HAVE YOU RECENTLY STARTED A BUSINESS OR SIDE HUSTLE?
In a series of interviews, I explore the approaches of different business leaders (all chartered accountants) to strategy. This month I was in conversation with Elmar Conradie, CEO of Safair.
AUTHOR | Jameel Khan, Head of Projects at SAICA Enterprise Development
Unsurprisingly, in 2020 and as a result of COVID-19, new company registrations surged during lockdown and throughout the rest of the year.
‘When the BizPortal started, we initially had an average of 700 registrations a month. However, this significantly increased to 14 000 registrations during the lockdown period, between April and the end of August. On average 2 800 businesses were registered per month via the portal,’ said Lauren Deva, head of sales for transactional products at FNB Business in a recent article.1
Why?
COVID-19 had a devastating effect on business in South Africa and a lot of people were left unemployed. Add to this the advent of the gig economy where people can easily earn money for their skills through platforms like Fiverr and social media, and people who still have jobs are thinking that it’s not too late to start that side hustle they have always dreamed about.
Introducing the Saica Small Business Section
In the 2021 issues of Accountancy SA we will be sharing exciting insights drawn from what we have learnt through our ED programmes:
- The latest in small business and entrepreneurship to keep you up to date
- Current topics in business. Coming up in April: Your Brand
- Lessons from small businesses in SAICA’s Enterprise Development programmes
Top tech tool
- We will be highlighting a TOP TECH TOOL that can help you improve your business processes and create efficiencies.
- As a start, if you are looking to register a company, bank account, tax and UIF you can do all of it, end to end, by visiting the CIPC BizPortal at https://www.bizportal.gov.za/.
- Invoicing is going to be an important part of how you start earning revenue.
- Instead of using Microsoft Excel to create invoices why not check out this free software’s which will help you create more professional-looking invoices: https://www.bookipi.com/; https://invoicehome.com/.
Small business spotlight
In this section we will briefly showcase start-ups that can benefit you in your journey of business and entrepreneurship. I am sure that reading about them will keep your entrepreneurial spirit ignited.
Give us your feedback
- Tell us about your TOP TECH TOOL that can benefit small business.
- Tell us about your small business that can help our readers as part of the SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT.
- Any other feedback.
NOTE
1https://www.businessinsider.co.za/online-business-registrations-employment-jobs-job-losses-fnb-2020-10.
This month’s small business spotlight
A couple of young aspiring CAs(SA) got together in 2019 to start a platform which targets university students and young professionals with the aim to expose them to the world of finance and entrepreneurship.
The project has now grown into a media start-up with financial and entrepreneurship education content. They have a newsletter going out every week, three podcasts and a reach of over 20 000 students and young professionals each month. They support local businesses by providing a platform for South African businesses to market directly to the specific audience and grow their customer base.
Be sure to check them out at www.finchatco.com or on social media @finchatco
