By: Tebogo Mokwena
Some small business owners say that although it is difficult to afford mental healthcare for themselves and their workers, they have created a culture of openness that allows their employees to share their problems. This has resulted in a better work environment, which led to their businesses experiencing growth. Global small business platform Xero recently published a report that found of the seven countries surveyed from November 2022 through to February, only South African and Singaporean small business owners reported higher levels of well-being than the general population results in the 2023 World Happiness Report.
New Zealand small business owners reported the highest level of life satisfaction, closely followed by South Africa and Singapore. Their United Kingdom counterparts reported the lowest level of life satisfaction. Vutivi News interviewed a couple of SMME owners who shared their solutions to staying positive. Tumisho Ntsoane, who owns Tetengwane Broedery in Limpopo and has six employees, two of whom are full-time, said that he fostered an open-door policy. His employees were encouraged to talk to him about their issues and he endeavoured to assist them to the best of his ability.
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He had also accessed mental health services following a recent traumatic event, which had affected his business until he sought help. Ntsoane said that his employees took his advice seriously, which made it easier to cultivate a relationship of openness. “This helps improve businesses in such a way that when my employees are doing good mentally, they give 100% to the business,” he said. “Of course, they won’t have all of their problems solved, but we try and help them overcome the problems that compromise the business’ growth.”
Ntsoane said it was crucial for entrepreneurs to seek professional help when encountering issues that affected their mental health otherwise they were bound to have a negative impact on their businesses. Gcina Madonsela, who runs the small business development agency Small Business Runway, told Vutivi News that she also advised the businesses her company developed to practice an open-door policy.
This not only improved communication between employers and staff, but it also helped employees be open about needing time off. She said she did the same with her own employees. “As a business leader you are the one that gives the vision and drives the company’s direction, so if you’re not well mentally and physically well, you are not able to show up in a leadership role and this means your team will not get the direction and leadership needed to take the company forward,” she said.
Xero’s report, which is titled “The Global State of Small Business Owner Wellbeing”, surveyed 4650 small business owners from South Africa, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A total of 450 were from South Africa. The report showed that 56% of South African small business owners surveyed felt cheerful or in good spirits most of the time. “Resilience appears to underpin South African small business owners’ sense of wellbeing. “Despite facing relatively frequent financial distress, the ongoing impact of load-shedding, and struggling to regularly take time off work, owners maintained a consistently positive disposition,” the report noted.
