Additional Resources and Info

The Workspace is proud to have built up a wide range of resources for entrepreneurs. Here you’ll find expert advice and information on everything from starting a business in South Africa to getting funding, marketing, money management and more.

SME South Africa is a one-stop-shop for business owners to access advice, business tools and resources they need.

The MSME Funding Handbook is a practical funding guide which aims to equip entrepreneurs and MSMEs with comprehensive information as they embark on sourcing various types of funding for their business, gauge funding readiness, steer them to make the right funding decisions for their business and to find the most appropriate funding solution.

Lulalend is more than a company. It’s a belief in the power of small business, making a difference, building a better solution and striving for excellence. We work hard to empower businesses across South Africa with the funds they need to grow, and we have a great time doing it!

Retail Capital partners with you through innovative funding solutions, where flexible repayment options are determined by your business performance. Since 2011, we have provided businesses with innovative, flexible and convenient alternatives to traditional business funding. Business owners still identify access to working capital as the single biggest challenge that they are faced with. With small to medium-sized businesses (SMMEs) responsible for 50% of the country’s GDP and contributing to over 65% of employment, we are devoted to partnering with entrepreneurs to grow the South African economy. We are proud to have partnered with over 22,000 SMMEs in providing funding of over R3bn to date.

Nic Haralambous has partnered with Daily Maverick to provide the small business ecosystem of South Africa with a place to gather information, useful links, resources and other helpful tricks, tips and tools to help SMME’s through this insanity, even in the smallest of ways. This newsletter is their way of adding value to a community of people who, quite literally, keep our economy alive. If we are to rebuild and create the jobs necessary to fix our economy, we need to support SMEs as much as possible.

Comprehensive list of all the funding resources (both public and private) for SMMEs affected by COVID19 as well as a selection of articles, videos, documents and information on a wide variety of topics relevant to small businesses.

OfferZen’s blog is packed with valuable resources for effective remote working, team engagement, digital events, and recruitment during the pandemic – drawing insights from leaders and business across SA’s tech community.

Harambee has developed a resource portal because they believe that all South African businesses have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown. They have gathered together resources about funding, financial relief or general support to assist businesses to survive and eventually thrive.

The Return2Work Initiative is facilitating collaboration between government and business to provide tools and guidelines to enable sectors to expedite a safe, effective and structured return2work plan. These tools, resources and guidance notes do not in any way replace the legislation, but are intended to supplement and assist sectors and businesses to operate safely under the risk adjusted framework.

10x and Edge Growth have collated over 200 valuable resources for SA businesses organised under four phases – 1. Awareness 2. React: Urgent operational challenges 3. Respond: survival and stabilisation 4. Lead: Strategic Adjustments and 5. Scale: Preparing for the Next Wave. This toolkit is accessible via Airtable and is updated regularly as new info and resources emerge.

Information for businesses about recovery, support, travel & lockdown in the Western Cape as well as links to additional tools & resources.

Good range of articles and opinion pieces on legal Issues relating to COVID-19 that affect individuals, SMMEs and businesses.

Practical guidance on significant commercial and legal issues due to COVID-19 including a wide range of articles, changes to legislation, infographics and opinion pieces.

Broad range of content for SMMEs and start-ups – including marketing, finance, product development, operations, HR etc

The Workspace is proud to have built up a wide range of resources for entrepreneurs. Here you’ll find expert advice and information on everything from starting a business in South Africa to getting funding, marketing, money management and more.

SME South Africa is a one-stop-shop for business owners to access advice, business tools and resources they need.

The MSME Funding Handbook is a practical funding guide which aims to equip entrepreneurs and MSMEs with comprehensive information as they embark on sourcing various types of funding for their business, gauge funding readiness, steer them to make the right funding decisions for their business and to find the most appropriate funding solution.

Lulalend is more than a company. It’s a belief in the power of small business, making a difference, building a better solution and striving for excellence. We work hard to empower businesses across South Africa with the funds they need to grow, and we have a great time doing it!

