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IOL News
01-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Business Partners launches Entrepreneur of the Year Award to support small businesses
Sheldon Tatchell, founder of the Legends Barber franchise, won the coveted Overall 2024 Entrepreneur of the Year award in the 36th annual Business Partners Limited Entrepreneur of the Year® awards in November last year. Image: Supplied Business Partners launched its Entrepreneur of the Year Award on Tuesday, an award that ranks among the most long-standing and prestigious of its kind in this country and which aims to foster growth in small and medium businesses by successful entrepreneurs. David Morobe, executive general manager of Impact Investing at SME financing company Business Partners said at an online event that the award, which was started in 1989 and stopped only during the Covid pandemic, aimed to honour entrepreneurs 'who don't give up on challenges.' There are award categories for different sizes of smaller businesses and for different types of entrepreneurs: Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, SME Entrepreneur of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year for medium-sized businesses, Job Creator of the Year, Innovator of the Year, Impact Entrepreneur of the Year, and Overall Entrepreneur of the Year. In the 2023, the competition attracted over 350 entries, and last year there were more than 650 entries. Morobe said there was a high quality of entrepreneurs in the last competition, and the greater stability and confidence in the small business sector, as indicated by the SME Index for the last quarter of 2024, might spur even more entries in the 2025 year. He said business confidence in the SME sector had noticeably improved last year after the formation of the Government of National Unity, and he hoped the GNU would continue, as the business confidence it had generated was vital to the growth of the SME sector, which in turn formed a major part of the growth of the overall economy and job creation. For example, the SME Index had shown that some 80% of SME business owners polled expected their businesses to grow in 2025, 64% were confident about obtaining access to finance to sustain their businesses, while 72% expressed confidence in their ability to attract talented staff. SMEs had played a pivotal role in the post-recovery of the economy after the Covid pandemic, he said. Business Partners area manager Lawrance Ramotala said this month that the contribution of small businesses to youth development is not only practical but deeply transformational. 'In many cases, SMEs are the first to take a chance on young people, whether by hiring them as first-time employees, helping them launch their first business, or partnering with them as we're seeing is a groundswell of youth entrepreneurship that's rooted in community enterprise,' he said. 'This is particularly evident in township settings, where formal employment is often out of reach. In these areas, youth-led micro and small businesses are not only becoming viable alternatives to traditional work but also creating employment for others in their communities,' he said. Morobe said the competition provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their business excellence, services, and products to a wider community. The entrepreneurs get to interact with other businesspeople, organisations, and institutions they otherwise would not have been able to access, and it exposes entrepreneurs to opportunities for businesses to tap into improvements and innovations in their existing businesses. Visit:
Zawya
04-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa's SMEs optimistic about 2025 economic climate, but will it last?
South African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) entered 2025 with an encouraging sense of optimism. This is according to the latest SME confidence Index, conducted by Business Partners Limited, which reveals that over 58% of respondents felt optimistic about the economic climate in 2025. David Morobe, executive general manager: Impact Investing at Business Partners Limited, notes that this surge in confidence is a positive shift for a sector that has weathered significant economic uncertainty in recent years. 'SMEs have displayed resilience and renewed hope for business growth in 2025, supported by factors such as the first interest rate cut since 2020 and lower inflation,' he says. Confidence indicators show positive trends Year-on-year, SME confidence improved across multiple areas. Levels of confidence that the South African economy will be conducive to business growth in the next 12 months increased by 9 percentage points, reaching 69%, while confidence levels that SMEs will experience business growth in the next 12 months rose to 84%, a 6-percentage point increase year-on-year. Confidence levels in access to business finance also climbed to 64% - up by 7 percentage points year-on-year – while levels of confidence in finding skilled staff improved to 72%, up by 3 percentage points year-on-year. Despite these gains, confidence in certain key areas remains subdued. SME confidence in South Africa's labour laws supporting business growth declined by 4 percentage points year-on-year to 59%. Whereas confidence in government efforts to foster SME development increased by 5 percentage points year-on-year, it dropped 3 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 47%. Can this optimism withstand external challenges? While SMEs started the year with confidence, several external factors have already posed challenges for business growth in the first quarter. The national return of loadshedding and the introduction of water shedding in Johannesburg raise concerns about operational stability. Additionally, while South Africa's Government of National Unity (GNU) has remained somewhat stable, policy differences surrounding the outcomes of the rescheduled Budget Speech and international relations could impact SME confidence. 'SMEs thrive on stability, and while their confidence was high going into 2025, it remains critical that external factors such as infrastructure reliability be addressed. It is also important that investment into initiatives that stimulate economic growth and advance cooperation among Government leaders is prioritised to support sustained business growth,' says Morobe. The top three challenges identified in the SME Index are cash flow, economic conditions, and funding. While late client payments continue to be a concern, h the confidence that clients will pay on time has remained at 72% quarter-on-quarter. However, this represents a 3-percentage point improvement year-on-year. What SMEs need to thrive Access to finance remains a critical factor, with SMEs indicating importance levels of 86% when it comes to funding as essential for growth and sustainability. The importance of access to SME-specific information and resources increased to 85%, while mentorship remains highly valued, with an 83% importance rating. Social media as a marketing tool gained further recognition, rising to 86% in importance, a 2-percentage point increase year-on-year. Infrastructure concerns and opportunities For the first time, the SME Confidence Index explored perceptions of local infrastructure and its impact on business success. While a majority of SMEs view road (53.85%), water (62.35%), and waste/sanitation (61.65%) infrastructure in their business areas as suitable, a notable percentage of respondents indicated that infrastructure remains inadequate or only slowly improving. 'The findings highlight the need for ongoing investment in infrastructure to ensure businesses can operate optimally,' says Morobe. 'The government's commitment to accelerating infrastructure investment, as outlined in the recent 2025 Budget Speech, is a step in the right direction,' he concludes. All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
