Last year, I wrote a column on this topic however with load shedding persisting and getting worse - I remembered a story that I saw in the front page of the Sowetan newspaper this year that had a list of about sixty small businesses nationally, which have been crippled by the country’s loadshedding issue. It was very sad for me to see so many of my counterparts/fellow hustlers being adversely affected by this electricity issue, which does not seem to have a permanent solution in sight – at least not in the short term. The first thought that came to my mind when I saw this list of companies that had to close their doors because of local energy issues, was just how many entrepreneurship dreams were shattered, but most importantly the number of people who have possibly lost their jobs in the process. An article by Productivity SA highlighted the fact that in the National Development Plan (2014): Government has prioritised and highlighted the importance of Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) for job creation, innovation, and competitiveness. The ultimate goal by 2030: 90% of the 11-million new jobs will or should be created by SMMEs in SA. Load shedding is definitely working against this goal, because currently we are bleeding jobs created by SMMEs. At the rate that these SMMEs are closing down, this very ambitious objective will unfortunately not be met. Our country already has a high unemployment rate. According to Trading Economics: South Africa's unemployment rate was at 32.9% in the third quarter of 2022, down from 33.9% in the prior period and below market estimates of 33.4%. This was the lowest jobless rate since Q1 of 2021, as the number of unemployed persons declined by 269 thousand to 7.725 million and employment rose by 204 thousand to 15.765 million. As an SMME owner who specialises in PR which involves a lot of writing – I am highly dependent on my computer being functional at all times. This essentially means that my computer needs to be charged all the time for me to be able to deliver to my clients. Stable electricity supply is therefore crucial for my business to operate optimally. You see, a battery of a laptop lasts for an average of two hours and loadshedding schedules run for anything between three to five hours - depending on which level the country is in. You can all do the maths on how much productive time is lost in a day. Recently, while listening to the news - there has been numerous reports about the president working on a plan to try and resolve this country’s electricity crisis. I would like to plead with the President, his Executives in all spheres of government: National, Provincial and Local as well as his advisors and the country’s specialists in engineering to try and find the solution that will end load shedding - as soon as possible - before this energy issue cripples the entire small business sector in South Africa even further. As SMMEs, we unfortunately cannot continue operating like this, better yet create employment opportunities if this kind of situation continues. I have also picked up some news reports that have highlighted the fact that relief is in the pipeline for small businesses grappling with load shedding – this will be a much-welcomed proposal by the SMME sector. Thank you to the media world for putting a spotlight on our plight, the Sowetan front page story in particular was definitely a wake-up call for all of us who had our own suspicions but were not aware of the extent of this problem in the country. Miranda Lusiba is the Founding Director of Strangé Consulting – a boutique PR Agency specialising in Communication, Freelance Writing, Media Relations, Reputation Management and Media Training. #businessadvice #smmeadvice