Latest news with #BusinessPartners
Zawya
21 hours ago
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa: SME confidence rises in 2025, challenges remain
According to the Business Partners SME Confidence Index, South African SMEs are increasingly optimistic in 2025, with more business owners viewing the economy and government efforts as supportive of growth. However, cash flow, economic conditions, and limited funding continue to constrain growth. The index shows 86% of SMEs consider access to finance critical, 85% need targeted business resources, and 83% cite mentorship as important. Policy adjustments underway to aid SME growth Business Partners Limited highlights that the National Small Enterprise Amendment Act aims to simplify access to financial and non-financial support by cutting bureaucratic hurdles. The company adds that while legislation is a positive step, private sector involvement remains crucial to provide capital, mentorship, and networks entrepreneurs need. Entrepreneur of the Year Awards open for entries Business Partners Limited announced that the 37th annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards opened on 1 July 2025, inviting SME owners to apply across three categories: Emerging Entrepreneur, Small Business Entrepreneur, and Medium Business Entrepreneur. Five finalists will be selected in each, with special awards for job creation and innovation depending on entries. Winners will be announced in October 2025 and will share R2m in prizes including cash, mentorship, technical assistance, and business exposure. Global exposure linked to upcoming summits Business Partners notes that South Africa's hosting of the 2025 G20 and B20 summits in November offers award winners an opportunity to engage with global decision-makers. The summits represent economies covering 85% of global GDP and nearly 80% of international trade, providing a platform to build cross-border partnerships and expand market reach. All rights reserved. © 2022. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
IOL News
4 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Business Partners launches Entrepreneur of the Year Award to support small businesses
Sheldon Tatchell, founder of the Legends Barber franchise, won the coveted Overall 2024 Entrepreneur of the Year award in the 36th annual Business Partners Limited Entrepreneur of the Year® awards in November last year. Image: Supplied Business Partners launched its Entrepreneur of the Year Award on Tuesday, an award that ranks among the most long-standing and prestigious of its kind in this country and which aims to foster growth in small and medium businesses by successful entrepreneurs. David Morobe, executive general manager of Impact Investing at SME financing company Business Partners said at an online event that the award, which was started in 1989 and stopped only during the Covid pandemic, aimed to honour entrepreneurs 'who don't give up on challenges.' There are award categories for different sizes of smaller businesses and for different types of entrepreneurs: Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, SME Entrepreneur of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year for medium-sized businesses, Job Creator of the Year, Innovator of the Year, Impact Entrepreneur of the Year, and Overall Entrepreneur of the Year. In the 2023, the competition attracted over 350 entries, and last year there were more than 650 entries. Morobe said there was a high quality of entrepreneurs in the last competition, and the greater stability and confidence in the small business sector, as indicated by the SME Index for the last quarter of 2024, might spur even more entries in the 2025 year. He said business confidence in the SME sector had noticeably improved last year after the formation of the Government of National Unity, and he hoped the GNU would continue, as the business confidence it had generated was vital to the growth of the SME sector, which in turn formed a major part of the growth of the overall economy and job creation. For example, the SME Index had shown that some 80% of SME business owners polled expected their businesses to grow in 2025, 64% were confident about obtaining access to finance to sustain their businesses, while 72% expressed confidence in their ability to attract talented staff. SMEs had played a pivotal role in the post-recovery of the economy after the Covid pandemic, he said. Business Partners area manager Lawrance Ramotala said this month that the contribution of small businesses to youth development is not only practical but deeply transformational. 'In many cases, SMEs are the first to take a chance on young people, whether by hiring them as first-time employees, helping them launch their first business, or partnering with them as we're seeing is a groundswell of youth entrepreneurship that's rooted in community enterprise,' he said. 'This is particularly evident in township settings, where formal employment is often out of reach. In these areas, youth-led micro and small businesses are not only becoming viable alternatives to traditional work but also creating employment for others in their communities,' he said. Morobe said the competition provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their business excellence, services, and products to a wider community. The entrepreneurs get to interact with other businesspeople, organisations, and institutions they otherwise would not have been able to access, and it exposes entrepreneurs to opportunities for businesses to tap into improvements and innovations in their existing businesses. Visit:
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What Will Berkshire Hathaway Look Like Without Warren Buffett? Here's What Charlie Munger Predicted 10 Years Ago.