Retail Capital partners with you through innovative funding solutions, where flexible repayment options are determined by your business performance. Since 2011, we have provided businesses with innovative, flexible and convenient alternatives to traditional business funding. Business owners still identify access to working capital as the single biggest challenge that they are faced with. With small to medium-sized businesses (SMMEs) responsible for 50% of the country’s GDP and contributing to over 65% of employment, we are devoted to partnering with entrepreneurs to grow the South African economy. We are proud to have partnered with over 22,000 SMMEs in providing funding of over R3bn to date.

Nic Haralambous has partnered with Daily Maverick to provide the small business ecosystem of South Africa with a place to gather information, useful links, resources and other helpful tricks, tips and tools to help SMME’s through this insanity, even in the smallest of ways. This newsletter is their way of adding value to a community of people who, quite literally, keep our economy alive. If we are to rebuild and create the jobs necessary to fix our economy, we need to support SMEs as much as possible.

Comprehensive list of all the funding resources (both public and private) for SMMEs affected by COVID19 as well as a selection of articles, videos, documents and information on a wide variety of topics relevant to small businesses.

OfferZen’s blog is packed with valuable resources for effective remote working, team engagement, digital events, and recruitment during the pandemic – drawing insights from leaders and business across SA’s tech community.

Harambee has developed a resource portal because they believe that all South African businesses have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown. They have gathered together resources about funding, financial relief or general support to assist businesses to survive and eventually thrive.

The Return2Work Initiative is facilitating collaboration between government and business to provide tools and guidelines to enable sectors to expedite a safe, effective and structured return2work plan. These tools, resources and guidance notes do not in any way replace the legislation, but are intended to supplement and assist sectors and businesses to operate safely under the risk adjusted framework.

10x and Edge Growth have collated over 200 valuable resources for SA businesses organised under four phases – 1. Awareness 2. React: Urgent operational challenges 3. Respond: survival and stabilisation 4. Lead: Strategic Adjustments and 5. Scale: Preparing for the Next Wave. This toolkit is accessible via Airtable and is updated regularly as new info and resources emerge.

Information for businesses about recovery, support, travel & lockdown in the Western Cape as well as links to additional tools & resources.

Good range of articles and opinion pieces on legal Issues relating to COVID-19 that affect individuals, SMMEs and businesses.

Practical guidance on significant commercial and legal issues due to COVID-19 including a wide range of articles, changes to legislation, infographics and opinion pieces.

Broad range of content for SMMEs and start-ups – including marketing, finance, product development, operations, HR etc

For South African SMMEs to connect and support each other. Daily tips, article shares and engagement between entrepreneurs.

For South African SMMEs to connect and support each other. Daily tips, article shares and engagement between entrepreneurs.

Endeavour South Africa has created a resources page for entrepreneurs to assist them to manage through crisis. The page is updated weekly with new information, upcoming events and webinars, as well as video content, articles and resources for startups and teams.

Yoco Small Business Community is a space for entrepreneurs and small business owners to connect, share and learn together.

Campaign to support your favourite business to help with economic readiness and recovery.

SMMEs form the backbone of the city’s economy, making up the majority of service providers for goods and services needed for the optimal performance and functioning of the high growth sectors in Cape Town. SMMEs therefore desperately need help to remain open, support their staff, and get back to business

As part of the City’s commitment to supporting small businesses during these difficult times, we’re inviting fellow Capetonians to post a short video or image of their favourite small business via social media to share their success and resilience, using the campaign hashtags #myfavouritebusiness and #CPTPlusME.

UCT GSB Solution Space has partnered with Digify Africa to offer you two sessions from the An online business management and accounting system specifically designed for people in small business who don’t understand accounting. It includes features such as pricelist, invoice and quote generation.

Facebook for Business offers a customisable online shop allowing you to showcase your featured products, and design your brand with integration with Instagram.

Cape Business Centre boasts state-of-the-art conferencing facilities to accommodate small to medium sized conferences, lectures, presentations, workshops, and special events.

