South African small businesses celebrate their business successes like no other country

Cape Town— 28 August 2025 — Xero, the global small business platform, has published new independent research revealing South African small businesses celebrate their milestones the most out of seven countries surveyed. South Africa topped the charts for recognizing achievements with 92% reporting they currently celebrate, or plan to celebrate milestones well ahead of their peers in other countries.

The study, which surveyed 300 South African small business owners, along with their counterparts in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, highlights the moments that are critical to small business success. Xero undertook the study to encourage small business owners to recognize their hard work and achievements, reinforcing that acknowledging small wins is as vital as the wins themselves.

Milestones that matter

More South African small businesses reached a milestone within the last three years (86%) than any other country surveyed. The top three milestones are the ability to pay themselves (55%), having repeat customers (55%) and receiving positive reviews (49%).

Making money (67%) and making themself proud (61%) are the top motivators for South African small business owners. Other key drivers include making those around them feel proud (41%), followed by solving a real problem (41%), along with contributing to the community (38%).

Colin Timmis, Regional Director EMEA at Xero said: “These results reflect the optimism, ambition and pride of self-made businesses in South Africa, who despite facing unique challenges, take the time to celebrate their successes, big or small. Running a small business isn’t easy, but stopping to celebrate those moments is all part of the journey. From making your first sale to getting a five-star review, every win is worth celebrating, and doing so can unlock more growth.”

Small business owners in South Africa acknowledge the positive impact of celebrating success on employee morale (92%), performance (89%) and believe it has an overwhelmingly positive impact on their energy (85%), motivation (88%) and happiness (75%).

Taking time to recognize a milestone

Celebrating a milestone in South Africa most commonly involves the small business owner treating themself (40%), running a customer giveaway (27%), hosting an event (22%) and highlighting employee contributions with awards (20%).

Emma Kaye, founder and director of dog food brand Happy Hounds, explains that her team celebrates daily wins to foster a culture of collective achievement and workplace happiness. Happy Hounds has achieved many notable milestones including opening their commercial kitchen, hitting R1 million in revenue.

“A stand-out moment for me was when a customer walked into the shop and burst into tears, saying ‘thank you for giving me my dog back’, after seeing the change over four weeks on a Happy Hounds diet,” says Kaye. “Knowing we have a real impact on improving the lives of dogs and their families is huge. It’s what drives us.”

The full report is available on Xero’s website.

ENDS

Media Contact

Xero Communications South Africa | Sophie Whitney | sophie.whitney@xero.com

About Xero

Xero is a global small business platform that helps customers supercharge their business by bringing together the most important small business tools, including accounting, payroll and payments — on one platform. Xero’s powerful platform helps customers automate routine tasks, get timely insights, and connects them with their data, their apps, and their accountant or bookkeeper so they can focus on what really matters. Trusted by millions of small businesses and accountants and bookkeepers globally, Xero makes life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. For further information, please visit xero.com.

Research Methodology

This research was commissioned by Xero and facilitated by One Picture and is based on an online survey of 2300, independently recruited, small business owners across seven markets (300 in each of the UK, the US, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, and South Africa and 500 in Australia). Survey fieldwork was run between 15 April 2025 and 30 April 2025. Participants came from a spread of industries and the data was weighted by employee size to be as representative of each market as possible. All markets were weighted to be equally represented when looking at the total.