The process of business assistance to small and medium enterprises in South Africa: preliminary findings.

Abstract

Much assistance is provided to SMEs in South Africa, but many SMEs still fail or exit the market. The question that frequently arises is whether assistance to SME owners actually positively influences their success rate. Research was conducted to determine how seemingly successful SMEs in South Africa are assisted. SMEs owners in South Africa were interviewed to ascertain how they were assisted. The focus was on determining what type of assistance successful SME owners were receiving. The research was conducted in an attempt to find means of assisting SME owners in ways that would enhance their success rate. The results of the study indicated that although the SME owners mostly sought assistance in the areas of finance, marketing and human resources, they indicated that it was not the assistance that made them successful, but factors such as the product type, product quality and marketing. This indicates that assistance should probably be sought in the areas of product and marketing even before starting a business, and only thereafter in the areas of finance, marketing and human resources.