We offer professionals a virtual office solution with access to private offices and consulting rooms for meetings and business proceedings in Cape Town. Our unique amenities and sleek designed working spaces exemplify our commitment to complement your business with a prestigious corporate infrastructure.

Network and engage with clients and partners on the majestic harbour facing balcony that offers uninterrupted views of Cape Town’s portside.

This free online marketing course on marketing an online business will teach you how to put together a highly effective online marketing strategy. With online marketing being so competitive, businesses need to take advantage of every opportunity to maximise their online presence and attract as many customers as possible. This course will teach you how you can carve out space for your brand and business online.

BASA and British Council Connect ZA partnered on an exciting project aimed at significantly cultivating creative market growth skills within South Africa’s creative and cultural industries in 2014/2015. This resulted in an e-learning online platform that provides findings from the fellowship research on defining your creative markets, working with data and data capture analysis, and using the marketing strategies and tools available to effectively build and retain audiences for art organisations and individuals in the creative and cultural sectors.

The KoiGroup for Entrepreneurs and Innovators is an online community for posting tips, tricks and opportunities for entrepreneurs across a range of sectors.

Times are extremely tough for your business. We know Africa’s businesses and entrepreneurs are innovative, tireless, and resilient. Right now though, you need more than motivational speeches, talking heads, and promises of better days ahead. You need practical tools for today to help you make it through and keep your business alive. AMI’s Business Survival Bootcamp has the practical tools you’re looking for.

The Business Bootcamp series comprises 24 free, open-access, pre-recorded webinars delivered by business experts, each around 45 minutes to an hour long. It aims to increase women entrepreneurs’ business skills, financial literacy and knowledge on growth and investment options. Each webinar is geared around a topic like understanding business models and registration formalities, accounting and book-keeping, financial services, assessing business health, costing and pricing, managing credit and debit, and – crucially for the current era – planning for ups and downs.

Video chat with the whole Team. W17 Meet is a fully encrypted video conferencing solution that you can use all day, every day, hosted proudly in South Africa by Workshop 17.

The CDI offers a range of publications with practical advice on growing your creative business, exploring new markets, and more.

Wesgro’s dedicated Trade Unit constantly looks for ways to develop trade and export capacity in Cape Town and the Western Cape through practical training and relationship building.

Their trade-facilitation programme is designed to provide opportunities for Western Cape-based exporters to meet potential customers, conclude business deals and also to grow their businesses by expanding their markets. This helps to develop the provincial economy and create more jobs.

SARS offers a useful guide to registering and licencing your business for export, including all relevant forms and contacts.

Learn new marketing skills with free online courses.
Explore self-paced and step-by-step tutorials that can help you build your digital marketing knowledge and bring your business online.

The Insaka eCommerce Community is South Africa’s biggest community of eCommerce entrepreneurs. The group is here to help online businesses to grow. Entrepreneurs and people working for online businesses can come together to help one another by sharing their experiences and knowledge.

Startup Grind has curated a series of podcasts with entrepreneurs sharing their experiences and advice

With 2020 properly underway, it’s a good time to take a step back and assess the health of your website. While you may not be able to tell immediately if it’s performing at its best, there are a few regular checks that can help. Here’s your Website Health Check-in 5 easy steps.

Before you can respond with remedial measures and actions you need to know how solvent and resilient your business is right now. Are you planning to restore your business to its previous status, offering the same products and services to existing markets or do you need to re-position and restructure your business, aimed at new opportunities? Once you know your present position and you have decided on your future direction you can take the necessary actions to make the changes to your business and your go-to-market activities. Please use the FREE QuiCA Continuation Assessment Tool to quickly identify the stress areas in your business, right now

An evolution of their popular Culture Canvas tool, Me We Us is a guide to building culture remotely by assisting you to first master yourself and your own performance. Secondly, it covers mastering social interactions but learning how to effectively communicate with a remote team and finally, to master teamwork and managing a team remotely. This guide also comes with practical tools and templates for you to put this into place.

