South Africans up-beat about business prospects

ED RICHARDSON
SOUTH AFRICAN African business owners are the second most optimistic amongst their peers internationally according to the first results from the 2005 Grant Thornton International Business Owners Survey (IBOS).
The research was conducted amongst 6 300 owners of medium sized businesses from 24 countries.
Overall the results show that business owners of mid-sized companies are much more optimistic about the economy than a year ago.
India, at 88%, headed the list for the second year running, while South African business came in at 84%, followed by Ireland (79) and Australia (78).
Leonard Brehm, national chairman of Grant Thornton South Africa, said: “These results can be attributed to a high economic growth rate, a consumer boom and political stability. All things being equal, we can look forward to consistent levels of optimism for a long time to come.”