Set the business up properly, and keep it in good standing.
Start-up checklist
The steps to set up a South African business, in order, with a plain explanation of each.
Starting a business in South Africa means a handful of registrations, in the right order, with offices that all speak a different language. The checklist lays the whole path out in plain words, so you always know what to do next and why it matters.
Good for. Anyone starting a business in South Africa, or tidying up one that was never set up properly.
Compliance calendar
The SARS, CIPC and Compensation Fund dates your business has to meet, worked out from a few questions.
Missing a SARS or CIPC date costs money and, over time, your good standing. Tell Magu a few things about your business and it works out which dates apply to you, then puts them where you will actually see them.
They appear on your calendar and home page, with how to file each one
What you get
VAT201, EMP201, provisional tax, annual returns
How to file each one, in plain words
Deadlines show on your calendar and home page
Good for. Owners who want to stop worrying about missed SARS, CIPC and Compensation Fund dates.
Domains
Search for your business name, register your .co.za and keep it in one place.
A business that looks real has its own web address and an email to match. Search for the name you want, register your .co.za in minutes and keep it, with its renewals, in the same place as everything else.
Point it at your website or email, and renew from one place
What you get
Search and register in minutes
Point it where you need it
Renewals handled for you
Good for. Businesses that want their own web address and professional email.
Business coach
Ask anything about starting, running and growing a business, and get a straight answer.
The coach is an assistant that knows South African small business. Ask how to price, how to register, what to do about a late-paying client, and get a patient answer in plain English, at any hour.
Keep the conversation going, with credits that come with your plan
What you get
Plans from free to our strongest coach
Business plan builder and document review
Remembers your business between chats
Good for. Owners who want a patient, plain-English answer at any hour.
Business profile
Your business, with its own page that people can find and share.
Before anyone does business with you, they look you up. Your profile gathers the things they look for (who you are, what you do, where you are and the registrations behind the business) on one page you control.
Share the link, or switch the page off whenever you like
What you get
Your name, logo, what you offer and where you are, in one place
Registration, VAT and COIDA details, so other businesses can trust you
A link you can share on WhatsApp, with a proper preview
You choose what is shown, and you can switch it off
Good for. Businesses that want to look legitimate before the first phone call.
Communications
Communications
Say it once, and make sure it is seen.
Announcements
Tell your whole team something once, and know who has read it.
An announcement is not a chat message that scrolls away. It is a message from the business to its people that stays put, and tells you who has seen it. Use it for hours, rules, closures and good news.
Send an update to everyone, a department or chosen people
See who has read it
Pin what matters so it is not lost
Staff are notified on their home page
Good for. Owners and managers who keep repeating the same message in five chats.
Inbox
Send the whole business an update, and know who has read it.
Updates, enquiries and notices arrive in one inbox instead of being lost between email, WhatsApp and paper. Unread counts show on your home page so nothing waits unseen.
Owners and admins can send updates to people or departments
What you get
Write to everyone, one department or chosen people
Mark a message important
See how many people have opened it
Good for. Teams that are tired of updates getting lost in group chats.
Team chat
A simple chat for the people you work with, inside the same workspace.
Work conversations belong with the work. Team chat gives your people a simple place to talk inside the workspace, one-to-one or in groups, without anyone installing another app.
Good for. Small teams that want work conversations kept apart from personal ones.
Work
Work
Run the day: who does what, by when, and where everything lives.
Tasks
Give work to people in your team and see what is done, doing and waiting.
Most small teams run on memory and good intentions. Tasks give every piece of work a name, an owner and a date, and show the whole team what is done, in progress and waiting.
Set a date, and share it with a client if you want
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Move it across the board as it progresses
What you get
Assign, set dates, share with a client
Everyone sees what is theirs
A clear board by status
Good for. Teams of two to twenty who need to know who is doing what, and by when.
Calendar
Your events and your tax deadlines in one month view.
One month view for what your business has on: events, meetings and the tax dates that apply to you. Your team sees the same calendar, and you choose what clients can see.
Good for. Businesses with deadlines, meetings and events that need to be seen by everyone.
Schedule
Plan your day, hour by hour, and what repeats.
Where the calendar shows the month, the schedule shows today: hour by hour, with the things that repeat every day, week, month or year already in place. Today and tomorrow show up on your home page.
Add things that repeat daily, weekly, monthly or yearly
Tick them off as you go
Today and tomorrow show on your home page
Good for. Owners and staff who plan their day in hours, and have routines that repeat.
Documents and templates
Write documents together, and start from templates made for South African businesses.
Proposals, letters, policies and agreements take hours to start from nothing. Write documents in the workspace, share them with your team, or start from templates made for South African businesses.
Employment agreement, NDA, service and supplier agreements
POPIA privacy notice, company profile, business plan
Print or share with a client
Good for. Anyone who writes proposals, letters, policies or agreements and wants a head start.
Files
The company's papers in folders you can find in seconds.
Registration papers, contracts and certificates always get lost when they are needed most. Keep the business's papers in folders you can search, and find any of them in seconds.
Good for. Anyone who sells to people and needs their details, quotes and invoices in one place.
Invoices and quotes
Quote the job, turn it into an invoice, send it and record what gets paid.
Look professional and get paid faster. Make a quote, turn it into an invoice with one click, put your logo on it and send it as a PDF, from your own email address if you connect it.
Good for. Freelancers, shops and service businesses that need to look professional and get paid on time.
Money overview
What came in, what went out, what is left and the VAT, for any period.
Profit, spending and VAT, without a spreadsheet. The overview pulls together your invoices and costs so you can see how the business is really doing this month.
Good for. Owners who want one honest picture of profit, spending and VAT.
