SMEs are learning from each other as they share ideas in a mobilised economy.
These are some of the findings from the Future of Business Survey, and ongoing collaboration between Facebook, the OECD, and the World Bank. So far, almost 200 000 SMEs in 40 countries have participated.
A solid 42% of SMEs says learning from each other is one of the primary ways they find the information and education to master the new mobile environment, second only to online searches (64%.)
In addition, when businesses connect, and learn from each other they are more confident – in fact, 61% of SMEs are confident in the future state of their own business.
Meanwhile, 41% want to add jobs in the next six months, with 47% of SMEs that engage in international trade likely to add jobs in six months.
South African SMEs learn from online search (73%), from other businesses (50%), fromm media (44%), from online blogs or forums (42%), friends and family (37%), from online training (36%) and from offline training (31%).