Endeavour South Africa has created a resources page for entrepreneurs to assist them to manage through crisis. The page is updated weekly with new information, upcoming events and webinars, as well as video content, articles and resources for startups and teams.

Yoco Small Business Community is a space for entrepreneurs and small business owners to connect, share and learn together.

Campaign to support your favourite business to help with economic readiness and recovery.

SMMEs form the backbone of the city’s economy, making up the majority of service providers for goods and services needed for the optimal performance and functioning of the high growth sectors in Cape Town. SMMEs therefore desperately need help to remain open, support their staff, and get back to business

As part of the City’s commitment to supporting small businesses during these difficult times, we’re inviting fellow Capetonians to post a short video or image of their favourite small business via social media to share their success and resilience, using the campaign hashtags #myfavouritebusiness and #CPTPlusME.

UCT GSB Solution Space has partnered with Digify Africa to offer you two sessions from the An online business management and accounting system specifically designed for people in small business who don’t understand accounting. It includes features such as pricelist, invoice and quote generation.

Facebook for Business offers a customisable online shop allowing you to showcase your featured products, and design your brand with integration with Instagram.

Cape Business Centre boasts state-of-the-art conferencing facilities to accommodate small to medium sized conferences, lectures, presentations, workshops, and special events.

We offer professionals a virtual office solution with access to private offices and consulting rooms for meetings and business proceedings in Cape Town. Our unique amenities and sleek designed working spaces exemplify our commitment to complement your business with a prestigious corporate infrastructure.

Network and engage with clients and partners on the majestic harbour facing balcony that offers uninterrupted views of Cape Town’s portside.

This free online marketing course on marketing an online business will teach you how to put together a highly effective online marketing strategy. With online marketing being so competitive, businesses need to take advantage of every opportunity to maximise their online presence and attract as many customers as possible. This course will teach you how you can carve out space for your brand and business online.

BASA and British Council Connect ZA partnered on an exciting project aimed at significantly cultivating creative market growth skills within South Africa’s creative and cultural industries in 2014/2015. This resulted in an e-learning online platform that provides findings from the fellowship research on defining your creative markets, working with data and data capture analysis, and using the marketing strategies and tools available to effectively build and retain audiences for art organisations and individuals in the creative and cultural sectors.

The KoiGroup for Entrepreneurs and Innovators is an online community for posting tips, tricks and opportunities for entrepreneurs across a range of sectors.

Times are extremely tough for your business. We know Africa’s businesses and entrepreneurs are innovative, tireless, and resilient. Right now though, you need more than motivational speeches, talking heads, and promises of better days ahead. You need practical tools for today to help you make it through and keep your business alive. AMI’s Business Survival Bootcamp has the practical tools you’re looking for.

The Business Bootcamp series comprises 24 free, open-access, pre-recorded webinars delivered by business experts, each around 45 minutes to an hour long. It aims to increase women entrepreneurs’ business skills, financial literacy and knowledge on growth and investment options. Each webinar is geared around a topic like understanding business models and registration formalities, accounting and book-keeping, financial services, assessing business health, costing and pricing, managing credit and debit, and – crucially for the current era – planning for ups and downs.

Video chat with the whole Team. W17 Meet is a fully encrypted video conferencing solution that you can use all day, every day, hosted proudly in South Africa by Workshop 17.

The CDI offers a range of publications with practical advice on growing your creative business, exploring new markets, and more.

Wesgro’s dedicated Trade Unit constantly looks for ways to develop trade and export capacity in Cape Town and the Western Cape through practical training and relationship building.

Their trade-facilitation programme is designed to provide opportunities for Western Cape-based exporters to meet potential customers, conclude business deals and also to grow their businesses by expanding their markets. This helps to develop the provincial economy and create more jobs.

SARS offers a useful guide to registering and licencing your business for export, including all relevant forms and contacts.

Learn new marketing skills with free online courses.
Explore self-paced and step-by-step tutorials that can help you build your digital marketing knowledge and bring your business online.

