Free listing for AltX competition winner
The contest is designed to encourage small and medium sized businesses to become publicly traded alongside the 40 firms already on the AltX.
Prizes in the Go4Growth contest are worth R14m.
The contest would not allow a sub-standard company to reach the board by short-cutting any of the listing criteria, said Noah Greenhill, the JSE’s GM for marketing and business development. But it should make them aware of the benefits of listing and help them judge if they are ready for that step.
The average market cap of AltX companies is R309m, and plenty of others of a similar size had never considered listing, Greenhill said.
The winner would go through the regular quality control processes by meeting the AltX advisory committee and complying with the continuing listing obligations to ensure that only sound companies reached the market.
Listing was not the be-all and end-all for every business, Greenhill said, but it could provide value, particularly in raising cash to grow operations.
The main barriers preventing small businesses from growing were a lack of cash and consulting services, said Derek Kudsee, SAP Africa’s director for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Many companies did not understand the listing process or were not sure if they qualified.
“Every company that goes through the first round of analysis will receive a free growth advisory service,” Kudsee said.
Business analysis will be provided by the SAP BusinessEdge consultancy.
The overall winner will also receive software worth R1m.
SAP will select up to 20 companies that may be suitable for listing. Owners will attend a workshop to explain the benefits and requirements of going public. Up to five finalists will go through a week-long course where an overall winner will be chosen.
SAP hopes to benefit by showing small companies that its software can automate their business processes to make them more efficient. SAP traditionally sold its multimillion-dollar software to the world’s largest companies, but with that market reaching saturation it has scaled down its software to be more suitable and more affordable for smaller firms.
SAP hopes to make the contest an annual event. Of the 44 companies that have listed on AltX so far, 40 are still trading.
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