The ad goes out to the high-street retailer that stays open until midnight on Christmas Eve for all the last-minute holiday shoppers and to the chef at the local pub pulling double shifts on Christmas Day to give families a memorable meal together.
Small business owners do not stop working just because it is the holidays. If anything, the pressure escalates as they try to juggle the demands of the busy holiday season with spending time with family and friends.
Sage champions these business builders – the heroes of the economy who provide 2/3 of the world’s jobs. According to a Sage survey, in South Africa around 44% of local business owners have chosen their work over their family and 26% have taken less than five days holiday in the year. Furthermore, 50% compromise taking holidays in order to make their business successful.
The holiday advert tells the story of a mother who is unable to join her family to celebrate Christmas every year, because she works so hard to run her business – year after year, there’s an empty chair at the table. However, this year on Christmas Eve, she follows a trail of fairy lights to her storeroom to find that her family have taken Christmas to her – laying out a full Christmas dinner in the store, so they can celebrate the holidays together.
The public may join the initiative in thanking and celebrating these small business heroes by sharing the advert on social with the hashtag #ThereForUs. Watch the holiday advert below:
