BUSINESS PARTNERS – Small businesses urged to ‘go solar’ following the 2023 Budget Speech

Loading player...
GUEST – Jeremy Lang - Chief Investment Officer at Business Partners Limited



If anything, the 2023 Budget Speech revealed it was that devising a targeted plan to solve South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis remains the government’s top priority. The immediate future will see a concerted and collective focus on bringing together the public and private sectors in a bid to fuel the clean-energy transition and end loadshedding.



For small businesses looking to ride this wave on the path to post-pandemic recovery, the key is to “go solar”. This is the opinion of Jeremy Lang, Chief Investment Officer at independent small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financier, Business Partners Limited. Prior to the Budget Speech, Lang aired hopes that “large-scale interventions” would be on the cards for the small business sector in the form of much-needed relief measures. In light of the almost single-minded focus on boosting embedded generation efforts through various fiscal measures and policy reforms, this year’s speech delivered little in the way of SME-specific relief. It did, however, propose several measures that speak to the urgent need for government to address the resounding impact that rolling blackouts have had on small businesses.
6 Mar 2023 7AM English South Africa Business News · Investing

Other recent episodes

One Year Into The Two-Pot System: How Much Have South African’s Withdrawn?

Guest - Nzwa Shoniwa, Managing Executive: Sanlam Umbrella Solutions From 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025, Sanlam Corporate paid out approximately R4 billion across 223 000 emergency-pot claims with R1 billion in tax flowing to SARS. On average, we are paying out about R150 million a month, but when…
11 Sep 10AM 14 min

Discovery Group Delivers 30% Rise In Profits

Guest - Hylton Kallner, CEO of Discovery South Africa and Discovery Bank Discovery has delivered record results, posting a 30% surge in profit and entering a new phase of scaled growth with its two main composites, Discovery South Africa and Vitality. We’re joined by Hylton Kallner, CEO of Discovery South…
11 Sep 9AM 18 min

FirstRand Post 10% Rise In Earnings And An Impressive 20% Return On Equity

Guest – Mary Vilakazi – CEO of FirstRand South Africa’s largest banking group, FirstRand, has posted a 10% rise in earnings and an impressive 20% return on equity – well above peers – despite economic headwinds. In this episode, we speak to Mary Vilakazi, the Group CEO, about what drove…
11 Sep 9AM 16 min

What Tractor Sales Tell Us About The State Of Agriculture In South Africa?

Guest – Thabile Nkunjana, Agricultural Economist Agricultural Machinery Sales indicate that August tractor sales of 700 units were 22% more than the 572 units sold in August last year. There have been welcome reactions from agricultural associations about the increase in machinery sales.
10 Sep 10AM 20 min