A Shoprite-commissioned report says South Africa’s small, micro and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) are surviving more successfully, but many are not able to scale up. The report highlights improvements in resilience while pointing to persistent constraints that limit growth.
Across the outlet’s framing, the barriers to scaling focus on practical access issues. The report identifies limited availability of suitable finance as a key constraint, along with difficulty securing procurement opportunities and broader market access. It links these factors to slower expansion and reduced ability to reach larger customer bases.
The coverage emphasizes a gap between day-to-day survival and growth. While the report suggests SMMEs are adapting and continuing to operate, it portrays structural challenges—particularly funding and market-related hurdles—that prevent businesses from converting resilience into sustained scale.
