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Thursday, 25 August 2016

MARKETS & INVESTMENT NEWS

South Africans urged to support Small Business Friday movement

South Africans are encouraged to support small businesses through the new Shop Small Business and Small Business Friday movement, an initiative by the National Small Business Chamber (NSBC) with Nedbank as the title sponsor.
South Africans urged to support Small Business Friday movementThe movement aims to encourage and inspire South Africans to make a big impact by supporting small businesses all year round, elevating on Fridays, and peaking on Small Business Friday - falling on the first Friday of spring each year.

The movement, now in its fourth year, is expanding and ramping up efforts in 2015 with a brand new call to Shop Small Business ahead of Small Business Friday on 4 September. "This is the day when the 365 day, 24/7 Shop Small Business movement peaks," explains Mike Anderson, CEO and founder of the NSBC. 

"It's a one-day high action drive to get even more South Africans to support, visit and spend at a small business. You can't buy happiness, but you can buy from a small business and that's almost the same. When you shop at small businesses, you impact the owner, the employees, their families, the community, and South Africa as a whole."

Pivotal role


Small businesses play a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of our country. "Not only do they currently contribute to over 35% of the country's GDP, but according to the Small Enterprise Development Agency they also employ over half the number of people who work in the private sector," says Tracy Afonso, head of Small Business Banking at Nedbank. 

"Therefore, it is in this spirit that Nedbank, as a bank for small businesses has supported Small Business Friday since its inception in 2012."
By getting involved in the Shop Small Business and Small Business Friday movement, South Africans will be able to lend their much needed support to small businesses so they can grow, employ more, reduce unemployment, and nurture the country's entrepreneurial spirit. 

"Friday, 4 September marks Small Business Friday, but it's about so much more than just one day. Through Shop Small Business we're aiming to bring about permanent change so small businesses can thrive all year round with the backing of all South Africans," says Anderson.

For more, go to www.smallbusinessfriday.co.za

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HIGHER EDUCATION NEWS

Free fee system 'will not help poor'

BY: SIPHO MABENA AND ERNEST MABUZA
Advocates of free tertiary education must think again if they believe this will benefit the poor.
Free fee system 'will not help poor'
© Oleksandr Mudretsov – 123RF.com
The Centre for Higher Education and Training made this argument Thursday, 11 August 2016, at the commission probing the feasibility of free university tuition.

Director Nico Cloete said the problem was that poor people did not qualify for higher education in large numbers.

"It is the middle class which go to the university," Cloete said, adding that the challenge for the government was to improve basic education. Cloete said of the one million children who started Grade 1 only 100,000 would enter university, and 53,000 of those would only graduate after six years.

"We have an expanding undergraduate system but low graduation rates," he said.

According to Cloete, poor students must be better selected, and when admitted better supported, not only financially and academically, but also socially.

"The implication is that the poor are in a revolving door; admitted to higher education but don't graduate, which leaves them with debt and some clearly angry," he said.

Cloete said there should be reputable post-matric alternatives such as technical vocational education, training colleges and apprenticeships so that university was not the only way out of poverty. He said the pressure on universities would destabilise the whole education system.

"If higher education is totally free, South Africa will have an exacerbated problem: students linger in universities and do not complete their studies," he said. University of Pretoria vice-chancellor Cheryl de la Rey agreed, saying the number of students from poor backgrounds who qualified for university was below 10,000.

About 75,000 who qualified for university were from affluent families, she said. A sliding-scale fee model in which tuition fees were based on household income should be considered, she added.

"Tuition fees should thus be seen as contributing a proportionate share of the effort to provide higher education and not designed to exclude anyone from participating in higher education."

Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge
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NBC News

