As if SA’s small businesses didn’t have enough to cope with, now the Covid-19 pandemic has put added pressure on them.

“Turbulence has always been the official climate for SA small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We went into this pandemic already on our knees — in a technical recession; downgraded to junk bond status. While we don’t have the $1-trillion stimulus packages that we’re seeing in developed countries, what we do have is grit, optimism, resilience, and creativity in spades,” says Dov Girnun, founder and CEO of small-business funder Merchant Capital...