The tight government restrictions imposed over the last two years in response to the Covid-19 pandemic have left many SMEs in respiratory distress. They have been faced with seemingly never-ending constraints on their operations and supply chains.

In addition, as we continue to transition into the ‘new normal’, many businesses are finding that customer behaviour has been permanently changed by the pandemic, with demands for some services unlikely to recover to pre-2020 levels.

Other businesses have found that their target market has been permanently altered by the pandemic, or that competitors and alternatives have eaten up their market share. This makes it extremely challenging for many owners to envision the outlook for 2022 and beyond – or even to determine whether their business is likely to remain a going concern at all.