African SMEs’ Performance and Behaviors during COVID-19

African SMEs’ Performance and Behaviors during COVID-19

Final Report www.RolloAfrica.com

Rollo Africa Business Simulation - Pilot Phase Cameroon - Egypt - Senegal - Sudan - Zimbabwe

African SMEs’ Performance and Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic

March 2021 Submitted to: African Union - UNDP - AfriLabs Submitted by: Rollo Africa

1

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

1

Introduction

3

Rollo - Future of African SMEs

4

Part 1: Rollo Africa Business Simulation

7 7 7 8 8 9

1- Campaign and applications 2- Team structure and diversity 3- Shortlisting and Interviews

4- Implementation and simulation results:

1. Egypt Simulation 2. Sudan Simulation

11 13 15 17 19 22 25 26 26 26

3. Senegal Simulation 4. Cameroon Simulation 5. Zimbabwe Simulation 6. Rollo Africa Master 5- African SMEs Modeling

6- African SMEs Strengths and Weaknesses 7- Performance of the Informal businesses 8- Performance of Women-led businesses 9- Performance of African Diaspora

Part 2: African Businesses Analysis

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30 30 30 31 33 35 38 46 46 47 47 48 48 51 52 52

African SMEs Situation Analysis

1- Access to fnance

Need of fnance Types of accounts

Financial Institutions & the Financing Environment

Formal versus informal sector Financial Products for SMEs

2- Electricity and power supply

Importance of electricity for the SMEs

Fossil Fuel

The role of governments in promoting green and renewable energy

Alternative Sources of Power

Power Supply and Pricing for SMEs

3- Internet Connection and Broadband

Importance of Internet for SMEs

ISP, Internet packages, Pricing & Services

4- Cybersecurity and security of digital tools

62 62 64 66 67 68 70 74 74 76 77 78 78 80 80 82 82 84 84 85 86 87 88 89 92 92 92 92 92 94 95 99

Internet dependency Information Security Hacking Incidents

Security Tools

Government Support Regulatory Framework

5- Taxes & duties

Paying Taxes

Tax system’s efciency and transparency

Taxation Fairness

Tax scheme imposed to SMEs

Digital declaration

10- SMEs Managerial competencies

Managerial Level

Management Knowledge Managerial Functions

11- Corruption & transparency

Corruption Awareness

Combating Corruption & Government Eforts

Corruption Impact

12- Negative perception 13- Access to Information

14- The role of governments in supporting SMEs

Part 3: COVID-19 Impact on African SMEs

1- Situation analysis

A- Health Systems

Availability of Health Services Access to Health Services B- Scarcity of medical resources

C- Government's Measures D- Information Circulation

2- Impact on African SMEs

102 102 102 103 104 104 105

Nature of the impact Business expenses cuts Business expansion Government Assistance

Challenges facing African SMEs

Challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic Challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic

105 Change in reported challenges before and during the COVID-19 pandemic 105 Most Afected Businesses 106

3- Impact on teams and capacities

107 107 108 109 112 113 116 118 119 121 122 125 125 125 126 127 128 129 129 130 130 131 131 132 132 132

Type of employees Team Capacity Remote Working

Sick Leaves

Households and children Training & Development

4- Power outages

5- Internet breakouts

6- Corruption

7- Business Continuity Plans BCP

Part 4: Program Recommendation, Suggested Actions & Public Policy Insights

1- Finance

2- Electricity and Energy supplies

3- Networks, Internet connection and broadband

4- Cybersecurity and digital protection

5- Human resources 6- Taxes and duties

7- Business sustainability 8- COVID-19 Measures 9- Health and safety measures

10- Capacity Building

11- Corruption

12- Negative perception

13- Access to reliable information

14- Government's policies

Executive Summary

After COVID-19 outbreak, the African Union in collaboration with UNDP and AfriLabs worked together to implement the frst African business simulation that seeks to help Micro/Small/Medium Enterprises MSMEs to overcome the current COVID-19 challenges and the lockdown. More than 400 participants and 10 diferent partners have been involved in building and participating in the simulation in 2020 from 5 diferent countries: Cameroon, Egypt, Sudan Senegal, and Zimbabwe. The main objectives were to guide and help the participants to adapt their business strategies during the pandemic and to help governments and decision makers to better understand the current impact and the new positioning of mSME during COVID-19. This report will cover 4 main parts: (1) Rollo Business Simulation (2) mSMEs Dynamics and behaviors (3) Impact of COVID-19 on small businesses (4) Program Recommendations. Business Simulations have been used for longtime in capacity building in diferent international universities and big corporations as a learning-by-doing technique. In this project, we introduced it for the frst time for small businesses in Africa as a new tool for online capacity building helping business owners to test their strategic decisions and managerial skills in a risk free environment. 85% of the involved SMEs and participants indicated they were satisfed/very satisfed with the simulation experience while 98% indicated that it was their frst time ever to know about business simulation. The Simulation was successfully implemented from August 2020 to January 2021 in form of a business simulation competition managed and implemented by AfriLabs local partners and innovation hubs. The local hubs implemented the recruitments, interviews, shortlisting, and facilitated the local Simulator.

The key results of the project:

1- Training of 360+ African Entrepreneurs from 120 Small businesses to make business and fnancial decisions in diferent market outlooks like: fnancial recession, global pandemics using advanced business simulation technology. The total amount of hours spent in the simulator exceeded 1,500+ working hours/ 60+ Cumulative days. 2- Collecting signifcant >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132 Page 133 Page 134 Page 135 Page 136 Page 137

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