SMMEs
Access to funding for
SMMEs demystified Access to funding remains a critical growth enabler for small businesses in South Africa, and access thereof, continues to be incorrectly viewed as a difficult, painful and slow process due to lack of knowledge regarding application processes and inadequate awareness of the compliance documents required by financiers, writes Gordon Malebo, ESD Strategist. In order to demystify small business funding challenges, we have to encourage information sharing platforms that seek to: • Increase awareness of the funding processes; • Confirm the standard compliance documents required and the importance thereof in accessing business funding; and • Provide knowledge on maintaining the funding readiness of the business. At the recent Anglo American Zimele Funding Workshops, featuring key partners that included ABSA, IDC, Guard Risk, Bopano Capital as well as SEDA, all the abovementioned points were noted. Through collaborations such as these we are able to unlock opportunities within the South African entrepreneurship development ecosystem.
Fundamentals crucial to accessing finance for small businesses The funding requirements are standard for all funders, and they will remain so for the near future. The requirements may slightly increase based on the complexity of the funding transaction.
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A crucial takeaway from the Zimele workshops was that the entrepreneurs should exercise good financial management discipline that can be evidenced through financial records.