32
Mechanical Technology — August 2013
⎪
Manufacturing technology and plant automation
⎪
“
W
hat we have picked
up over time is that
new bus i ne s s e s
struggle to keep
track of their finances, which creates
problems for lending institutions such as
banks. Banks like structure. They need
things to be done at the right time and
in the way that best suits their systems.
Entrepreneurs or engineers starting new
businesses don’t think in this structured
financial way. They focus on the practi-
calities of their businesses and tend to
leave the financial matters to a person
in a back office,” begins Morgenrood
“People with an idea just want
to get cracking and yet they face all
sorts of hurdles and bureaucracy, and
in spite of what everyone says about
the importance of supporting small
business, there is a high failure rate
amongst start-up businesses. Banks
are very good at keeping records,
though, and we have data on just about
every business you can imagine in our
management information systems. We
know where the pain points are, when
different customers need funding and
the type of funding that may best suit
their needs,” he adds.
The BizLaunch product places
a strong em-
phasis on en-
t r ep r eneu r s
starting their businesses in the right
way to avoid the ‘false starts’ that
many businesses experience. “If we
concentrate on the essentials, what
entrepreneurs really need is to register
their businesses, keep track of cash in
and cash out, pay suppliers and deposit
funds into a business bank account,”
explains Morgenrood, “along with some
basic financial advice.”
BizLaunch is a full-service offering
that includes an affordable business
account with no hidden costs; a Pastel
accounting package; an affordable
insurance offer as well as access to
expert advice and other support. Tradi-
tionally, small businesses got all these
separately from different places, but we
are now offering a fully packaged start-
up solution for both registered small
business owners and sole proprietors,”
Morgenrood tells
MechTech
.
The BizLaunch offering includes:
• A R90 per month business account
that includes the majority of trans-
actions required to run a start-up
business.
• A free 12-month subscription to the
MechTech
talks to Brandon Morgenrood, head of the
small enterprise sub-segment at Standard Bank about
the new BizLaunch offering and the potential for starting
small manufacturing businesses.
Starting a small enterprise
and the changing role of banks
Standard Bank’s BizLaunch offering for SMEs includes a free 12-month subscription to the ‘My
Business Online’ software package from Pastel.
‘My Business Online’ software pack-
age from Pastel, a market leader in
accounting software.
• Access to an allocated business
banker to discuss financial needs.
• A free educational online business
support package dealing with how
to start and grow a business.
• A merchant point-of-sale device for
R325/month, which includes all
tele-communication fees and insur-
ance and commission reduced to
3,25%, irrespective of card type.
• Basic business insurance cover for
R150 per month.
• Online business registration services
and annual returns assistance.
• A 20% discount for training on the
basics of how to start a business,
such as writing a business plan. The
normal course fee is approximately
R1 200.
“There are no silver bullets when it
comes to starting a business. Every
person who successfully starts a busi-
ness will tell you that it takes hard work
and persistence. Through BizLaunch,
we are presenting practical solutions
that are relevant to the market and that
tackle head-on the challenges banks
encounter in really connecting with
entrepreneurs,” Morgenrood continues.
All new businesses go through a
similar birthing process: an initiation
phase, a seed phase, a growth phase,
before they emerge as fully-fledged
main stream enterprises. “Our challenge
is to get our customers through each of
these transition points successfully. We
generally find that start-ups need to be
supported or cross-subsidised for be-
tween two and five years,” he advises.
Key markets for Standard Bank in-
clude: the community services sector,
which embraces service companies
from garden services to plumbing and
electricians; agricultural businesses,
which have a whole set of seasonal
financing issues associated with the
delay between planting and selling
produce; and franchise businesses.
“Franchises tend to be more successful
as start-ups because a lot of the opera-
tional and marketing work has already
been done. Also, they benefit from
established and common suppliers and
competitive bulk purchasing through
the franchise,” Morgenrood explains.
“BizLaunch has been very success-
ful for us so far. It has increased our
market share of start up businesses
