bizval Newsletter | Welcome 2024!

New year. New you (maybe). Your same business, but hopefully with some renewed energy and an exciting strategy for the year ahead.

And if you’re still recovering from everything that 2023 threw at you, don’t feel bad. You’ve got more than enough time to put together your goals for 2024 and the tactics to achieve them.

Nobody has any real idea what 2024 will bring, of course. The best economists try to predict what might happen, yet the only certainty is uncertainty. Being able to overcome challenges is what makes you an entrepreneur. This year, you get the opportunity to do it all again.

Thanks for letting us be part of that journey.

This month, we are all about international business. In case you’re wondering why, we’ve got a couple of stats to give you some perspective. Based on fairly recent World Bank data, the UK is roughly 7.5 times larger than South Africa based on GDP. The USA is over 8 times larger than the UK, so this means that the USA is over 60 times larger than South Africa when it comes to GDP!

The difference is even larger on a GDP per capita basis, which is an important measure of wealth of the general population.

Long story short: South Africa is a very important emerging market but is still relatively small in the global context. It literally pays to lift your gaze beyond our borders.

We have an exciting start to our year, with our CEO Graham Stephen travelling to London as part of our ambitions to formally enter the UK market. If you want to connect with him about anything related to the trip (or in general), you can find all his details here.

Instead of letting the trip get in the way of us hosting a webinar this month, we decided to combine the two and give the webinar an international flavour. Our very own Graham Stephen (and resident The Finance Ghost ) will be joined by Graham Davies , Founder and CEO of Addition – a UK-based firm that helps businesses with financial management services, integrations and more. The discussion will be on growing a business with an international team, a topic that is close to our hearts.

The webinar is scheduled for midday on Wednesday, 24th January.

As ever, attendance is free. You just need to register here.

We all know that the United States offers an exciting place to do business. It also has a far more supportive ecosystem for small businesses than most countries, particularly when it comes to funding.

In our latest article, we looked at how SBA-backed loans work and the role that they play in the purchase of businesses in America. It’s frustrating not to have this kind of support in most markets, but there’s still something to be learnt from how they do it in the States. You can read it here.

Speaking of the United States, our latest podcast features ??John Barnes as our guest. John runs Pendleton Street Business Advisors , a US-based firm that works with businesses at different stages of their journeys. It’s always good getting international perspectives, so this was a great opportunity to compare and contrast the business environment in the US to a country like South Africa. Listen to the podcast here.

Make 2024 the year in which you don’t just grow your company, but find out what it’s actually worth. Most importantly, make this the year in which you take the steps to make it more valuable, not just bigger.

We are ready and waiting to help you know your value and the drivers of that value. Whether you start off with a bizval live valuation or go straight to a bizval bootcamp for maximum benefit, you’ll be taking the right step on your business journey. Contact us here.

At bizval we value your company.

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