According to the Mastercard SME Index, SMEs in South Africa were particularly hard hit from a financial and operational perspective during the global health crisis with the majority (84%) saying that the pandemic has negatively impacted their revenue and 29% are worried about staying in business or going bankrupt.
SMERocketFuel.com, founded by serial-entrepreneur Matt Brown, is set to help SMEs overcome the current uncertain business environment with the launch of a new Growth Intelligence™ platform designed to help SMEs access new markets, funding and business support networks.
“I’ve founded over a dozen startups over the last 20 years, exited and sold a few and I’ve had many failures along the way. I’ve learnt what I believe to be the key ingredients in the recipe of success for small businesses and startups today: Sales, funding and networks,” says Brown.
“SMERocketFuel.com is the platform I wish I had access to many years ago. I would have failed a lot less and for sure had more successes along the way.”
The number one factor that prevents a business’s growth is access to markets and prospects. According to Brown, the SME Rocket Fuel platform gives SMEs access to a global customer discovery engine and a wealth of prospecting tools that are designed to accelerate the sales of a business without the need to do any marketing at all.
“SME Rocket Fuel gives SMEs access to over 500M prospects and 14M companies from around the world in a matter of seconds for free,” says Brown. Users of our platform use fuel tokens to access new markets, build email and call lists and track deal opportunities. It’s like a CRM system on steroids”.
As Covid-19 continues to stress small businesses financially and operationally, small business owners across South Africa are turning to digital services to improve cash flow . According to a new small business study by Mastercard, over one third (48%) of small business owners say they’re experiencing cash flow issues.
“SME Rocket Fuel facilitates instant connections with a network of funding providers in South Africa, USA and the UK,” says Brown. “As a member of SMERocketFuel.com, you get access to a network of small business funders. Whether you need to cover your cashflow, expand your business, consolidate your debt or purchase additional stock, my funding partners have your back.”
According to Brown, SME Rocket Fuel also provides its members with access to a global community and business network that SMEs can use to help solve their most pressing business challenges.
“On top of our mastermind networks, weekly mentorship sessions and services marketplace, one of the most exciting features of our platform is the Community Wall which leverages the collective intelligence of our member network to help solve the problems of SMEs. Simply write what you need help with and our community takes care of the rest.”
According to Brown, when SMEs sign-up for free and they get 10 fuel tokens loaded onto their account so that they can start accelerating the sales instantly. It seems like the best things in life are indeed free.