Monthly costs
What it costs to keep the business running, so you know what you must earn.
Before you can price anything properly you need to know what it costs to keep the doors open. List your monthly costs once and see the total, and how it compares with what you earn.
Monthly, quarterly and yearly costs as one monthly figure
The base for your break-even
Good for. Anyone who wants to know what it costs just to open the doors each month.
Stock take
Count your stock each month and see what it could earn.
Running out of the thing people want, or sitting on a shelf of what they do not, both cost money. Count what you have, see what is low and know what to order.
Good for. Shops, food businesses and workshops that count stock and hate running out.
Accounting
Accounting
Your bank statement, turned into the statements your bank and accountant ask for.
Transactions
Bring in your bank statement and see every transaction sorted in one list.
Your bank statement is the truest record of the business, but nobody enjoys reading it. Bring it in, and every transaction is sorted into plain categories you can fix once and have remembered.
Add a bank statement and see everything in one place
Sort money in and out into plain categories
Fix a category once and it remembers
The base for your profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow
Good for. Owners who want their books in shape without bookkeeping jargon.
Profit and loss
Upload a statement from any bank and get your profit and loss, ready to adjust.
Did the business make money? The profit and loss statement answers that straight, from the transactions you already sorted. See what came in, what went out and what was left, for any month.
Lines sorted into categories for you, and easy to change
Add your own lines and adjustments, then print or download it
Good for. Owners who have bank statements but no accountant on call.
Balance sheet
See what the business owns and what it owes, on one page.
The balance sheet shows what the business owns and what it owes. It is what banks and investors ask for first, and it tells you whether the business is truly growing.
Assets, liabilities and what is left for the owner
Built from the transactions you have already sorted
Pick the month you want to see
Print or save it for your bank or accountant
Good for. Owners applying for funding, or checking whether the business is really growing.
Cash flow
See where the money moved: what came in, what went out, and what is left.
A business can be profitable and still run out of cash. The cash flow statement shows where the money moved: what you started with, what came in, what went out and what is left.
Opening cash, money in, money out and closing cash
Month by month, with a clear total
Spot the months that squeeze you
Print or save it as a document
Good for. Owners who are profitable on paper but always short of cash.
Cash budget
Plan the months ahead, then compare the plan with what really happened.
A budget turns worry into a plan. Set what you expect to receive and spend each month, see the months where cash runs short before they arrive, then compare the plan with what really happened.
See the months where cash runs short before they arrive
Compare plan and actual
Print or save it as a document
Good for. Seasonal businesses and anyone planning a big purchase.
People and tax
People and tax
Hire with your eyes open, pay people properly and set tax aside.
Team and roles
Add people, put them in a department, and decide exactly what each role can see and change.
Add your people and decide exactly what each one sees. A bookkeeper does not need the payslips; a cashier does not need the books. Roles keep each person to what they need.
Invite people by email, or create a login for someone without one
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Choose their role and department
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Remove or change access at any time
What you get
Invite by email, or give someone a login and an employee number
Admin, accountant, employee, client, or a role you design
Employees connect with your business code, which can change daily, weekly or monthly
Pay and money stay private, and nobody gets more access than you have
Good for. Owners who are adding their first people, and want each person to see only what they should.
Payslips
A full payslip for every employee, every month.
Correct payslips, with PAYE and UIF worked out, as a PDF for each person and an email to their inbox. Everything a small employer needs, without a payroll bureau.
PAYE, UIF, overtime, bonuses and deductions worked out
Year-to-date totals, leave and your logo
Save as PDF, print or email to the employee
Each employee sees only their own payslips
Good for. Employers who want correct payslips, with PAYE and UIF, without a payroll bureau.
Payroll estimator
Work out what a hire really costs before you make the offer.
Before you hire, find out what the person will really cost: salary, UIF, SDL and more. The estimator shows the true monthly and yearly cost so the decision is made with your eyes open.
Good for. Owners deciding whether they can afford the next hire.
Tax estimator
Estimate your income tax and how much to put aside each month.
Provisional tax is only frightening when it arrives as a surprise. Enter your income and the estimator shows how much to set aside each month, so the money is there when SARS asks.
Company, small business corporation or sole proprietor
Provisional payment amounts
Fill it from your own figures
Good for. Owners who are afraid of the provisional tax bill.
Calculator
Quick business maths for pricing, margins and VAT.
Quick answers to the questions every owner asks: what margin am I making, what mark-up do I need, how much must I sell to break even. Type in the numbers and see.
Good for. Anyone who needs a quick margin, mark-up or break-even answer.
Find
Find
Be found by the right businesses and people, and find them in return.
Business finder
Find other businesses on Magu that offer what you need, and let them find you.
A directory of businesses on Magu. List what you offer so other businesses can find you, or search for a supplier or partner by what they do and where they are.
Switch on your listing and describe what you offer
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Other businesses find you, or you search
3
Enquiries arrive in your inbox
What you get
Search by what you need, kind of business and province
List your own business, or keep it private
Enquiries arrive in your inbox
Good for. Businesses that want to be found by other businesses, and owners looking for a supplier or partner.
Employee finder
Create your résumé, switch it on, and be found by businesses that are hiring.
A résumé that is built for the way South Africans actually look for work. Pick from 300 skills, add your experience, choose a photo, and share one clean link anyone can open.
Share a link that opens a clean page, with a proper WhatsApp preview
Only you can print it or save it as a PDF
Good for. People looking for work, and businesses looking for people.
Job offers
Post an offer to hire a person, or to work with another business.
A noticeboard for work. A business can post an offer to hire a person, or to work with another business, with the pay and terms laid out clearly and a date when it closes.