Warren Buffett is stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year. In 2014, Charlie Munger provided his take on what the company would look like if Buffett ever left. Berkshire Hathaway was set up to run and grow by buying companies with specific traits, so it's poised to keep that up under almost any kind of management. 10 stocks we like better than Berkshire Hathaway › With Warren Buffett's stunning announcement that he will retire by the end of the year, investors are wondering what's in store for Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B). Vice Chairman Greg Abel is taking over, but will Berkshire Hathaway be the same? A decade ago, Charlie Munger, Buffett's decades-long business partner, actually addressed his vision of what would happen when Buffett steps down. It's worthwhile to read what he had to say, which is still incredibly relevant and timely today. Buffett has been at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway since 1965, and he has been writing his annual shareholders' letter since 1977. Munger was Buffett's business partner and mentor throughout that time until he died in 2023, and he added his thoughts to Buffett's just one time, in 2014, at the 50th anniversary of Buffett's leadership. He used that opportunity to share his thoughts about why the company was so successful, and he also gave himself the task to "predict whether abnormally good results would continue at Berkshire if Buffett were soon to depart." He gave a quick "yes," for the following reasons: The company owns a large subset of strong businesses with high momentum that all have durable competitive advantages. That's the kind of sentence you would expect to hear straight from Buffett, and since Buffett credits Munger with shaping his investing style, it's no surprise the two think similarly. The company's railroad and utility investments provide it with easy ways to add assets that multiply their opportunities. "Provided that most of the Berkshire system remains in place," he wrote, "the combined momentum and opportunity now present is so great that Berkshire would almost surely remain a better-than-normal company for a very long time even if (1) Buffett left tomorrow, (2) his successors were persons of only moderate ability, and (3) Berkshire never again purchased a large business." Of course, he goes on to say that Ajit Jain and Greg Abel are not only moderate but "world class," or even "world leading," and that "in some important ways, each is a better business executive than Buffett." He also notes that he doesn't think either would leave Berkshire for another company, and that neither is looking to make any changes at Berkshire. As for buying new businesses, he felt that the company would find plenty of ways to deploy its cash buildup. In other words, even 10 years ago, the company was set up to continue as it has for years even without Buffett in charge. Now that this has been set in motion, things should continue as planned. Most of this applies today. Interestingly, Jain and Abel were only appointed as vice chairmen in 2018 and only took questions on the management panel at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting starting in 2021, when Abel was named as Buffett's successor. But they were in these upper management roles at least 10 years ago, and already then, it was clear, to Munger at least, that they weren't going anywhere and weren't changing things at Berkshire Hathaway. At the time of Munger's letter, Berkshire Hathaway had a cash buildup of about $60 billion, which is about a sixth of what it is today. Since that time, the company has made use of its cash with "desirable acquisitions," such as battery company Duracell, insurance company Alleghany, and toy company Jazwares. Buffett's made two things clear recently that give some color as to what's going to happen with today's mammoth cash buildup. One, that sometimes there are tons of opportunities, and most of the time, there aren't. He sees no reason to deploy the company's capital, which is his job as a money manager, to buy subpar offerings. Two, he has full confidence in Abel's ability to act quickly when opportunities do present themselves. Although investors love to dissect the company's equity portfolio move by move, Buffett has made his name by waiting patiently for truly excellent opportunities and taking decisive action when they arise. "We are impartial in our choice of equity vehicles, investing in either variety based upon where we can best deploy your (and my family's) savings," he wrote this year. "Often, nothing looks compelling; very infrequently, we find ourselves knee-deep in opportunities. Greg has vividly shown his ability to act at such times as did Charlie." Abel may not bring the Buffett brand to the table, but the actual functioning of Berkshire Hathaway and the value it brings to shareholders isn't likely to change when Buffett closes the curtain. Before you buy stock in Berkshire Hathaway, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Berkshire Hathaway wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $614,911!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $714,958!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 907% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 163% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 5, 2025 Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. What Will Berkshire Hathaway Look Like Without Warren Buffett? Here's What Charlie Munger Predicted 10 Years Ago. was originally published by The Motley Fool
