Complexities of accessing finance from government institutions and its agencies

Purpose: with the recent establishment of Small Business Development department, the ministry is tasked and will be responsible for ensuring that the business environment is enabling for new Small to Medium businesses. The real issue and the point of interest in researching this particular dissertation is the available literature around the issue of the SME sector which indicates that new SMEs in South Africa do not move from the first stage (existence) to other stages such as survival, success, take off and resource maturity. The study seeks to inaugurate two specific challenges (difficulties in accessing finance and to examine if there is sufficient non-financial SME incubators and mentorship programs post funding allocation). The area of study focused on SMEs that are concentrated in highly populated areas of Gauteng. Methodology: The study was conducted using qualitative research and a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. The researcher was able to get valuable information on stakeholders in the SMME sector. This was done through the use of questionnaires to businesses, government funders and incubators. Results: when posed with a question of the start-up capital, a mere 17% responded to having obtained financial assistance from government institutions, 20% from friends and family while a massive 60% indicated they have used own capital to start businesses. When the researcher posed the question of the reasons that often leads to failure, approximately 23% of businesses mentioned lack of working equipment as the core reasons for the business failure while 17% indicated that lack of business opportunities or rather contracts of supply from government departments as the main impeding factor which resulted to failure. In terms of the availability of incubators, approximately 67% of respondents indicated that there were no business incubators available in their areas of business. Approximately 57% of businesses mentioned the inability to obtain loans from government funding institutions was the major business constraint that often leads to failure. The researcher posed a question to business incubators personnel that participated in the study to gain perspective as to why do they think SMEs fail within the first year of operation. Approximately 40% of respondents alluded that, barriers to entry by big corporates in South Africa force Small and Medium Enterprises out of businesses. Other participants added that the South African government procurement system does not provide opportunities to small businesses due to lack of experience. All government funding institutions participants mentioned that in most cases SMEs finance applications are rejected due to the fact that businesses fail to present viable business proposals that show the ability for business to remain operating for a long time Implications: The above analysed study findings indicate that there is a huge gap between small businesses and government funding institutions in terms of the awareness of the available financial support to SMEs. From the government perspective, it was indicated that businesses submit business plans that are not viable. There needs to be the middle ground where business plans compilation support currently provided by SEDA awareness should be spread across SMEs operating in the highly populated areas of Gauteng. Recommendations: Access to finance is a major constraint hindering the growth and success of small enterprises. The South African government has established a number of financial support programmes aimed to assist SMEs. With these financial support programmes, most of the SMEs are unsuccessful due to the fact that they cannot easily access those funds and as a result they remain stagnant for a very long time or end up shutting down. Conclusion: The effect of credit rationing is the potential loss of opportunity and or reduction in the scale of a business, neither of which is a desirable outcome. At the most fundamental level, there are lost opportunities for the borrower and the lender. There are implications for the wider economy also. SMEs are a key source of innovation, competition and choice