Many South African businesses have been dealt yet another big blow following severe flooding in certain parts of KwaZulu-Natal, which has left people’s lives and infrastructure in ruins. Some areas of KZN are largely inaccessible at the moment due to the flooding within the area and municipal services such as power supply have been interrupted, bringing business operations to a standstill in some cases.
Standard Bank is aware of the distress and damage caused by this environmental disaster. Many impacted businesses will be restricted from trading at a time when our economy is only just getting back on its feet following the COVID-19 pandemic and other disruptive events.
“Businesses in KZN have laboured under multiple business disruptions in the last few years,” says Simone Cooper, Head of Business Clients at Standard Bank. “COVID-19 restrictions, a low growth environment and incidents of unrest last year have put immense strain on local businesses to keep their doors open.
“The challenges experienced currently are unique to each business operating in the region, with most being impacted in one way or another. Apart from the direct impact, because of the flooding and disruption to municipal services, there are also downstream supply chain impacts that will have an adverse effect on business’s ability to trade.
“We encourage businesses to speak to their banker or visit our website to understand what relief measures and solutions are available to support them,” Cooper said.She added that Standard Bank clients can also make use of the bank’s online banking self-service channels so that they can conduct their banking from anywhere, safely and securely.
“Furthermore, Standard Bank entrepreneurs can use our mobile and internet banking apps to apply for a business loan in just three minutes and the business will have access to funds within 24 hours once the loan is approved.
“We also understand how critical it is to access information that can help the business navigate through this difficult time, and our BizConnect site provides any business owner with a wealth of information resources at their fingertips for free.”
Cooper said that Standard Bank is doing everything it can to ensure that businesses are supported during this time of emergency, and that the bank is highlighting the various ways in which it is able to support affected businesses to help limit their downtime and the impact of that on the SA economy at large.
