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BUSINESS NEWS - ABSA has embarked on a campaign to support and empower SMEs across South Africa. 

We sat with Endaweni Pub and Grill to get a better understanding of their business.

When did you start your business?
I started the business in 2019, it was on Easter Thursday.

What led you to pursue entrepreneurship?
I saw a gap in the entertainment sector in the entire town and I thought it needed to be revived. Consequently, it was about having a stream of income. I used to host big events so entertainment is something that I had become passionate about.

What are the challenges you experience during covid and how did you overcome them?
That was the most difficult phase we have had to go through and still function beyond the strict lockdown regulations. We had to inform our 20 employees that we could not pay them because they were not working, so you can imagine the impact it had on those families including ours. It was as though we were starting a new business when we were given the green light to operate again because we had to dig into our savings in order to survive during the lockdown when we could not operate.

Your business is one of the businesses that are part of the ABSA SME programme, What does this mean to you and how do such initiatives from corporates like Absa help SMEs?
We feel privileged to be amongst the few selected SMEs. It means a great deal to us as this means many more people across the country, and potentially the continent, will know about our establishment.

These initiatives are crucial in the sense that we do not have the PR muscle like the big cooperatives, so these initiatives fill in the gap that exists between us and potential customers who will now know of the establishment in other provinces and so this bridges that gap.

What is your advice for SMEs?
It would be to start, you have an idea, just start. Be disciplined in terms of how you manage finances and be committed to sustaining your brand through all the setbacks because a business isn’t easy to manage but it’s doable.

‘You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too, that’s part of it’  – Denzel Washington.

For more information about the Absa SME programme, please visit: https://www.absa.co.za/personal/bank/absa-rewards/sme-Friday/

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