The Unseen Sector: a Report on the MSME Opportunity in South Africa
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THE UNSEEN SECTOR A REPORT ON THE MSME OPPORTUNITY IN SOUTH AFRICA © International Finance Corporation [2018]. All rights reserved. 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 Internet: www.ifc.org The material in this work is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. IFC encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission to reproduce portions of the work promptly, and when the reproduction is for educational and non-commercial purposes, without a fee, subject to such attributions and notices as we may reasonably require. IFC does not guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the content included in this work, or for the conclusions or judgments described herein, and accepts no responsibility or liability for any omissions or errors (including, without limitation, typographical errors and technical errors) in the content whatsoever or for reliance thereon. 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All names, logos, and trademarks are the property of IFC and you may not use any of such materials for any purpose without the express written consent of IFC. Additionally, “International Finance Corporation” and “IFC” are registered trademarks of IFC and are protected under international law. November 2018 Front cover: The team at Est Est Alea restaurant, Johannesburg, prepare for lunch. Mercantile Bank supported Est Est Alea in the launch at their new location. Photo: IFC / Karel Prinsloo Acronyms APS Adult Population Survey NSBAA National Small Business Amendment Act AtlX Alternative Exchange NSBC National Small Business Chambers B-BBEE Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment NYDA National Youth Development Agency BDS Business Development Services OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation BER Bureau for Economic Research and Development BSM Business Sophistication Measure PALMS Post-Apartheid Labour Market Survey CIPC Companies and Intellectual Properties PAY E Pay As You Earn Commission POS Point of Sale CIPRO Companies and Intellectual Property QLFS Quarterly Labour Force Survey Registration Office SABS South African Bureau of Standards COIDA Compensation for Occupational Injuries SACRR South African Credit and Risk and Diseases Act Reporting Association CSI Corporate Social Investment SAICA South African Institute of DPME Department of Planning and Evaluation Chartered Accountants DSDB Department of Small Business Development SARS South African Revenue Service DTI Department of Trade and Industry SBC Small Business Corporation GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor SBP Small Business Project GVC Global Value Chain SEDA Small Enterprise Development Agency ICT Information and Communications Technology SEFA Small Enterprise Finance Agency IFC International Finance Corporation SESE Survey of Employees and Self-employed ILO International Labor Organization TIPS Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies KYC Know Your Customer TVET Technical and Vocational Education MFI Microfinance Institution and Training MSME Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises UIF Unemployment Insurance Fund NCA National Credit Act VAT Value Added Tax NCR National Credit Regulator VC Venture Capital NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations WEF World Economic Forum THE UNSEEN SECTOR FOREWORD 6 2. PAIN POINTS: BARRIERS TO MSME GROWTH 53 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 2.1 Regulatory red tape 57 INTRODUCTION: Business registration 58 UNCOVERING THE Tax compliance 59 UNSEEN SECTOR 14 Licensing and certification 61 1. A SECTOR ON THE CUSP: 2.2 Access to financial services 62 MSME SIZE AND PROFILE 18 Transactional banking 62 1.1 Defining key concepts 18 Start-up capital 63 1.2 Sizing the MSME sector 24 Working and short-term capital 64 Data that indicates the total count of MSMEs 26 Long-term capital 71 Data that indicates the size of 2.3 Access to skills 72 formal and informal businesses 32 2.4 Access to infrastructure 76 Data that indicates the rate 2.5 Access to markets 78 of business creation and termination 34 Public procurement 78 Triangulating the MSME Corporate supply and market size 37 distribution chains 79 1.3 Profiling the MSME market 38 Global value chains 83 By business sophistication 38 2.6 MSME development landscape 85 By geography 39 2.7 Key evidence and market gaps 88 By demographics 41 By industry 46 By job creation and quality 49 Findings from the MSME profiling 50 1.4 Key evidence gaps 51 4 A REPORT ON THE MSME LANDSCAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA THE UNSEEN SECTOR 3. UNLOCKING POTENTIAL: APPENDIX I – MSME FINANCING 90 WORLD BANK GROUP MSME INITIATIVES 114 