Up to 64% of small businesses in South Africa’s townships stop operating when there is loadshedding, about 60% have had to reduce employee numbers to survive and about 7% have permanently shut their businesses as the costs to trade had become unrecoverable. These were some of the findings of a recent study presented during a webinar, titled ‘The Energy Crisis: What is being done to support small businesses?’ hosted by small enterprise institution the Small Business Institute on June 20.
