6 percent of African Business Professionals does not expect the company they work for to survive the COVID-19 Crisis. This is the main result of an extended survey conducted by the Africa Business Panel.

About 2/3 of the African companies (62%) say they are struggling but will survive. Almost a third of companies (29%) say they are doing well and the near future is looking good.

One in 25 African companies (4%) is doing better than ever due to the crisis.

There are significant differences between countries. Least optimistic are companies in South Africa; no less than 10 precent of participants working for South African companies don’t expect their company to outlive the Covid-19 crisis.

On the other end of the spectrum is Ghana; only 3 percent of participants from Ghana fear the company they work for will not survive the crisis.

At the same time Ghanaian companies are least able to take advantage of the crisis; none of the Ghanaian participants felt that their company was thriving due to the crisis.

In North Africa, 9 percent of the companies are doing better than ever due to the crisis, by far the highest score in Africa. South Africa comes in second, having a score of 5 percent.

A participant from Côte d’Ivoire, working in Construction: “My company is diversified, so for the moment the impact of the crisis is low. But if the crisis is not over very soon, we shall be impacted.”

A participant from South Africa, working in the Manufacturing sector: “I am wasting my time interacting with Government to secure social security payments for some of my employees. The government is generally unresponsive.”

The hardest blow is expected by smaller enterprises. 12 percent of self-employed Africans expect not to survive the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic. The larger the company, the better the chances. Of companies with over 250 employees, only 3 percent predict their companies’ folding up.

Companies with over 250 employees also have the highest score (5%) for doing better than ever due to the crisis.

As compared to Manufacturing and Services, Trade has the worst outlook. 10 percent of African trading companies does not expect to survive the crisis versus 6 percent for Manufacturing and 5 percent for Services. 24 percent of African Trade Companies are doing fine or better than ever compared with 31 percent for both Manufacturing and Services.

A participant from Sudan, working in Agriculture: “We will need to focus on production and Agriculture, as they are the only way out for Africa to grow and lead.’

A participant from Nigeria, working in Services: “The economic situation in the country requires urgent application of micro-economic funding for small and medium scale sectors. Tax relief should be given as incentives.”