Johannesburg — FEWER than half of small businesses believe they will benefit directly from next year's Soccer World Cup, according to the SME Survey 2009.

The annual survey focuses on pertinent business issues for owners of small, medium and micro enterprises , and this year set out to gauge expectations of the event.

It found that though 86% of owners of small businesses believed the World Cup would be positive for the country, just 45% expected the event to benefit their business directly.

"Fifa is known for its zealous protection of the rights of its sponsors to do business in zones surrounding match locations and therefore, to a large extent, works to exclude the participation of 'outside' organisations," principal researcher Arthur Goldstuck said.

"Since sponsorships were far beyond the means of any (small business), it did render direct benefit practically impossible."

However, Goldstuck said World Cup visitors were very likely to do more than just attend matches. "That allows for some spillover of benefits."

Andile Lungisa, chairman of the National Youth Development Agency, a co-sponsor of the survey, said the opportunity existed for young people to use their creativity to offer tourists the African experience.

While not as many young people would benefit from 2010 opportunities as the agency had hoped, "young entrepreneurs can attract tourists to their communities and offer services such as accommodation, food and beverages, and even sell cultural artefacts".

Viewed in terms of their turnover, the expectations of only one sector of small businesses stood out. A mong microenterprises with annual turnover of less than R150000, 93% were positive about the World Cup, compared with the average of 86%.

Goldstuck said this suggested two possible explanations.

"One is that owners of these small enterprises have seen a gap, which they will take advantage of, the other is that they have hopes which may be unrealistic."