NEF develops black SMEs to become industrialists, BUSINESS REPORT(Cape Times)

BUSINESS REPORT (Cape Times) Page 22

AS an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry and a leading funder of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) has approved over R4,6-billion for black-empowered businesses, since operational inception in 2004, in fulfilling its continuing mandate to champion economic transformation in South Africa, says NEF chief executive, Philisiwe Buthelezi. She says the NEF is mandated to promote and facilitate black economic participation through the provision of financial and non-financial support to black empowered businesses, on the one hand, and by promoting a culture of savings and investment among black people, on the other. The NEF has developed finance products ranging from R250 000 up to R75-million for black 'entrepreneurs, and these range from financing start-ups, franchising, procurement funding, project fmance, expansion capital, acquisition fmance, rural and community development finance and capital markets, to the provision of loan capital for feasibility studies in industrial projects.

Read full article