The Global Compact Network South Africa (GCNSA) launched a digital small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) Readiness Tool at a side-event of the recently-held Business 20 (B20), the official Group of 20 (G20) dialogue forum for the global business community.

Developed by the GCNSA, the tool is designed to support SME’s access to sustainability capacity-building, improved reporting, and future market- or finance-readiness.

The SME Readiness Tool is described as a user-friendly digital platform that measures a company’s sustainability maturity across eight key indicators aligned with globally recognised sustainability frameworks and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Across the world, SMEs are vital to economies and make up the bulk of the private sector, yet they often lack the knowledge and capabilities needed to strengthen their sustainability performance. At the same time, their meaningful participation in value chains enables larger enterprises to diversify suppliers, enhance trade opportunities, and reduce risk across their portfolios. Our tool aims to bridge this gap by supporting SMEs with sustainability capacity-building, improved reporting, and future market- or finance-readiness,” says GCNSA executive director Dr Achieng Ojwang.

The platform uses a simple yes/no questionnaire adaptable across sectors to generate customised insights and reports that highlight a SME’s benchmarks, pinpoint its strengths and advise on where there are gaps in its sustainability performance. This allows other, especially larger, businesses to find compatible product and service providers and to be able to demonstrate credible sustainability performance throughout their value chain.

Evolving regulations, demanding investors, and conscious consumers are credited for an increased push for more sustainable business value chains.

The SME Readiness Assessment Tool aims to support SMEs to align with sustainability standards, strengthen reporting and engage with corporate buyers and financiers. Once an assessment is complete, an SME receives a comprehensive set of insights that highlights its sustainability maturity level, provides peer comparisons and maps progress against the SDGs.

“Launching this tool on the sidelines of the first G20 meeting ever to take place on the African continent helps us position Africa’s enterprise ecosystem as a testbed for scalable solutions aligned with G20 and B20 priorities on sustainable growth,” says Ojwang.