ONE Linkage, a women-owned technology company, is putting its weight behind efforts to help small South African businesses recover from the spate of unrest that affected parts of the country in recent days.
A week of looting and rioting led to the destruction of thousands of businesses in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, with many of these being Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) that are likely to struggle to get up and running again.
To assist these businesses, on which tens of thousands of South Africans depend to earn a living, One Linkage has launched the #RiseUpSA Campaign, which aims to enable corporates to connect with and “adopt” SMMEs that need support.
One Linkage CEO and co-founder Hepsy Mkhungo said corporate South Africa is invited to join the cause and help SMMEs affected by the riots to rebuild and restart their businesses.
Some large corporates, such as Sasol, have already committed to the cause. “The recent civil unrest coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been catastrophic for many South African businesses,” said Sasol’s Chief Procurement officer, Lebelo Lukhele.
“As a corporate rooted in our South African heritage, we must remain agile in our response to the needs of our SMEs to ensure they remain sustainable. We are proud to partner with One Linkage as part of the #RiseUpSA campaign in responding to the immediate needs of small businesses.
“This partnership allows us to demonstrate the ‘spirit of ubuntu’ along with the power of digital platforms and innovation in the face of adversity,” Lukhele said.
Mkhungo said the initiative was designed to make it easy for corporates to lend support to affected SMMEs. “As a small tech start-up, we know the devastating impact any disruption can have on small businesses. We are leveraging our cloud-based platform, designed to connect business opportunities, and make it easy for SMMEs and corporates to work together.”
Cloud platform
The platform is an integrated, cloud-based digital and One Linkage is opening the onboarding component to the public at no cost to corporates and SMMEs.
“To participate in the campaign, SMMEs can register and upload required compliance documents, proof of being an existing business, and evidence of how they have been affected by the recent unrest. These documents will be used to vet and authenticate the claim,” she said. The platform will be open to both formal and informal business.
“Once a complete profile has been submitted, a high-level vetting processes will be conducted by our sister company, Zevoli, at no cost to any party, to minimise the exposure of corporates to unscrupulous claims.”
The SMMEs will then be categorised by industry, size, location, and number of employees to provide useful data for a corporate match. Registration is open to all small businesses with revenue of less than R50 million a year. Although BBBEE compliance will be requested, it will be for the purposes of recording rather than a pre-requisite for participation.
“Similarly, corporates are requested to register their interest to support SMMEs on the Linkage platform. They will need to provide general corporate information, contact details and indicate the type of support they would prefer to offer,” said Mkhungo.
When a match is made, a direct relationship is established between the corporate and SMME. Corporates are free to select an SMME according to their preferred criteria. Some might select only businesses in their value chain, while others might prioritise a small business based on the number of employees, its location or how it has been affected.
“The platform provides corporates with suggested ideas for support, based on the individual requirements per SMME. These could include infrastructure support, funding, mentorship or even psychological support. However, any additional support not specified can be offered by the corporate. Ideally, the participating corporate should take the SMME under their wing and provide end-to-end support to ensure the company can get up and running again.”
Mkhungo said one of the benefits for corporates is that their support can be aligned to either Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives or Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) initiatives. The platform will simply provide another means to source program participants.
“The broader benefit is helping the economy to recover from the setbacks caused by the unrest. The sustainability of any big business depends on its value chain. Unfortunately, the unrest has destabilised most value chains in South Africa, so this initiative is aimed to rebuild the industry.”
Registration opened on 21 July and will run to 23 September 2021. In support of Nelson Mandela month, it will remain open for 67 days. Both corporates and SMMEs can register here.