The other side of Cape Town

South Africa township tours don’t sugarcoat reality

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Image: Tourist in Langa, S. Africa
Nardus Engelbrecht  /  AP
Tourist are seen at a curio shop in the township of Langa situated on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa.
By 
updated 5/11/2010 4:53:00 PM ET
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The Cape Town area is famous for beaches, wine tours and Table Mountain, among other attractions. But on a recent morning, a group of tourists set out to experience something most visitors never see — the townships where black and mixed-race South Africans were warehoused under apartheid.
"We want to show them the other side of Cape Town with this township tour," said Samantha Mtinini from Camissa Travel & Marketing. The tours take visitors to homes, schools and markets in three townships where they meet children, vendors and other residents.
The tour does not sugarcoat reality: Mtinini says the townships remain impoverished and beset by crime. But the company advertises the tours as a way to create jobs, as well as a way for visitors to experience the humanity and culture of the people who live there.
The tours might also make an interesting side trip for soccer fans heading to South Africa for the World Cup, which kicks off June 11.
First of three stops on the tour was Langa, a black township where the visitors were greeted by preschool kids singing a welcome in Xhosa and English.
Langa is an area of shacks, schools, religious, sports and recreational and cultural buildings. Traditional healers also do business here, claiming to be able to cure just about everything, and to clear evil spirits from homes and create luck for relationships and business.
"We are born with spirits from ancestors," Major Ndaba of the Langa Herbal Chemist shop told the tourists. "People come to me for all sorts of problems like business success and evil spirits."
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Just outside in the Joe Slovo shack settlement, Christopher Wanyoike awaited customers at his arts and crafts stall.
 Slideshow: Cape Town calls"My crafts are from all over Africa, from Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania among others," he said. He is among an army of Langa entrepreneurs, from fruit and vegetable hawkers, to cooks barbecuing meat al fresco to be served with umqombothi, frothy traditional African beer for about $2 (14 rand) a liter.
Next the tour moved to Bonteheuwel. The sprawling colored, or mixed-race, township was established after the forced removals in 1966 from an area known as District Six. District Six was a pocket of Cape Town where South Africans of different races lived together until the city council forced those who were not white to move far from their jobs and the economic hive of the city center.
Under apartheid, South Africans of mixed-race were more privileged than blacks, part of a divide-and-rule strategy to create tensions that linger to this day. Bonteheuwel, compared to Langa, boasted more sports fields and better schools with libraries and business centers.
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Then it was on to Guguletu, another black township. There, tourists saw new shacks built after apartheid ended in 1994, during an influx of settlers from rural to urban areas.
Mtinini said that wherever space is available, people build shacks, including just in front of the Gugulethu Seven monument, which commemorates seven anti-apartheid activists killed by the security police in 1987.
Nearby, another monument commemorates Amy Biehl, an American Fulbright scholar killed in 1993 in Guguletu. Biehl, 26, who was white, was studying how women were contributing to change in South Africa. Her black assailants claimed the attack was part of the war on white rule.
Biehl's attackers were granted amnesty after confessing before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to help the country cope with the legacy of apartheid.
Two of her attackers now work for a charity the Biehl family founded that has provided training in arts, sports and other areas to young South Africans.
SOURCE: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37091638/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/other-side-cape-town/#.V77PCPl96Cg
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Thursday, 18 August 2016

Find out if your business needs a trade licence


What you need to know to stay on the right side of the law

BY LEBOHANG THULO


Published: 

Legislation requires that certain types of businesses be in possession of a valid business or trade license. This can include businesses like a restaurant, coffee shop, a tavern or a health and wellness spa. 
Because a trade license is not a requirement for every new business, it can be easy to fall on the wrong side of the law even before you start seeing profits.
Below we answer some of the most frequently asked questions about trade licenses and how they can impact your SME. 
What is a business license?
A business license allows you to establish a particular business in a specified area. The license also ensures that your business and the business premises meet all of the building regulations, public safety and health requirements. Trading without a valid license is a punishable offense.
Which businesses need trade licenses? 
Most new businesses will not require a business license, but there are certain types of businesses that may not trade without a proper trade license, according to the Business Act 71 of 1991 that governs it. These include:
- Health clinics, spas, saunas, and public baths
- Massage parlors, laser and ultraviolet treatment centres
- Escort agencies
- Adult shops
- Cinemas
- Nightclubs
- Pool rooms
- Arcades
- Any business with three or more vending or slot machines
- Hawkers
- Places that serve food, provide take-aways or transport meals
What is the application process?
Applications need to be completed and submitted to the relevant licensing department.
The application needs to include the following: copies of company papers, member’s identity documents, manager’s identity document, as well as the payment of once-off fees. 
How is the success of the application determined?
Once you've submitted your application, the licensing department sends a report to the other municipal departments involved in the process. The application needs to comply with all relevant laws including:
- Health and Safety - Applicable to the requirements for food premises and the transport of food
- Noise and air pollution - Applicable to the control and prevention of noise and air pollution
- Building Control Unit – Applicable to building control in compliance with the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, 1977
- Urban Planning Unit – Applicable to land use rights
- Public Safety and Emergency Services – Applicable to public safety.
How long is the trade license valid? 
A trade license or application is not transferable at change of ownership or from one premises to another. A trade license can be withdrawn or suspended if not complying to endorsements. Once the trading license has been granted, your premises may be inspected from time to time.
Tips from Standard Bank Bizconnect on how to apply for a business license
1. Know who you are dealing with. Depending on the location of your business, you will either be dealing with a metropolitan council, a local town municipality or an area district council. Either way, you will be dealing with the licensing office or licensing department in that municipality or council.
2. Get you facts right. Before joining any queues, first call your local council to confirm whether or not you need a business or trade license, and where you can obtain the necessary information and application forms.
3. Check for additional requirements. Also find out whether or not your business will require any additional permits or certificates.
4. Know your by-laws. Business or trade license requirements are governed by the National Business Act and apply throughout the country, whereas permits and certificates are generally issued in terms of local authority by-laws. These by-laws tend to differ from municipality to municipality.
5. Get proof. Make sure that the licensing department issues you with proof of application and payment of fees before you leave their offices.

