“Just do it!” (Nike)

You and your fantastic business idea can’t wait to chuck up the 9 to 5 job and launch your own new venture. 2020 here we come! But is this the right time to do it?

Of course no one knows for sure whether 2020 will see our economy glide happily into recovery mode or continue bumping along in the mud at the bottom. But one of the great things about starting a new small business is that it doesn’t really matter. Provided, that is, that you plan carefully and remain agile and adaptive to whatever may come our way.

Here are some thoughts on how to get that planning underway…

1. Line up the right professional help

Quite apart from all the many legal, accounting and tax-planning issues you will face, bouncing your ideas off your professional advisers is a no-brainer here. Just do it before you put too much time, effort and money into your new venture.

More on that below…

1. Ask yourself “Am I an entrepreneur?”

Not everyone is suited to the cut and thrust of running a small business. On one side of the coin you can look forward to a good dose of exhilaration and excitement, but on the other you are in for more than your fair share of work-life balance challenges, risk, fear and stress. The personal and financial rewards can be enormous, but the spectres of disruption, decline and failure will haunt you at every turn (if they ever stop haunting you, something’s wrong – nothing is certain, and nothing lasts forever!).

Bring your family in on this from the very start – they will be walking this road with you every step of the way!

1. Quiz yourself online

Spend 10 minutes answering the questions in an online quiz like the Business Development Bank of Canada’s “Entrepreneurial potential self-assessment” on its
website – then book appointments with your professional advisers to see if they agree (back to 1 above).

1. Decide on a business structure upfront

This is critical; the tax, financial, legal and practical issues of getting it wrong can be substantial. And whilst you can change from say sole proprietorship to a company/trust structure down the line, the consequences are best avoided. Rather get it right from the outset with professional advice (1 above again).

1. Figure out the financing

Whether you will need a lot of money upfront or not, your business idea is a non-starter without finance. First, figure out how much you will need – crowdfunding site Kickstarter has a useful planning checklist on its “Funding” webpage.

Next think about where that money is coming from. Can you finance the startup yourself; and if you can, should you? Will you ask friends and family or a bank for a loan? Perhaps you can find a rich partner or an angel investor? Crowdfunding may be worth a look – apart from Kickstarter and many others like it, consider local platforms – Google “Crowdfunding in South Africa” for a list, and read Jumpstarter’s “Crowdfunding in South Africa!” here. The State also comes to the party here – read “Where do I get assistance to establish a small business?” on the South African Government Information website for a list.

Last but not least, specific professional advice is once again a no-brainer.

1. Build a strong, dynamic team

Your staff will be the backbone of your business so whether your team will be big or small, in-house or out-sourced, management-heavy or mostly there in a support function, put your heart and soul into choosing wisely. Recruit wherever you can from diverse backgrounds and a range of specialties for a dynamic team that is agile and adaptable, and has the creativity that flows from constant cross-pollination of ideas.

1. Market, market, market!

No matter how brilliant your product or service, it is worth absolutely nothing to you until your target market pays you for it. Which it will only do if it knows what you do and how you benefit them. As obvious as that sounds a lot of startups fail for lack of planning around how to achieve the necessary exposure.

With all the marketing noise bombarding us all these days you have to find a way to be heard – prioritise marketing or fail.

1. For a company get cracking with Biz Portal’s ‘One-Day, One-Stop’ online platform

The CIPC (Commission for Intellectual Property Commission) has just launched its “Biz Portal” online business registration platform. In collaboration with SARS, UIF, the Compensation Fund, B-BBEE Commission, the .za Domain Name Authority, and banks, the platform says it will help you register your new company in just 1 day (it normally takes 40!), plus assist with tax registrations, domain names, bank account, BEE certificate and so on.

Time will tell how effectively this (very welcome!) new initiative will actually work, but remember that by its very nature it cannot give you that essential individualised input we keep mentioning. Take professional advice as above before using this platform!

1. The bottom line: Just do it!

To quote Richard Branson: “Screw it – just do it!”

Every year the criminal fraternity welcomes the onset of the Holiday Season – lots of empty homes, lots of high-value new gadgets around, lots of relaxed homeowners letting their guard down…

Here’s how to foil the bad guys while enjoying your year-end break as a time of celebration and relaxation, not a time of worrying about whether your home-sweet-home will be ok without you, and stressing over the aftermath of a burglary (or worse).

“Locking Up For The Holidays: Your Home Security Guide” on the Private Property website has a useful checklist for you. It’s written mostly for home owners headed out of town, but there’s also a lot of good advice there for “holiday at home” families.