The Insaka eCommerce Community is South Africa’s biggest community of eCommerce entrepreneurs. The group is here to help online businesses to grow. Entrepreneurs and people working for online businesses can come together to help one another by sharing their experiences and knowledge.

Startup Grind has curated a series of podcasts with entrepreneurs sharing their experiences and advice

With 2020 properly underway, it’s a good time to take a step back and assess the health of your website. While you may not be able to tell immediately if it’s performing at its best, there are a few regular checks that can help. Here’s your Website Health Check-in 5 easy steps.

Before you can respond with remedial measures and actions you need to know how solvent and resilient your business is right now. Are you planning to restore your business to its previous status, offering the same products and services to existing markets or do you need to re-position and restructure your business, aimed at new opportunities? Once you know your present position and you have decided on your future direction you can take the necessary actions to make the changes to your business and your go-to-market activities. Please use the FREE QuiCA Continuation Assessment Tool to quickly identify the stress areas in your business, right now

An evolution of their popular Culture Canvas tool, Me We Us is a guide to building culture remotely by assisting you to first master yourself and your own performance. Secondly, it covers mastering social interactions but learning how to effectively communicate with a remote team and finally, to master teamwork and managing a team remotely. This guide also comes with practical tools and templates for you to put this into place.

Lacoona is a user-friendly and affordable solution where your entire team can create contracts and solve your business legal challenges. Lacoona also provides a host of functional legal process walk-throughs, proactive health-checks, as well as access to lawyers and investors. Everything you need to drive your business forward, available whenever and wherever you need it.

The Absa Business Day Supplier Development Awards recognises and celebratesbusinesses committed to building thriving, inclusive and transformed supply chains. Theawards are an opportunity to give a well-deserved accolade to the companies that arebuilding a better South Africa, whilst also presenting winners with a platform to share theirown experiences. Furthermore, the event creates the opportunity for delegates to engage inthe synergy of dialogue amongst their peers, building valuable networks for futurecollaboration.

UCT GSB Solution Space has partnered with Digify Africa to offer you two sessions from the Boost with Facebook Programme that are aimed at excelling your social media skills.

Join us on Wednesday, August 19 or on Wednesday, August 26, 2020 to get world-class training to bring you closer to being a digital marketing guru for your own business.

The V&A Waterfront understands the pressure on SMMEs during this time, as well as our responsibility to provide much-needed support. To view events aimed at SMME support, take a look at our events page.

Future Females is a movement. They provide a platform which connects, inspires and supports existing and aspiring female entrepreneurs. They are a global network, run regular events and aim to be a go-to destination for all resources for female entrepreneurs.

With the aim of equipping businesses with practical tools to face challenges brought by COVID-19, African Management Institute (AMI) is conducting a FREE COVID-19 Business Survival Bootcamp. This short learning programme focuses on financial forecasting and cost management in an economic slowdown.

The bootcamp is designed specifically for business owners and entrepreneurs. We are restricting attendance at these sessions to keep them highly interactive, so please only sign up if you’re an entrepreneur (AMI will be organizing separate webinars for managers and leaders). Please share with other entrepreneurs and business owners in your network.

eTTP was formed 7 years ago under the umbrella of award winning business accelerator programme, Property Point, which was founded in 2008. This key relationship allows eTTP to leverage the data, knowledge and insights gained from Property Point’s engagements with entrepreneurs over the last decade to provide relevant content. The ETTP platform focuses on building relationships, sharing insights and creating an environment of unity and trust.

Heavy Chef is an educational platform for entrepreneurs. Their name comes from the saying ‘never trust a skinny chef’ and they celebrate people who walk the talk, who practice what they preach, and who eat their own food. They create events and classes that feature ‘Heavy Chefs’, then share this content with their community of over 30,000+entreprenurs. They believe that in a world of talkers, it’s the doers that are going to change it.

