this might be achieved through creation of a dedicated grant mechanism, managed by the NYDA, on the basis of competitive tendering and clear, outcome-focused selection criteria.

SBP_ALERT_youth__employment_june_09.pdf

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How likely are small businesses to be hit by crime? What types of crime? Violent crime? How much does it cost them, and constrain job creation and growth? Commissioned by the Office of the Presidency, SBP’s disturbing report provides the first evidence-based answers to these questions. It draws on the experiences and perceptions of 450 emerging (mainly black) small business owners in and around the major metropolitan areas, and operating in industrial sectors with the potential to contribute to economic growth and job creation

SBP_impact_of_crime_on_small_businesses_report___2008.pdf

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