“He who hesitates is lost” (Wise old proverb)

In January 2019 new amendments to Regulations for the replacement of lost title deeds (and similar documents like mortgage bonds and notarial bonds – see below) were published. They were very onerous and slated to come into effect at short notice, but after criticism they were suspended – until now.

Revised amendments have been published, to come into effect on 1 January 2020.

Firstly, what is a “Title Deed”?

A title deed (deed of transfer) is legal proof of ownership of a property. It also contains a lot of other important information relating to the property, such as a full description, its size, names of previous owners, bonds registered over it, conditions and legal restrictions relating to it and so on.

Why should you care if yours is lost?

Without the original title deed you cannot pass transfer to a buyer. So if you sell your property, your conveyancing attorney will need the title deed from you (if your property is mortgaged and the bond not yet paid off and cancelled, the bank should be holding the title deed as security).

All good if the title deed is readily to hand, but if it has been lost your attorney must apply for a certified copy. Until now – and this changes on 1 January 2020 – this was a relatively quick and cost-effective matter of attesting to an affidavit in which you confirm that a “diligent search” has failed to locate the title deed and that it isn’t pledged or held as security by anyone. All being well, a few weeks and a reasonable legal fee later, the Deeds Office issues a certified copy of the title deed and the transfer proceeds.

Act now!

• All property owners (not just active sellers): The new procedures to come into effect on 1 January are not quite as onerous as the January amendments were, but what is new is that your attorney will have to publish “a notification of intention to apply for such certified copy in an issue of a newspaper circulating in the area in which the land is situated and in the case of a notarial bond in an issue of one or more newspapers circulating in the area of every deeds registry in which such notarial bond is registered.” Any “interested person” then has two weeks to object to the issue of a copy.
  That’s extra expense and complication, but perhaps more important is the extra – and potentially very costly – delay. The good news is that all of that is avoidable if you act before the new requirements take effect.
  So – whether or not you intend to sell your property in the near future – check immediately that you know where your title deed is, and if you can’t find it ask your attorney to apply urgently for a certified copy.
• Buyers: You and the seller are no doubt in the same boat here in that the last thing either of you wants is unnecessary delay in the transfer process. So if you are buying property, forward this to the seller or estate agent with a request that they confirm possession of the title deed or act to replace it immediately.
• Agents: Again, unnecessary delay in transfer will prejudice both you and your client. So forward this to everyone with a property on your books (you’re doing them a favour as well as yourself).
• Bondholders: As mentioned above, the new amendments apply equally to lost mortgage bonds, notarial bonds, registered leases, holders of real rights etc, so what is said above applies equally to you.

With Deeds Offices always closing earlier than normal in December, don’t hesitate – act now!

“We’re all going on a summer holiday…” (Cliff Richard)

With the Festive Season (and our Summer Holidays!) well and truly upon us, you may be inviting family or friends to visit you from overseas with their children, or perhaps you are a foreigner planning a family trip to South Africa. Either way here’s some good news in the form of a welcome concession from government in regard to the documentation you will need to produce on entry.

In a nutshell foreign children until now have only been able to enter the country with unabridged birth certificates and consent letters. That requirement was waived – for accompanied children only (check the full details in the table below) – from 8 November 2019.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) says it has communicated this very welcome new development to all role players, most importantly to the immigration officials at ports of entry who are tasked with enforcing the rules, but if you do happen to have documentation handy it can’t hurt to bring it along in case of any queries. If you need visas to visit you will anyway have to produce the documents when applying.

South African children (and unaccompanied foreign children) must still provide a list of required supporting documents – see below.

Note that the above is just a summary – it is extremely important that you check the DHA table below for full details, and that you ask your lawyer for help if you think any exemptions may apply, if you have any difficulty in understanding what is required, or if you cannot get the necessary documentation together.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR CHILDREN TRAVELLING THROUGH A PORT OF ENTRY OF THE REPUBLIC

The CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) has announced that its new “compliance checklist” requirement, voluntary until now, becomes mandatory for all companies and close corporations from 1 January 2020.

You must complete the checklist before submitting your annual return. So firstly check when your due date for the annual return is – for companies you will have 30 business days from the day after its date of registration, whereas for close corporations you will have the two months from the first day of the registration month until the end of the following month.

Then log on to the CIPC website and find what CIPC calls its “new user-friendly service” under “e-Services for Customers”.

If you run into problems take professional advice immediately. You really don’t want to drop the ball on this! If you can’t complete the compliance checklist, you can’t submit your annual return, which will put your company at risk of deregistration because CIPC assumes that your company has stopped doing business.

Deregistration means your company ceases to exist, with drastic negative consequences for your company, for its business operations, and for you personally.