Enterprise Survey 2011

The 2011 MCA-Lesotho baseline enterprise survey is a national survey of enterprises. The main objective of the survey was to assess the current status of businesses in Lesotho, in relation to four principal factors, namely, water supply and sanitation, essential health services, investment climate in the country, land administration and modernization of the commercial legal system. The survey used a single-stage stratified sampling design in which stratification was done by rural/urban, industrial classification and size of enterprise.

Most enterprises had been in business for slightly less than 10 years and reported that the registration process was lengthy, costly and difficult. The enterprises had more male workers than female workers and had more males as top managers. Most enterprises reported own savings as their first most important source of start- up capital. Majority of enterprises did not know about the credit bureau and did not use financial institutions to secure loans. Generally, enterprises procured their products from local wholesalers and retailers and conducted transactions using cash over the counter as the most common mode of payment to suppliers.With respect to type of land ownership, the largest proportion (37.5%) of individually-owned enterprises was Form C holders, followed by tenant enterprises or those that rented business premises (31.3%). In terms of the acquisition of land/business plots, 43.5% of the enterprises had acquired land/plots through customary allocation by customary chiefs, followed by those that had purchased plots through transfer from someone (22.3%). Most individually-owned enterprises (48.4%) had also acquired plots from customary chiefs, followed by plots that were purchased from someone else (21.3%). In contrast, most jointly-owned enterprises had acquired plots through transfer from someone for cash (32.6%), followed by public sector agency grants (26.3%).

A significant proportion (69.8%) of enterprises did not have formally registered titles/documents to the premises that they used; The top reason for opting to rent/sublease business premises was not intending to acquire land, which was mentioned by 35.1 percent of enterprises. The second reason was of enterprises that did not qualify to hold land in Lesotho, which was mentioned by 23.2 percent of enterprises
Majority (67.2 percent) of enterprises did not have occupational insurance. Over 50 percent of the enterprises did not have all the policies. Workers in 83.5 percent of all enterprises did not have access to a health and safety officer. In 88.3 and 91.7 percent of all enterprises, workers did not have access to a counselor and services of a Social Worker, respectively. Workers in 32.6 percent of all enterprises did not have break hours. As high as 86.4 percent of the enterprises lost between one (1) and 30 days to sick leave in the last twelve months. Majority of enterprises (84.5%) provided neither educational programmes/activities nor ARVs to their workforce.