{"id":627,"date":"2025-04-25T21:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T20:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/?p=627"},"modified":"2025-04-25T21:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T20:26:13","slug":"south-africas-sme-sector-still-in-crisis-despite-rising-business-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/?p=627","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s SME Sector Still in Crisis Despite Rising Business Confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"264\" height=\"191\" src=\"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_7831-1.png\" class=\"wp-image-626\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">While the latest SACCI Business Confidence Index suggests cautious optimism, fintech platform Lula warns that the numbers mask the real struggles faced by South Africa\u2019s small businesses. Lula reports a 50% year-on-year drop in SME turnover, citing high interest rates, weak infrastructure, and reduced consumer spending as key challenges. The company urges urgent policy action and basic service delivery to support SMEs, while offering real-time solutions like fast funding and AI-powered cash flow tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Read the full story on Tech in Africa: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techinafrica.com\/lula-urges-real-action-as-south-africas-smes-struggle-despite-improving-business-confidence\/\">Lula Urges Real Action As South Africa\u2019s SMEs Struggle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the latest SACCI Business Confidence Index suggests cautious optimism, fintech platform Lula warns that the numbers mask the real struggles faced by South Africa\u2019s small businesses. Lula reports a 50% year-on-year drop in SME turnover, citing high interest rates, weak infrastructure, and reduced consumer spending as key challenges. The company urges urgent policy action&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions\/628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techstream.africa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}