Business.co.za

The Small Business Index · State of South African Business

September 2026

The economy, what South African business news covered, what the directory holds and what people looked for — counted, not estimated.

Download the data: CSV · JSON — free to use with attribution.

7.25%Repo ratefrom 25 Sep 2026 · South African Reserve Bank
4.4%Inflation (CPI)August 2026 · Stats SA
33.6%UnemploymentQ2 2026 · Stats SA
-0.2%GDP growthQ2 2026 · Stats SA
418business stories read11 publishers
165 056businesses on the directory388 verified · 50 provinces
0jobs posted0 positions · 0 employers
387Checked businesses0 claimed by their owners in the month

1. The economy

IndicatorLatestBeforePeriodSource
Repo rate7.25%7%from 25 Sep 2026South African Reserve Bank
Prime lending rate10.75%10.5%from 25 Sep 2026South African Reserve Bank
Inflation (CPI)4.4%4.3%August 2026Stats SA
Petrol 95 (inland)R30.25/lR26.92/lOctober 2026Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources
Unemployment33.6%32.7%Q2 2026Stats SA
GDP growth-0.2%0.4%Q2 2026Stats SA
Rand / US dollarR16.45R16.4206 Nov 2026ExchangeRate-API
Rand / euroR18.48R18.4606 Nov 2026ExchangeRate-API
Rand / poundR22.15R22.1206 Nov 2026ExchangeRate-API

2. What the news covered

418 stories from 11 South African publishers. Each headline and teaser was read for the industries it concerns and the companies and institutions it names.

Industries and services most covered

  1. Funding37 stories · 4 publishers
  2. Infrastructure20 stories · 4 publishers
  3. Production19 stories · 6 publishers
  4. SMEs16 stories · 2 publishers
  5. Awards16 stories · 5 publishers
  6. Government16 stories · 7 publishers
  7. Financing13 stories · 4 publishers
  8. Marketing12 stories · 3 publishers
  9. Retail11 stories · 4 publishers
  10. Marketing11 stories · 3 publishers
  11. Finance10 stories · 5 publishers
  12. Insights10 stories · 4 publishers

Our news desk began reading on 1 October 2026, so this month is not compared with the one before.

Most named companies, institutions and places

AI 65SMEs 9FMD 5Cape Town 5Awards 4JSE 4University 3City 3Transnet 3Treasury 3Bank 3

Recurring subjects

cape town 11artificial intelligence 6social media 6foot-and-mouth disease 5cash flow 4

3. The directory

165 056 businesses listed, across 50 provinces. 8 were listed by their owners this month (11 the month before), and 0 owners asked to claim a listing built from public sources.

By province

  1. Western Cape74 780
  2. Gauteng27 316
  3. Eastern Cape22 187
  4. Free State11 845
  5. North West9 338
  6. Northern Cape6 718
  7. KwaZulu-Natal4 226
  8. Limpopo1 679
  9. Mpumalanga1 557
  10. South Africa59
  11. Cape Town16
  12. Inland12
  13. Bloemfontein3
  14. Port Elizabeth3
  15. East London3
  16. BLM2
  17. Western Province2
  18. SOW1
  19. Sandbaai1
  20. South Adrica1
  21. South Africa (ZA)1
  22. South Western Districts1
  23. Soweto1
  24. Stellenbosch1
  25. TO BE USED1
  26. UAE1
  27. Vanderbijlpark1
  28. Vredenburg1
  29. Westkap1
  30. Windhoek1
  31. Worcester1
  32. ZA1
  33. -- Non U.S. --1
  34. 西ケープ1
  35. 97451
  36. Brackenfell1
  37. CPT1
  38. Centurion1
  39. Dubai1
  40. Evaton1
  41. FL1
  42. JHB1
  43. Kimberly1
  44. Lichtenburg1
  45. London1
  46. Mossel Bay1
  47. Muizenberg1
  48. NK1
  49. NSW1
  50. PEL1

Largest industries

  1. Retail48 405
  2. Hospitality23 785
  3. Food & Beverages22 975
  4. Automotive11 081
  5. Tourism10 644
  6. Business Services9 063
  7. Lifestyle9 055
  8. Food Stores8 812
  9. Healthcare8 082
  10. Hotels7 439

4. What people looked for

176 searches, 102 questions put to the pros and 429 answers.

  1. Accounting166 searches
  2. Web Design3 searches

5. Hiring

0 jobs posted by 0 employers, advertising 0 open positions. 0 businesses are hiring right now.

Provinces and pay are shown once at least three employers (five for pay) have posted — too few so far to report.

Jobs · Live hiring

6. Business activity and funding

0 businesses were claimed by their owners this month, and 387 carry the ✓ Checked mark. 0 partnership opportunities were posted; 0 businesses are open to working together. Funding made 26 headlines and 6 questions on Ask the pros.

Collaborate · Funding

Method and sources

  • Economic indicators are reproduced from the South African Reserve Bank, Statistics South Africa, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources and ExchangeRate-API, as named on each row.
  • News counts cover the headlines and RSS teasers of the publishers on our news page; a topic is counted when it appears in at least three stories from two publishers.
  • Directory counts are businesses listed on Business.co.za, excluding quarantined listings. Listings built from public sources are not counted as new in any month.
  • Search demand is counted only where a search names a trade and three or more searches were made.
  • Hiring counts are jobs posted on Business.co.za; provinces need at least three employers and pay at least five. Pay is the median of advertised ranges, never estimated.
  • Checked businesses are run by their owners, verified or on the companies register in business, and contactable. Business activity counts exclude quarantined and held listings.
Cite this reportBusiness.co.za (2026). The Small Business Index — State of South African Business, September 2026. https://www.business.co.za/report/2026-09 (accessed 6 November 2026).Licence CC BY 4.0. The underlying data: open data.