Roundtable: 50 large companies commit to paying their SME suppliers in 30 days

In an effort to ensure small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in South Africa survive the economic crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 50 large companies have formally committed to paying their SME suppliers in 30 days. The initiative, called #PayIn30, is spearheaded by Business for South Africa (B4SA), the SA SME Fund, and Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), and supported by, amongst others, Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), the Small Business Institute (SBI) and the Black Business Council (BBC). It’s a perennial problem and Michael Avery speaks to Busi Mavuso CEO of Business Leadership South Africa; Kumaran Padayachee, CEO of Spartan sme finance; and Jomo Khomo, CEO of Kele Mining; to find whether this time is truly different.