South African Institute of Chartered Accountants Enterprise Development (SAICA ED) has partnered with Sage, the leader in accounting, financial, HR, and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), to champion the growth of local SMBs.
The collaboration focuses on sharing the good news about SMBs participating in customised SAICA ED programmes.
SAICA ED is part of SAICA’s Learning and Development division. It runs enterprise and supplier development (ESD) programmes, emphasising black-owned businesses and focusing on growing the SME entrepreneurial ecosystem for greater sustainability. Over the next year, Sage will tell the stories of some of these enterprises to inspire other entrepreneurs and help raise their profiles.
In addition, Sage offers discounted Sage Business Cloud Accounting and Payroll licences to small black-owned Exempted Micro Enterprises within an incubation or accelerator programme, such as the SAICA ED programmes, for no less than one year.
The discount will be set at 100% in year one, 75% in year two, 50% in year three and 25% in year four dependent on the number of years within the programme.
“A thriving SMB sector is the answer to creating jobs and prosperity in South Africa. To that end, Sage embraces its role in enhancing the competitiveness of SMBs so they can contribute to more inclusive growth. We are proud to partner with SAICA ED to champion some of the SMB heroes in its programme and provide them with tools and information that help break down barriers to their success,” says Faith Ramusetheli, Transformation Director, Sage Africa and Middle East.
Says Kelly Pretorius, Marketing Manager at SAICA ED, “Both Sage and SAICA ED are passionate about seeing small businesses grow. Sage is therefore sponsoring several discounted software licences to small black-owned businesses generating revenues less than R10 million.” These licences will be distributed to beneficiaries through their SAICA ED project managers.
Comments SAICA ED CEO Annie McWalter, “SAICA ED seeks to assist SMEs in developing strong financial acumen. Through the sponsored Sage licensing, we both seek to develop SMBs and play an active role in economic transformation in South Africa. We look forward to this fruitful collaboration with Sage.”