Mentoring vital for long term success of SMEs

Survey proves the benefits to SMEs if they receive mentoring by business enterprise specialists. The long term results are outstanding.

The SME Growth Survey 2013 has been conducted by Fetola. It involves a selection of high-performing participants drawn from the 85 organisations comprising around 2 200 individuals in all nine provinces of South Africa who were part of Fetola’s 2013 Legends Programme which the enterprise development agency started in 2007. The results and feedback from the Fetola SME Growth Survey 2013 are a testament to the added value that a well-structured business support and mentoring service brings. 

According to the survey, the added value of business incubation and mentoring support from SME specialists was strongly evident by the fact that over a 5-year period, survey participants showed growth rates ranging from 50% to as high as 200%, compared to a national average of 0-49% for those SMEs ‘going it alone’.

Interesting findings from the survey include:

• 100% of respondents cited increased sales & marketing efforts as contributing to their success;
• 75% of respondents believed that improved Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems boosted growth;
• 83% of respondents stated that improved staff training led to a direct increase in sales performance;
• Less than half of respondents felt that increasing their ability to access tenders aided their success;
• 83% listed improved financial management systems as a contributing factor to growth;
• 92% of respondents cited improved systems and processes as a contributor to their growth.

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