My brother is my hero, for the simple reason that every day, as a small business owner, he makes a difference.

Three years ago he made a massive leap of faith by leaving his employer to start his own business, today he employs six people and has a turnover in excess of R5 million, but he doesn’t sleep at night.

Turnover doesn’t always translate into profits especially in a capital intensive business where a company has to carry the costs of the goods until the customer pays. This means cash flow is a daily struggle and he, like many small businesses, relies on credit lines.

Unfortunately the financial crisis decimated the availability of credit. His bank manager told him last week that five years ago a business like his with the turnover and goodwill he has developed would qualified for a credit line of R500 000 without batting an eyelid. Today the banks simply won’t lend, not only because of tightened lending requirements but because of the implementation of Basel 3 which is a global standard that all banks have to meet in terms of the quality of their lending book.

He has managed his business well, but, as is the case with manysmall business owners, two bad months have wiped out his safety net. He knows it will pick up and he already has new jobs lined up, but first he has to survive. His biggest worry is his six employees. As any small business owner knows, you wake up on the first day of every month and start from scratch. You have overheads like rental and wages that you have to pay and you pray that this month you will at least make enough to pay those. If he can’t pay his employees, their families starve.

On top of just trying to survive, he has to deal with labour regulations and tax requirements that just pile on more paperwork and onerous administration that takes time away from finding new business. So it is not surprising that ninety percent of small business fail in their first three years.

With the odds stacked against them whywould anyone want to run a small business? And yet people do and it is uponthem, these heroes who do not wait for theirpaycheques but struggle every day to make it happen, that our economy hinges. Corporates are not hiring, small businesses are. We all know that if you want to increase employment, you have to increase the number of small businesses or at least help those that exist to survive.

Some people have no choice but to start their own business as corporate jobs are not available, others have a desire to be their own boss and to create their own future.

My brother once told me that he started his business because he wanted to be rich one day. Not to buy a yacht or live in the Bahama’s but because he wanted to have enough money to make a difference in the world. He already contributes a percentage of his profits to two charities and uses only environmentally friendly products.

My reply to him was that he already makes a difference. When a person starts a small business it means that they are not looking for work, they are leaving a spot open at a company for someone else. When they employ people they create jobs and make a difference to those people and their family. When they hire unskilled workers and train them they are adding to the country’s human capital. When they make profits they contribute to taxes not only through personal tax but through VAT and company tax.

I hope one day my brother, and all those unsung heroes out there, do make money and become rich and I hope when they do that society recognizes their struggle, their contribution to the economy and the people they have helped along the way. Small business owners need to be recognized as the heroes of a country.

This article first appeared in City Press