3.1 Bank financing 91 Challenges for banks 95 APPENDIX II - METHODOLOGY 115 Solutions being considered by banks 98 Primary research 115 3.2 Non-bank financing 99 Desk research 116 Private equity and REFERENCES 120 venture capital 99 Microfinance institutions 99 Fintechs 101 Corporates 101 Other private stakeholders 101 Small Enterprise Financing Agency 102 3.3 The role of government in MSME financing 103 Challenges 103 Possible solutions 104 4. BUILDING A NEW PLAYING FIELD FOR SMALL BUSINESS 108 Better data on the MSME sector 108 Sharpened policy focus 109 Increased formalization 110 Improved financing and support 110 Summary of recommendations 112 A REPORT ON THE MSME LANDSCAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA 5 THE UNSEEN SECTOR it is thriving and what challenges need to Foreword be addressed by government and corporate policy to achieve a stronger MSME ecosystem. It finds that MSMEs are more likely to face credit constraints than larger firms, as they We are pleased to present this are not well entrenched in regional and global report, The Unseen Sector, jointly value chains. As a result, many MSMEs prepared by the World Bank in South Africa struggle to graduate from informal operations to established businesses, Group, in partnership with Genesis capping their job creation and economic Analytics and the South African contribution potential. Department of National Treasury. The study’s key findings demonstrate the big This report, which focuses on the size and opportunity for financial and government profile of the Micro, Small and Medium actors to strengthen the MSME environment. Enterprise (MSME) market, the barriers to It shows that for small businesses to growth and financing availability, builds on a sustainably contribute to job creation, body of existing work in a sector which can government and the private sector need provide the country with an opportunity to to work together to solve two of the main tackle a pressing development challenge of constraints hindering MSME development: extreme unemployment. access to finance and access to markets. Small businesses already employ a large This report shows that shifting the MSME portion of the population in Sub-Saharan sector into a larger job-creating engine Africa and contribute significantly to requires support during the start-up and growth phases of the MSME business life economic growth. In South Africa, small cycle. enterprises employ between 50 and 60 percent of the country’s work force and contribute We hope this report will provide a platform around 34 percent of GDP. However, the for further policy discussion that will lead MSME sector has been relatively stagnant to greater small business financial inclusion, over the last decade. helping to undo a legacy of exclusion. This report provides a snapshot of the small We trust that you will find this a valuable business landscape in South Africa, where read. Paul Noumba Um Saleem Karimjee Country Director Country Manager World Bank - for Southern Africa Botswana, Lesotho, International Finance Namibia, South Africa, Corporation Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe 6 A REPORT ON THE MSME LANDSCAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA THE UNSEEN SECTOR Fishing vessels arrive back in Hout Bay harbor and unload their catch. Photo: John Hogg / World Bank A REPORT ON THE MSME LANDSCAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA 7 THE UNSEEN SECTOR up to $3 billion in South African financial institutions Executive Summary over the next five to seven years, which we estimate could produce as many as 50,000 jobs. In addition, through partnerships with private sector lenders, the job creation multiplier effect could lead to between Building small businesses that contribute 73,000 and 98,000 jobs. to the economy and create jobs is one In South Africa, MSMEs employ between 50-60 percent of South Africa’s biggest development of South Africa’s work force and contribute around 34 opportunities. percent of GDP. However, these numbers don’t tell the full picture. There are large differences between the The Unseen Sector is a joint report between the World formal and informal sector and across business size. Bank and International Finance Corporation providing This report aims to address those variations. Building a an in-depth assessment of the micro, small and medium strong MSME sector can bolster South Africa’s economy enterprise (MSME) landscape in South Africa. and reliable and consistent access to data, regulation The report measures the MSME sector size and that improves access to finance and collaboration illustrates key barriers MSMEs face in terms of access to across the public and private sector will contribute to a finance, access to skills and access to markets in South better MSME ecosystem.