Lacoona is a user-friendly and affordable solution where your entire team can create contracts and solve your business legal challenges. Lacoona also provides a host of functional legal process walk-throughs, proactive health-checks, as well as access to lawyers and investors. Everything you need to drive your business forward, available whenever and wherever you need it.

The Absa Business Day Supplier Development Awards recognises and celebratesbusinesses committed to building thriving, inclusive and transformed supply chains. Theawards are an opportunity to give a well-deserved accolade to the companies that arebuilding a better South Africa, whilst also presenting winners with a platform to share theirown experiences. Furthermore, the event creates the opportunity for delegates to engage inthe synergy of dialogue amongst their peers, building valuable networks for futurecollaboration.

UCT GSB Solution Space has partnered with Digify Africa to offer you two sessions from the Boost with Facebook Programme that are aimed at excelling your social media skills.

Join us on Wednesday, August 19 or on Wednesday, August 26, 2020 to get world-class training to bring you closer to being a digital marketing guru for your own business.

The V&A Waterfront understands the pressure on SMMEs during this time, as well as our responsibility to provide much-needed support. To view events aimed at SMME support, take a look at our events page.

Future Females is a movement. They provide a platform which connects, inspires and supports existing and aspiring female entrepreneurs. They are a global network, run regular events and aim to be a go-to destination for all resources for female entrepreneurs.

With the aim of equipping businesses with practical tools to face challenges brought by COVID-19, African Management Institute (AMI) is conducting a FREE COVID-19 Business Survival Bootcamp. This short learning programme focuses on financial forecasting and cost management in an economic slowdown.

The bootcamp is designed specifically for business owners and entrepreneurs. We are restricting attendance at these sessions to keep them highly interactive, so please only sign up if you’re an entrepreneur (AMI will be organizing separate webinars for managers and leaders). Please share with other entrepreneurs and business owners in your network.

eTTP was formed 7 years ago under the umbrella of award winning business accelerator programme, Property Point, which was founded in 2008. This key relationship allows eTTP to leverage the data, knowledge and insights gained from Property Point’s engagements with entrepreneurs over the last decade to provide relevant content. The ETTP platform focuses on building relationships, sharing insights and creating an environment of unity and trust.

Heavy Chef is an educational platform for entrepreneurs. Their name comes from the saying ‘never trust a skinny chef’ and they celebrate people who walk the talk, who practice what they preach, and who eat their own food. They create events and classes that feature ‘Heavy Chefs’, then share this content with their community of over 30,000+entreprenurs. They believe that in a world of talkers, it’s the doers that are going to change it.

Megan Hollis, Digital Marketing Manager at The V&A Waterfront presents an overview of digital marketing, online media channels, and advice for choosing the right platforms for your business.

Lorna Kalimashe, Social Media Manager at The V&A Waterfront provides an overview of social media platforms, changes in their usage during COVID-19, and the key features of social media platforms. She answers questions around why a business should use social media, what sort of content to share, how to speak to your customer, and the basics of building a social media strategy.

Ryno Scheepers and Kirstie Whitehead from Everlytic discuss email marketing, its benefits, and why it is important as part of your marketing strategy.

Emma du Preez from YourCMO explains the basics of lead generation – search engine optimisation, pay per click, and affiliate marketing using case studies and offering useful tools for improving and tracking your lead generation.

Megan Hollis, Digital Marketing Manager at The V&A Waterfront presents an overview of digital marketing, online media channels, and advice for choosing the right platforms for your business.

Lorna Kalimashe, Social Media Manager at The V&A Waterfront provides an overview of social media platforms, changes in their usage during COVID-19, and the key features of social media platforms. She answers questions around why a business should use social media, what sort of content to share, how to speak to your customer, and the basics of building a social media strategy.

Ryno Scheepers and Kirstie Whitehead from Everlytic discuss email marketing, its benefits, and why it is important as part of your marketing strategy.

Emma du Preez from YourCMO explains the basics of lead generation – search engine optimisation, pay per click, and affiliate marketing using case studies and offering useful tools for improving and tracking your lead generation.