In the small village of BotRivier just off the N2 on your way to Hermanus, you can find the Botrivier Hotel, a fuel station and a hand full of shops. Other than these and a few outlying wine farms, there is not much else to write about. Until now.

Portia is a resident of the informal sector of the town. She and her husband Joe live in an informal home with other members of their family. Parked outside their home is a caravan that they paid R5000 for with the plans to open a business and serve food to the local community and at functions around the town.

Portia started attending business courses offered through the local municipality and SEDA offices. She built up enough money to buy a laptop and printer that she uses to plan her business ideas and keep track of her emails.

Then through an initiative with the Kliphuewel-Dassiefontien Wind Energy Facility who sponsored a programme that we got involved with, this started to become real for Portia.

Her business now registered as Joe’s Braai Place started to gain shape and momentum. A number of planning meetings and site inspections gave rise to the approval of some money to buy equipment and stock. Last week I felt like Father Christmas delivering a carload of items that will help Portia launch her business and start making money.

Portia has been equipped with not only the stock and kitchen tools but enough business tools to give her the jump start she needs to develop a sustainable business in the community.

We are still looking for partners who will continue to work alongside her after the contract expires at the end of the year to assist Portia in the financial accountability and supply chain issues she will face.

What a privilege and honour to be involved with her to help realise her dreams.

Welmien is one of our smartest clients with one of the biggest hearts we know. She has a degree in microbiology and is fascinated by anything that can only be seen under a microscope especially if it is infectious and dangerous to human health.

Welmien is currently working on a number of new innovative ideas to not only monitor waterborne microbes but be able to identify them and their source before they infect animals and humans. She works as a water analyst doing surveys at hotels, hospitals and other public entities, but her passion is finding that innovative way to be ahead of the curve of infectious diseases and stop them dead in their tracks.

We are always excited to have her in our offices as this is always followed by great conversation, laughter and yet another brilliant idea to add to the product development cycle we are working on. We look forward to the near future when water becomes a safer resource for both urban and rural consumers throughout Africa because of what Welmien has developed.

If you are interested in knowing more about water and those pesky micro bugs, Welmien is available for short talks and water assessments. You can contact her through our offices.

Due to the complaints by the citizens about banks and financial institution’s refusal to support the SMME’s proposals as they consider them as risky ventures irrespective of the brilliance.
The National Treasury and the Department of Science and Technology have formulated an SMME and Innovation Fund which will be impĺemented during the 3rd quarter, with the disbursements in 2019/2020.
The funds will build on best practices in the sector and will be directed towards innovative and potential start-ups. The fund will lead to the rollout of the EUEP through SMMEs Support Programme for SA(SSPSA). This project will inject R800million into the SMMEs over the next 5years.
The Fund will be announced in September 2018 and will deploy effectively to craft an alternative future for entrepreneurs and SMMEs in SA.

See link

https://www.bee.co.za/single-post/2018/05/20/Government-ironing-out-details-for-rollout-of-R2bn-SMME-and-Innovation-fund

Following our blog last week, we see that VAT is set to increase to 15% from the 1st of April 2018 following the Minister of Finance’s budget speech. This will not be a simple task like many would have imagined where one will just change the rate in their accounting package and continue capturing.  It is a complex process that requires much attention, planning and time to execute smoothly.

Companies will have to initially accommodate two VAT rates due to timing and cut-off periods, when were the goods delivered or services rendered and in the case of credit notes that might have to be issued after the 30th of March 2018 for goods or services rendered before the 1st of April 2018.  Some invoices will have the two rates, looking the example of cell phone service providers where subscriptions are charges in advance and call are charged in arrears. The biggest complication will be in April where some companies will have VAT of 14 % on income and expenses and VAT of 15% on income and expenses.

Companies, however, have the option to increase their prices simply because the VAT act allows or keep the prices the same but that would mean absorbing the tax costs hence less income from the same price. Companies can opt not to increase their prices for various reasons some being to maintain business relations or to attract more customers but that does not mean they will be immune to the 1% VAT increase from the authorities.

Despite all these companies will have to be ready to comply with the rules. Making the necessary changes immediately is advised considering the amount of work that is estimated to go into this transition especially for big companies with a lot of transactions. Please consult your accounts for assistance with this.