“Unfortunately, many people face what Ben did daily, and that contributes to the astronomical rates of business failure. In a time where we need to create jobs and kickstart our economy. I cannot but reflect on what we need to do to move forward.”

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Today as we are living through a chapter of life where Covid-19 is ravaging through our society, I cannot but reflect on what we need to do to move forward. With this in mind, I cannot but recall how challenging life has been as an entrepreneur. Yes, very rewarding, but also very challenging. I also cannot but be mindful that because of my profession, the legal side was much easier — but what if had not been an attorney? I could not help but think of Ben.

Ben is one of the smartest and most hardworking people I know. I saw him put everything into his startup, but he still failed in the third year, why? Ben is a smart guy and thought of every technical component.  He put in everything he had in, but he never thought of an eventuality where his business partner lost interest in the business and exited abruptly. They never signed any contracts and never spoke about what they would do if either wanted to quit.  The problem is that before exit, Ben felt that he was doing everything and working much harder than his partner. He experienced the exit as the ultimate betrayal. Ben ended up paying out large amounts of money to this now ex-partner.

The aftermath was even harder. Ben realised that his partner was running a separate business while there and had poached his clients. Had Ben sat down with his partner and recorded the arrangements to exit a lot of animosity and the ultimate failure would have been avoided.

Unfortunately, many people face what Ben did daily, and that contributes to the astronomical rates of business failure. In a time where we need to create jobs and kickstart our economy. With Contracts4Biz, Ben could have put together a Shareholders Agreement and MOI in minutes for less than R800 for both. Contracts4Biz is South Africa’s first contract builder tool supported by a law firm. It provides people, like Ben, access to contracts that would sell for thousands of rands for between R75 and R395 per document. It is instantly available to keep up with the time demand of business and more accurate than a human can ever be.

We support entrepreneurs to effectively establish legal foundations in their business for optimum growth and overall business success. We apply our first-hand understanding of the challenges facing entrepreneurs to develop proven, practical solutions incorporating legal compliance, risk aversion and business sense.