By Mpopi Khupe, Managing Director at Zevoli Growth Partners

 

As ESD professionals, we often speak of small and growing businesses as though they are a homogeneous group. While the B-BBEE Codes, SDGs and ESG frameworks do not always distinguish between urban, township, peri-urban, and rural MSMEs, a company’s ESD strategy and programmes should.  Yet we continue to reference “MSMEs” using broad brush strokes, which results in us supporting them with and affording them the same or similar capacity-building ESD programmes and preferential procurement opportunities.

In my experience working with MSMEs across South Africa’s urban, township, peri-urban, and rural contexts, MSMEs do not enter the ecosystem with the same level of readiness, resources, and reach. And more importantly their differences matter.  A township-based entrepreneur is not the same as a scaling urban business. A rural small business faces entirely different realities from one in a peri-urban community. These distinctions affect everything from how an MSME engages with corporate supply chain to their likelihood of succeeding in an ESD programme.

This article is a call to action for ESD managers to start aligning their development strategies to the lived reality of the MSMEs they serve. Because only when we start where the entrepreneur is can we genuinely move them to where they could and should be.

Unequal Starting Lines: The Geography of Opportunity

An urban small business, based in the same geographical area as corporate head office driven procurement opportunities and resource-rich networks, often has greater exposure to business support, better infrastructure, and access to a range of more sophisticated capacity building and development support. These entrepreneurs are often already formally registered, digitally savvy, and familiar with procurement processes. They typically need help with scaling, market access, and working capital.

By contrast, township MSMEs are more likely to operate within informal or hybrid structures. They are resilient, often deeply embedded in their communities, and driven by survival linked opportunities. In addition, they often have limited visibility into corporate supply chains, fewer formal mentors, and minimal experience with operationally efficiency systems. Their proximity to opportunity tends to limited – not by ability, but by access.

Rural MSMEs face even greater challenges. Often necessity-driven, these typically micro businesses are geographically disconnected from buyers, exposed to suppressed levels of digital and business management literacy, and rarely benefit from formal support. Many have never submitted a bid, applied for funding, or been exposed to a formal contract.

Then, there are frequently overlooked peri-urban MSMEs. Located on the peripheries of major cities, these businesses are often caught in between – too advanced for training focussed support that’s common place in more remote areas, yet too distant to benefit from urban based, more business life stage and value proposition focussed forms of support or procurement networks.

Why This Matters for ESD

ESD programmes are all too often judged on scale and speed:

1. 1. How many MSMEs were onboarded,

1. 1. How much was spent with these black-owned potential or current suppliers,

1. 1. How many contracts and what value of modest procurement opportunities were issued to them.

But if the design of these ESD programmes is largely influenced by the lens and profile of the urban MSME, those that are already somewhat formalised, digitally literate, and located near head offices or anchor clients, they unintentionally continue to exclude the majority.

The uncomfortable truth is a lot of township, peri-urban, and rural MSMEs are just as capable, but they have not always been afforded the same tools, networks, or proximity to procurement opportunities that their urban counterparts enjoy. These are structural inequalities, not deficits of ambition. And that’s why it’s critical for ESD managers to think differently about how they design and implement support.

Tailoring Programmes to Fit the SME Profile

Urban SMEs often need scale-up support programmes that help them increase their customer base, refine operational systems, and become more investment- and funding-ready. These entrepreneurs usually understand basic compliance, are familiar with digital tools, and can articulate their business model. What they require is market linkages, access to capital, and mentorship to deepen competitiveness.

By contrast, township MSMEs operate in dense, vibrant environments but are often excluded from formal procurement channels. They may not be registered, and they may rely heavily on community-based word of mouth rather than structured marketing. Their understanding of procurement processes and supply chain standards may be less sophisticated, not due to lack of effort, but due to a gap in exposure. It’s important that programmes targeting these MSMEs prioritise foundational business skills, guided support to formalisation, and creating clear onramps into accessible supply chains in their proximity. They need mentorship and support that builds their confidence, practical exposure to procurement systems, and strategic partnerships that build the bridge between them and corporates operating within their reach.

Rural MSMEs, most of whom are micro, face the deepest layers of exclusion. Often, the entrepreneurs in these areas are less formally educated, less exposed to the digital economy, and less connected to corporate or government procurement ecosystems. Many have never applied for a grant, loan or ESD programme, not because they don’t need to, but because the systems to do so were not designed with them in mind. They are also often subjected to generic business training that falls short of yielding tangible benefit for them. The solution here lies more in hands-on contextual business incubation models, delivered over extended periods, that bring knowledge, tools, and mentorship directly to them. These programmes must be patient, human-centred, and delivered in a language and format that makes sense for the local environment; leveraging local role models, in-person mentorship, and simplified administrative processes.

Moving Away from Uniformity Toward Relevance

When we assume MSMEs are the same or similar, we inadvertently reward those who are already ahead and leave the rest behind. But if we design our ESD programmes based on where an MSME starts; in terms of literacy levels, access to networks, and proximity to opportunity, we can begin to deliberately and meaningfully close that gap.

A pipeline of MSMEs that reflects South Africa’s true economic geography, urban, township, peri-urban, and rural, offers more depth, more resilience, and more inclusive growth. It expands a company’s impact, and it strengthens its licence to operate in communities that are no longer content to sit on the sidelines.

A Better Way Forward

Success in ESD isn’t about ticking boxes. It’s about relevance.
When we meet entrepreneurs where they are, we don’t lower the bar, we change the game.

Let’s reimagine support that is location-informed, access-aware, and outcome-focused.

Editorial contacts:

Zevoli Growth Partners

Mpopi Khupe

Managing Director

Tel: 084 6000 337

Email: mpopi@zevolgp.com

Zevoli Growth Partners

Malika Moloi

Brand Connect manager

Tel: 074 0677 906

Email: marketing@zevoligp.com