Johannesburg – Despite South Africa's resounding success in hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup, local small businesses say the effect on their businesses was negligible due to Fifa's policies and government "complicity".
These are the findings of the SME Survey 2010, sponsored by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).
The annual study polls small emerging and established businesses in all nine provinces.
Presenting the findings of the survey on Wednesday, principal researcher Arthur Goldstuck, MD of business technology research firm World Wide Worx, said: "In short: there was little in it for the SME (small and medium enterprise)."
That doesn't mean the World Cup wasn't a success or that it didn't bring benefits to South Africa as a whole, Goldstuck said.
'Little guy frozen out'"Rather, what is clear is that Fifa locked down the economic benefits, making them available only to selected service providers. In effect, the little guy was frozen out almost completely."
Fifa's requirements, in addition to preferred service providers, were so tight that small businesses felt the doors were closed for them. Making matters worse was government's inability to ensure that SMEs got their slice of the cake.
Before the event, the SME Survey showed that 86% of small businesses expected the World Cup to boost business in general and 45% hoped their businesses would benefit from the event.
However, after the event only 14% of SMEs said the World Cup had made a material contribution to their success.
The study found that specific sectors expected major benefits but were let down. These included transportation, manufacturers and engineering firms, where only 10% felt direct benefit. In construction, only 8% benefited and in retail 13%.
The sector that saw the least benefit was printing and publishing at 4%.
On the other hand, 26% of respondents in the advertising industry, 30% in hospitality and accommodation and 30% in the government sector said they had benefited – a better figure but still less than a third of respondents in those sectors.
"This confirms the contention that Fifa had firm control of which businesses could participate in the benefits of the spectacle – and small business was certainly not invited to the party," Goldstuck said.
However, the study also discovered that only 25% of small businesses were able to position themselves to take advantage of the event.
Goldstuck said government should perhaps pay less lip service to enterprise development and make more practical interventions to share economic benefits the next time an event requiring major business input is hosted by South Africa.
- Fin24.com