Billions of rand in funding was available to businesses and would-be entrepreneurs to invest in company expansions or to start new ventures, but the divide between funders and entrepreneurial project promoters was holding back deal-making and economic development projects in KwaZulu-Natal.
This was the view expressed by executives from auditing and business advisory firm Deloitte and provincial government officials at the launch of the KZN Funding Fair last week.
The initiative is a public-private partnership between Deloitte, the KZN Treasury and the provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism, which will see a fair hosted in Durban next week.
“There are almost 100 different funding sources from the public and private sector that businesses and prospective entrepreneurs can approach.
“From the major banks and financial institutions, to government grant and financial support agencies, equity funds and venture capitalists, there are literally billions of rands available,” said André Pottas, corporate finance boss at Deloitte KZN.
“The stumbling block is the huge disconnect between funders and project promoters. They also don’t know about all the potential sources out there and face complicated application processes,” he said.
The KZN Funding Fair aims to help address the issue in a practical way by bringing together various funding organisations and project promoters during a two-day event.
“A call was made to business and entrepreneurial project promoters to submit their business ideas and plans, and we had about 100 applications.”
Deloitte, with provincial government officials, will select 40 project promoters who will pitch their business plans to a large group of funders during the fair.
“We have pre-selected 31 projects we believe have business and job creation potential,” said Pottas.
Clive Coetzee, of the KZN Treasury, said they were looking for “bankable” business plans, hence the selection process, but those who submitted projects that were not selected would also get to attend the event.
“We want business deals to come out of this event – that is why we selected projects with strong potential,” he said.
Liesel Beires, of the Economic Development Department, said projects were selected from both rural and urban areas and from various sectors. Most of the projects were in the agri-business, tourism and manufacturing sectors.
Pottas said they conservatively believed that R8 billion to R10bn in investments for KZN could come about through the initiative, with the fair set to become an annual event.
* The Mercury is the official media partner of the fair. For more information, go to www.kznfundingfair.co.za