SMMEs need support during and after lockdown

JOHN DLUDLU

SOUTH African micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) faced a headwind of challenges even before a global pandemic blew in to shut down the economy.

The Small Business Institute (SBI) has listed many of them over the years on this page: late payments for goods and services delivered; the tangle of bureaucratic red tape tying up businesses from every tier and agency of government (up to nine working days a month); unreliable power supply and expensive, insufficient internet access, among others.

All have contributed to what could have been an avoidable