All information from the official website of the City of Johannesburg. 
Source: SME SOUTH AFRICA
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5 reasons why foreigner-run spaza shops do better than local counterpar

Study outlines the reasons why foreigner-owned spaza shops are more competitive

BY SIPHELELE.DLUDLA


Published: 

The township spaza shop competition is tough, and the subject of foreign-owned spazas is a thorny one for many local spaza shop owners.
A Cape Town based non-profit organisation, theSustainable Livelihoods Foundation (SLF), conducted a two-year in-depth study to understand the current characteristics of ownership, the scope of employment within the business and trading practices of spaza shops in the Western Cape and Gauteng townships.
Spaza shops are micro-convenience stores which operate in township residential areas, selling groceries, bread, cool drinks, prepaid airtime, sweets and cigarettes.
The findings
​The study surveyed over 6000 micro-enterprises in nine localities, covering an estimated 50,000 households.
One of the most striking findings documented in the SLF's report, The Informal Economy of Township Spaza Shops, is that South African owned spaza shops are less competitive than foreign-run spazas.
The reasons given by the study - why foreign shopkeepers enjoy success than South Africans - are attributed to the strength of their social networks, which provide them with access to labour and capital, and thus enable them collective purchasing and market domination.
However, the study also reveals a growing concern from local business owners that much of the economic value now generated within the spaza shop market, including wages, is exported from the township economy to home countries of these foreign entrepreneurs and workers. The study also shows a further concern, that is the role of foreign shops in providing access to contraband goods.
We take a look at five key business areas that differentiate foreign-owned spaza shops from local ones as identified by the SLF research.

Foreign spaza businesses are successfully using supply chain networking and price discounting to procure goods more cost effectively.

1. Ownership dynamics
​The majority of South African spazas are home-based, whereas foreign-run spazas usually operate from a semi-detached room or from a rented premises - usually an existing spaza shop venue.
Another differentiating factor, even though its impact is not fully understood, is that a significant number of South African owned spazas are owned and run by women, whilst almost all foreign operated spazas are male-owned businesses. 
There is also evidence of collective or cooperative ownership among foreigners. This means that the majority of foreign spaza shops are either owned through a share-holding agreement or a single entrepreneur owning several stores.
2. Capital investment
​According to SLF's research, foreigners' competitive advantage is evident in the scale of investment which is approximately R45,000 on average, within start-up businesses. This is compared to R1,500 to R5,000 on average for South Africans.
The financial backing from these ownership models combined with the benefits of a ethnic business networking enables foreign spaza shops to purchase within buying collectives and achieve greater economies of scale.
The study reveals that this increased purchasing power, together with lower unit transaction cost such as transport and labour, enables these collectives, similar to large enterprises, to secure more favourable terms from wholesalers and obtain direct supply linkages to manufacturers.
3. Stock procurement
​An important business advantage of foreign shopkeepers, for example, lies in the semi co-operative supply system through which the shop owners procure their goods from wholesalers and manufacturers. According to research, foreign spaza businesses are successfully using supply chain networking and price discounting to procure goods more cost effectively.
Each business thus benefits from a procurement and distribution chain that supports multiple stores. As a result of their scale of operation, each buying collective, is able to secure premium terms from suppliers and can reduce transport costs and ensure that shops within the group receive an uninterrupted supply of merchandise.
The study found that in contrast, as sole traders, South African spazas are unable to match the collective purchasing power and labour advantages of the foreign businesses and have opted to either close their shops or focus on commodities in which they can sustain a competitive advantage like take-away food and liquor retailing.
4. Business operations
​On the operations of business, research found that some local spaza shops, such as the house shops, operate part-time to supplement other household income. Most South Africans operate their businesses themselves or draw on family labour.
Foreign spazas conduct business on a full-time basis and provide employment to persons other than the business owner and family, commonly known as casual workers. Some of these employees work under conditions akin to bonded labour, which means they work around the clock as shopkeepers during the day and security guards at night.
This enables the foreign spazas to minimize their labour costs, whilst employing sufficient staff to operate the business over longer trading hours. Many trade between 6am and 10pm.
5. Product diversification
​According to SLF research, the success of foreigners within the spaza market has been achieved through the careful positioning of businesses to operate within particular niche markets.
The study reveals that product diversity and range has given foreign run businesses competitive advantage while local spaza entrepreneurs have failed to interpret this market.
Foreign spaza shops engage in diversifying business through selling alcohol and installing arcade games. This is a competitive advantage that many South African spaza owners have not yet capitalised on.
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