The 2025 edition of the Funding Summit saw many businesses across the SME landscape attend, aiming to liaise with small business owners and entrepreneurs who can benefit from their services. Included among these businesses were alternative funders, traditional funding, and tax and compliance industries. One such brand is PSTM.
“We are accountants helping SMS with compliance, financial statements, their taxes, wealth management and their business structuring,” says Phuthanang Motsielwa, representative of PSTM.
“It was important to us to be at the 2025 Funding Summit because we follow SME South Africa and we read their reports,” Motsielwa expands. “We understand the struggles that SME’s face, and a lot of things they struggle with are their compliance.”
This fact was noted by many of the funders on the day, as well as the speakers.
“They’re not finance-ready,” she continues. “There are a lot of issues that SME South Africa writes about, and those are very relatable to us as a business.
“So, being present is vital partly because SME South Africa is speaking to our audience, our target market, and that’s why it was important.”
Reaching Those Who Matter Most
Motsielwa elaborates that not only has the day allowed them to educate SMEs, but it has also helped them expand their mailing list. From a marketing perspective, it has allowed them to have face-to-face interactions with their target market. “The people that we want to serve – the people that are actually looking for accountants – that can help them to grow and not just look at whether or not someone filed their tax returns.”
PSTM is actively seeking businesses that it can support to grow and ultimately enhance the value of the South African economy.
One benefit of attending or participating in live events is that it allows brands and potential clients to connect with each other. It creates a platform that does more than just offer networking opportunities – it drives dialogue with all stakeholders within a particular industry. Furthermore, this one-on-one connection means that a personal connection can be made between the entrepreneur and the brand with the solution. In essence, the entrepreneur is more than just a name. They become a face with a backstory and a need for assistance.
Helping SMEs Take Back Control
“I think you are in control of your own destiny,” Motsielwa says. “A lot of the time, you like to talk about what’s wrong, what’s not going right, etc, but I think if you’ve taken the step and you’ve said that you are going to be an entrepreneur, then it is quite different. You need to take control of your own life and your business. If you don’t like the feedback that you’re getting from your business, then you need to reach out to someone who can help you. You need to make sure that you get the right level of support.
“I think there are very good people exhibiting here,” she adds. Her wish for business owners is that they gather their teams to attend the next summit. “Make sure that when you walk away from the next summit, you’ve got those people that you need to go back and speak to once the event is over.”
If you’d like to know more about governance, stay tuned to see the webinar about Governance for SMMEs by PSTM. It will take place on 2 October 2025, at 11:00. You can register via the link on the SME South Africa Webinar page.
The next SME Summit will be announced soon, so keep your ears and eyes open so you don’t miss a thing.
