Survival is not enough: Why SA’s SMMEs must learn to let go of old habits

In the first four months of this year alone, 482 South African businesses shut their doors. It’s a haunting number not only for our economy but for the families in crisis and the employees out of work.

What went wrong? The hard truth is that many of these businesses probably thought they were doing everything right. They had loyal customers. They survived hard times before. But yet, this time they didn’t.

One of the most dangerous things in business is the belief that you already know your customer, what worked before will work again and experience equals insight.

Longevity isn’t the same as relevance. Just because you’ve been in business for ten years doesn’t mean you know what your customers need right now.

Often, business owners mistake time served for insights gained. We assume that because we’ve been in business for years, we have nothing new to learn and we continue to do things the same way we always have. We live with a blind belief of our customers loyalty. Meanwhile, our customers’ lives have shifted under our feet. Their habits, budgets, and priorities change frequently and too many businesses fail to notice until it's too late.

Lessons from start-ups

In the incubator space, early-stage entrepreneurs are coached to question everything, taught to assume nothing and to approach every idea with curiosity. They are guided to understand that just because they believe it, it doesn’t mean it’s true for their customer.

Ironically, it’s often these first-time founders with no track record who are more open to listening than seasoned business owners. They learn to ask critical questions about what is happening in their customers’ world and how it has changed. They know that being sure is the first step in being wrong.

SweepSouth is a great example. Long before scaling, they spent time in communities speaking to domestic workers and potential clients. They listened. They tweaked. They tested. That’s what helped them succeed - not just a good app, but gaining a deep understanding of their customers’ needs.

Empathy: the missing ingredient

The test small approach is an empathy-first approach. Many businesses think they know their customers because they’ve sold to them before. But selling and understanding are not the same thing.

Real empathy means asking: What’s changed in your customer’s world? What are they struggling with? What are they frustrated by?

And here’s the uncomfortable part: empathy takes time. It takes curiosity. It takes stepping away from your agenda and genuinely engaging with your customer’s life, not just their wallet.

It’s within this space where opportunity lives. It’s where old products evolve into new services. It’s where pivoting happens. It’s where an entirely new business is born.

Testing in the real world

Of course, it is one thing to listen. It is another to act on what you hear. In design thinking, we talk about testing and prototyping – fancy words for trying things out in the real world.

It is about taking an idea, even a half-thought-through concept, and bravely sharing that with your customer. Not in a focus group, but in real life, where wallets open and close, and where value is either obvious or absent.

Even big players do this. Nedbank redesigned its home loan process after learning that paperwork was a major pain point. They tested solutions inside their app, made tweaks based on feedback shared directly by their customers, and ultimately delivered something more useful to customers, all without risking a massive rollout.

The courage to change

The small businesses that are thriving today are not the ones with the flashy marketing or slickest tech. They are the curious. They ask the questions, they challenge their assumptions and they stay humble throughout.  

They don’t want the ground to crumble; they change because they are paying attention. Perhaps that is the swift needed for South Africa’s small business culture. We are brilliant at hustling. We are resourceful and always make a plan. But we forget to question ourselves. We treat change like it is a crisis instead of a habit and necessity. 

The world doesn’t stand still, and neither should SMME businesses. Customer needs evolve, the markets shift and new competitors appear. The businesses that are set to thrive are the ones that stay curious and have teams that are continuously tweaking their services and models, always learning from their customers, and most importantly, always listening.

Alvira Fisher, as an MBA graduate at Stellenbosch Business School and a PhD Candidate in STEM Entrepreneurship Education.

*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL.

BUSINESS REPORT