Small Business Resources

The Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA)

The Small Enterprise Development Agency (seda) is the Department of Trade and Industry's agency for supporting small business in South Africa.

seda was established in December 2004 in terms of the National Small Business Amendment Act. This law merged the previous small enterprise development agencies Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency, NAMAC Trust and the Community Public Private Partnerships (CPPP) into a single small enterprise support agency. The mandate of seda is to design and implement a standard national delivery network that must uniformly apply throughout the country. Its role includes the support and promotion of co-operative enterprises, particularly those located in rural areas. Fund the Manufacturing Advice Centres (Mac) programme where manufacturers and businesses in select business sectors can get up to 90% of their business support intervention sponsored. Also funds local business support centres and tender advice centres

seda aims to:

Strengthen support for SMMEs' access to finance
Create an enabling regulatory environment
Expand market opportunities for specific categories of small enterprises
Localise small business support through a grid of seda-coordinated information and advice access points
Initiate a national entrepreneurship drive and expand education and training for small business
Co-fund minimum business infrastructure facilities in local authority areas across the country

Click here for more information http://www.seda.org.za or call 0860 103703

Khula Enterprise

Business owners who struggle to get bank loans because they lack collateral can approach the DTI's small business finance organisation for Khula-guaranteed bank loans. These include amongst others; the Individual Guarantee Scheme which is available through the banks to small business owners who want loans of R1m or less but have no collateral and the Emerging Entrepreneur Scheme which lends to SMMEs with less than R2 million. Please feel free to contact http://www.khula.org.za or call (012) 394 5560.

Department of Trade and Industry

Government initiatives, facilitated by the DTI and associated organisations, include the Centre for Small Business Promotion (CSBP), Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency and Khula Enterprise Finance.

The CSBP implements and administers the aims of the national strategy, which includes job creation. The DTI has recently signed an agreement with the European Union which will see the EU donating R550m to start a risk capital fund for SMMEs.

Click here for more information http://www.dti.gov.za or call 0861 843 384.

Umsobomvu Youth Fund

To overcome these obstacles, Government created the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) in January 2001, and gave it the task of promoting entrepreneurship, job creation, skills development and skills transfer among South Africans between the ages of 18 and 35.

The UYF is dedicated to investing in things that create opportunities for young people to get good skills, find job opportunities or even start their own successful businesses.

Click here for more information http://www.youthportal.org.za

Business partners

Business Partners Limited is South Africa’s leading specialist financing company for small and medium enterprises. It provides a full-service offering for entrepreneurs, which includes customised investment solutions, property broking, property management, technical assistance, mentorship, consulting and ongoing business support through industry-specific units. Integrated business solutions are individually structured to meet the specific needs of a wide range of entrepreneurs, from single-owner private practices to multi-owner management buy-outs or buy-ins. Provides equity and bridging finance as well as mentoring for viable businesses

Click here for more information http://www.businesspartners.co.za or call (011) 470 8700

Real Enterprise Development Initiative (RED Door)

The RED Door is a one-stop shop for new and existing businesses looking for help and advice, from the most basic to the most sophisticated. We aim to:

Help build new businesses;
Help strengthen and develop existing businesses; and
Help create and build more black-owned businesses.

RED Door centres are easy to find in most large communities and towns in the Western Cape. We speak English, Afrikaans and Xhosa and our expert, friendly staff will work with you to analyse your business needs and then develop a customised action plan..

Click here for more information http://www.capegateway.gov.za/eng/your_gov/13464

Black Management Forum:

The BMF is an independent non-governmental initiative dedicated to placing black managers on an equal footing with managers from other backgrounds and environments.

The BMF is a Non- Racial, Thought Leadership organisation founded in 1976 and is today the primary Black Management organisation in the country. Although the strategic focus of the BMF is on black managers, its' policy and philosophy is non-racial. To that end its' membership was open to all races in 1989. The organisation is nationally based with branches throughout the country, providing:

Leadership development
Business advisory services on transformation
Motivation
Role modelling
Business orientation and
A values-based philosophy to young people through a network of established student chapters at various colleges and universities.

For more information on this, business training and networking please visit http://www.bmfonline.co.za or call (011) 784 4407.

Khethani Business Finance

Khethani Business Finance is a non-profit organisation who assists small businesses whose loan applications would normally be turned down by banks, with finance. For more information, please call (011) 781 7224.

National Empowerment Fund (NEF)

Provides acquisition funding and venture capital in support of black empowerment from R200 000 upwards. (011) 772 8000. http://www.nefcorp.co.za

National Productiviy Institute (NPI)

A non-governmental organization which has various subsidized programmes and solutions for small business owners looking to increase their productivity.(012) 341 1470. Nexus Financial Solutions: A Sanlam one-stop business website and call centre for businesses in operation for longer than two years, which refers owners to various services ranging from legal issues to tax and financial assistance. 086 0100 539. http://www.npi.co.za

Old Mutual small retailer consulting services

Old Mutual Properties have since last year introduced a support service to small retailers in all of their owned-malls, to help train and mentor for them to become more competitive. (021) 424 5280.

Proudly South African

A branding campaign to promote SA products through the carrying of the Proudly SA logo which business owners can place on their products for a cost of 0.1% of the sales their product. (011) 327-7778. http://www.proudlysa.co.za

Small and Medium Enterprise Development Programme (SMEDP)

Provides grants to small businesses in manufacturing, tourism, agro-processing, IT, arts and crafts, aqua culture and high value agricultures who require training or land, machinery or buildings for expanding existing projects or starting up new ones. 086 1843 384 Sector Partnership Fund: Assists groups of small business owners and micro entrepreneurs manufacturing, IT and agro-processing sectors with grants to link up and pool resources in order to meet a tender which otherwise may be too big for them to go alone. 086 1843 384 http://www.dti.gov.za

Sizanani

Arrange guarantees for small businesses with little or no collateral, while providing mentoring services to go hand-in-hand with the bank guarantees. 086 133 3000

Small Business Project

Assists small businesses through their Linkage Programme with link-ups and joint ventures with corporates. (011) 484 4666. www.sbp.org.za

Softstart

A Gauteng-based technology hub which is situated inside the CSIR campus. The incubator also assists tech businesses outside the province and offers mentoring, product-development, finance referral and business plan assistance. (012) 349 2355. http://www.softstart.co.za

South Africa International Business Linkages (Saibl)

An American government-sponsored fund which aims to assist historically-disadvantaged South African small businesses to grow through funding as well as linking them up with trade and investment partnerships both in the country and abroad. (011) 802 0015.

Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII)

An innovation support programme that currently provides grants to small business for new product and process development and is funded by the DTI and administered by the IDC. (011) 269 3000.

Upstarts

A technological incubator, started by Mark Shuttleworth, which provides funding and assistance to technological small businesses across the country. Though based in Cape Town it can act as a 'virtual hub' to businesses across the country. (021) 970 1500. http://www.upstarts.co.za