CAPE TOWN: South African has grown in line with the country’s GDP, which almost tripled from $143.8bn in 1996 to $404.3bn in 2011.
For small businesses, the gains have been all the more impressive given that, before democracy, myriad of restrictions, laws and by-laws prevented black entrepreneurs from entering the business world. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2014 SA report says while in 2001 19.7% of the adult population saw opportunities to start a business in SA, this figure has since increased to 37% in 2014.
Christo Botes, spokesperson for the 2015 Sanlam and Business Partners entrepreneur of the year competition, says more entrepreneurs are entering the market compared to 10 years ago.
The latest quarterly results of the Nedbank Small Business index recorded an improvement in the ease of obtaining finance from 4.1 to 4.9 — a record high since the index began. “The National Development Plan states that about 90% of jobs will be created through small and expanding companies by 2030.”
