Photo by: Bloomberg
South Africa’s small to medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) perception of government support services has improved, the SME Survey 2014 revealed this week.
Half of the 38% of the respondents that had made use of government support services for SMEs in the last 12 months were “very happy” with the service, while a further 34% reported being “somewhat happy”.
Forty-four per cent of all respondents had high confidence in using government support services for SMEs, a jump from the 34% and 12% in 2007 and 2004 respectively.
“We have seen dramatic improvement in perceptions of government services over the past decade. Such improvements tended to follow restructuring of the services, showing that the evolution of such services has had positive outcomes,” principal researcher Arthur Goldstuck said in a statement.
The Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), acknowledging the contribution made by SMEs to the economy, had committed to easing all necessary interactions, including those with the South African Revenue Services (Sars) and the Companies and Intellectual Property Offices.
“When administration is straightforward and convenient, such as with Sars eFiling, doing business is faster and more satisfying. The advances in perceptions recorded by SME Survey over the years are noteworthy and confirm that government is on the right track,” Seda chief strategy and information officer Lusapho Njenge concluded.