SME SOUTH AFRICA, SME funding: fact or fallacy

By Steven Cohen, managing director of Pastel Accounting FII findings from our inaugural Pastel SME Business Survey tell us that the lack of funding for this sector of the economy is one of the top three barriers to business growth. In fact, one in every five respondents reported that they were either unable to, or unaware of how to, raise funding for their business. This is astounding! But not for the reasons, you may imagine; the last time I checked, there were billions of rands of funding available to local businesses annually. Whether venture capitalists, NGOs or the better-known funders like the IDC, DTIC, Business Partners and the NEF, they all maintain that they have plenty of money available to invest in business owners with good ideas and great leaders.

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