One of the key milestones in the President’s plan to speed up our economic growth is his goal of improving our position in the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business Index” from 84 (out of 190 countries) up to the top 50 - within three years. After listing our current standings in several crucial measurement areas, we move on to some very positive and exciting news for entrepreneurs, for small business, and hopefully also for our economy as a whole. Government has just launched its “Biz Portal” online business registration platform, which promises to help you register your new business in just 1 day (it normally takes 40)! Everything you need is catered for – tax registrations, domain names, bank account, BEE certificate, you name it…

Be ready for new CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) requirements which kick in from January 2020. They apply to all companies and failure to comply will put your company at risk of deregistration - with all the resultant negative consequences for your company, for your business and for you personally. When you come to complete your company’s Annual Return next year (we’ll explain how to find out when your deadline for that will be) you will find that you must first complete a questionnaire/checklist designed by the CIPC to ensure that you are complying with Companies Act requirements. We’ll take you through this new requirement and how you will access the questionnaire, plus we share a list of the main areas of compliance it will cover.

Previously we discussed why having a business plan in place is so important (Benjamin Franklin’s “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” perhaps sums it up nicely. Let’s turn now to have a look at how you should go about compiling your plan. How do you get started? What topics should your plan cover? Firstly, consider using a business plan template for this exercise – many of the banks provide them. Then read through our summary of the five topics which lie at the centre of any successful business plan, and join us as we lead you through each of them in turn…

Will your business prosper, or will it fail? Your management style will always be a critical factor in deciding that, and the art of successful management requires that you understand when to get actively involved in an issue; and when to take a back seat while your staff team get on with it. But that’s not always easily achieved. Should you join the current fad for “Management By Walking Around”? What do you do about hostile employees? How should you handle criticism? We discuss the answers in the light of this sage advice from ancient philosopher Lao Tzu: “When the best leader’s work is done the people say ‘We did it ourselves’”.