Director at Fluence Capital, Sandra Beswick, urges businesses to seek help early, so that they can turn the tide around. She says the pandemic and resulting lockdowns occurred suddenly, bringing businesses to an immediate halt. As a result many business owners are waiting to see what happens when they should be proactive about turning their businesses around, even whilst in lockdown. While Beswick acknowledges the relief schemes and aids that government has put in place to assist entrepreneurs, she cautions businesses there are pitfalls to taking government assistance and perhaps in the long run some of them could be better off “cutting expenses and managing overheads instead”.

To arrange a free private telephonic or online consultation, businesses can call Sandra Beswick on 082-338-5007.

Earlier on OFM News interviewed Keke Supi, the owner of a popular car wash and food court called, K-LA-K in the Bochabela township in Bloemfontein regarding the effect of the lockdown on his business. 

Supi says when President Cyril Ramaphosa first announced the 21-day lockdown, local business owners and informal traders conditioned themselves for it, but the two-week extension caught him and others off guard. Supi has tried to access the Department of Small Business Development’s debt relief fund but says he is not eligible for relief because the application requires an Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) reference number which proves his employees are registered for UIF. He has not registered his employees for UIF. 

OFM News