Despite access to finance consistently ranking among the most significant barriers to business growth, FinMark Trust estimates that only 20% to 30% of SMMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa manage to access formal credit. For many business owners whose companies are trading, winning customers and meeting their financial obligations, a funding rejection can be difficult to understand. However,…
If you run a franchise network long enough, you learn that the problem sitting in front of you is rarely the only problem you have. A franchisee tells you margins are under pressure. Dig a little deeper and you may find they have stopped replacing staff, training has slipped and service standards are beginning to…
Applications are now open for the SAB Foundation Tholoana Enterprise Programme, with this year’s intake focused on entrepreneurs who have already proved that their businesses work and are ready to build them for growth. The flagship 18-month programme is looking for commercially proven South African businesses that are either already growing or demonstrably poised for…
Year-end approaching, and the merchandise brief isn’t done? You’re not out of options. But the way you approach the brief needs to change. October is certainly not too late to order branded corporate gifts before year-end. It is, however, the point where your deadline starts having a much bigger say in what is realistically possible….
Raj Kamal, founder and CEO of TransFi By Bonface Orucho (Bird Story Agency) Africa is building faster ways to move money across borders. However, faster payment rails are exposing the question whether banks and payment providers have enough of the right currencies, at the right price, to settle those payments. In February, the Pan-African Payment…
Femi Ogunjimi co-founded the Nigerian financial firm CardinalStone in 2008. He now focuses on its private equity arm, CardinalStone Capital Advisers, which invests in companies across West Africa. He spoke to How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz about his journey as an entrepreneur and investor. Topics discussed during the interview include: The…
What happens when more than 90 women with influence across corporate, SMME, government, community, diplomacy and the broader economy come together in one room to think about what they would change? That was the question at the heart of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership’s (GTP) inaugural The Future of Cities Is Female Breakfast 2026, held at…
Successful entrepreneurs can build exceptional businesses while continuing to struggle with self-doubt, overthinking and the need to prove themselves. Success is supposed to make us more confident. Yet for many entrepreneurs, the bigger their business becomes, the greater the pressure, uncertainty and expectation, and the more there is to lose. Additionally, business success does not…
When South Africa’s two-pot retirement system was introduced, the big question was whether people would treat their retirement savings as easy money to dip into or leave it alone for retirement. Two years later, the data tells a more complicated story – one driven primarily by real financial pressure. Many assumed withdrawals would happen evenly…
Like clockwork, as the final quarter rolls around, attention turns to whether a business will hit its annual sales target. How much still needs to close? Which deals can realistically land before year-end? What does the pipeline look like against the target? Those are fair questions when there are only a few productive weeks left…
