South Africa, and the continent as a whole, needs small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to thrive as these entities are key to advancing inclusive growth and development in Africa.
“The potential for the growth of SMEs in South Africa is enormous meaning the benefits of this sector cannot be ignored,” says George Masemola, business unit manager at Axiz. “At Axiz, we understand that SMEs are the lifeblood of the South African economy and began examining ways we could help our SME partners obtain the skills they really need to tackle the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and digital transformation.
“Given the current economic environment, businesses that ignore the SME sector do so at their peril,” he adds. “In spite of the barriers to entry that SMEs face, there is massive room for growth. They have the potential to transform our economy – despite being held back by limited resources in terms of skills and cashflow.”
But in order to do this, they need to improve their reach and expand their companies by bringing their clients products and services that are needed in this digital age, Masemola explains.
He says Axiz has introduced an SME development programme and is in the process of developing it into a full ecosystem of all its smaller entity partners.
“Axiz wants to give them a step up, to assist them with taking their businesses to a new level, and to do this we offer upskilling, marketing and sales, as well as finance,” Masemola says. “Furthermore, we offer them access to market, which means our SME partners can leverage on our existing enterprise partners.”
He says one customer that Axiz has been assisting in this very way, is Corridor Africa Technologies, a local solutions provider that Axiz has helped facilitate with accreditations for Cisco, Dell and HPE.
Driven by a commitment to sound operations, ongoing innovation, and open collaboration, Corridor Africa has established a competitive ICT portfolio of end-to-end solutions in telecom and enterprise networks, devices, and cloud technology and services.
Matone Ditlhake, CEO of Corridor Africa says: “Axiz extended credit and expert support to us, and this, in turn, enabled us to service our clients more efficiently which helped us to grow our sales. Axis gave us access to a high-level team and provided support in terms of growing our footprint.”
Ditlhake says this enabled Corridor Africa to compete effectively on a more equal footing with established players in the market. “Moreover, Axiz facilitated the training of our Cisco associates and got them certified as well.
“We have since grown as an entity and now run a more thriving company with our own resources on a more sustainable basis,” Ditlhake adds. “Corridor Africa not only wants to provide a superior service to its customers, we believe in creating innovative solutions driven by their daily needs.
“Our ICT solutions, products and services are widely used in the industry and, with 4IR upon us, Corridor Africa Technologies is well poised to provide innovative and groundbreaking solutions to the country,” says Ditlhake.
Masemola says: “SMMEs, are driving the SA economy to new heights, and already provide the vast majority of employment in our country. They bring innovation and healthy competition and at Axiz we believe they hold the key to a stronger and more resilient economy. We will continue to do everything in our power to help them reach new heights and drive our country forward.”