The SME mindset - Indians

The Indian community in South Africa are an enigma to many other South Africans. The Indian business community are generally respected as being great traders. However, with time they have proven themselves as able business people in big businesses as much as in small businesses. 

They however are not renowned for sharing their business secrets, even within the Indian community. I have had students doing dissertations think they would get the cooperation of Indian business people because they too were Indians. However, they too were unable to get access to the inner “secrets” of the Indian business community.

While lecturing entrepreneurship, I have always encouraged students to start, build and sell their businesses. A business worth RXm is only worth potential wealth of RXm. It is not wealth. It is only potential wealth!!! No cash.no wealth. My Indian students will just not accept this as an option. Not one. As far as they are concerned, once you have created a successful business, you keep it. I support the “cash is king” system. Start them and sell them is what I believe will produce the greatest wealth. This allows for you to then buy or start a bigger business, and create greater wealth, with reduced dependence on outside funding.

The Indian community tend to prefer family-run businesses and I have not met any with partners, other than in the professions. 

SMEs - South Africa marking time?

SMEs are once again in the background. Very little new is going on which is new. There is a SME conference in Bloemfontein 26 and 27 July. Contact the Bloemfontein Chamber of Commerce for details.

The conference appears to be different to the run of the mill, so here's hoping it is.

Another finance related conference will take place in November with the KZN Treasury the possible sponsor. This too should be an unusual conference. I will provide more info as time progresses.

New info will be advised as it becomes available.

SMEs in South Africa - why is finance difficult to access

SMEs in South Africa do struggle to raise start-up finance from banks. The question is why?

There has been little, if any, in-depth research into why banks are not lining up to lend to this large, risky, yet very profitable market.

I myself am hoping to research the following suggestion in order to see if it has any validity. The suggestion is that a major contributory factor is that SME and entrepreneur are being interchangably used in South Africa.

There is a continuum of entrepreneurial endeavour suggested by Burch, and I believe that the SME owner is not synonymous with being an entrepreneur. Some SME owners may well be entrepreneurial, but it is not a given.

Consequently, banks have no tools with which to assess these SME owners, which makes the loaning of finance to them extremely difficult.