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Small businesses play a crucial role in global and local economic development. They create jobs, stimulate innovation, and provide essential goods and services to communities. The World Bank estimates that small businesses represent 90% of all businesses, and according to MasterCard, Sub-Saharan Africa alone has 44 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Despite their importance, small businesses, especially those in Africa, are poorly understood due to lack of, or fragmentation of data. You can’t manage what you don’t know. Therefore, with this lack of insights, MSMEs face scores of challenges, other businesses miss opportunities to provide solutions that the small businesses need. Governments fail to harness small businesses’ impact on the economy properly.
To help bridge this gap, GeoPoll, Africa 118, and the African Talent Company have partnered to conduct annual surveys on MSMEs in Africa. The Africa MSME Pulse focuses on the current state of small businesses in Africa, their challenges, their outlook, trends in various themes, and the solutions they need most. Conducted via Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), this report provides a comprehensive understanding of the key issues and trends affecting small businesses in Africa today and an overview of the opportunities, recommendations for future support and growth, and the potential impact on the wider economy.
The Africa MSME Pulse expanded in 2023 to Ethiopia in addition to Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, and covered topics such as:
- Employment and staffing – changes to employment, plans to hire, availability of talent, and the state of Work-From-Home.
- Marketing channels, trends in digital marketing spending, and expertise.
- Use of and reliance on technology, trends in tech spend, mobile app usage for business, and the state of SAAS solutions.
- Business finance sources and access to credit
- Information needs for small businesses.
Download the report
The Africa MSME Pulse 2023 Report is now available to download – for free! In the 19-page insight-packed report, we dive into each question, presenting the findings, comparing them from country to country and year on year, and providing commentary based on other reports and market data.
Dig into the interactive dashboard
Results from the survey are also available in the detailed, interactive dashboard below, enablingyou to dive deeper and filter the results according to your needs.
To get more information about this research, contact GeoPoll via [emailprotected],Africa 118 via [emailprotected] or The Africam Talent Company via [emailprotected]
