The Gauteng Provincial Government, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the SA SME Fund have launched the SMME Crisis Partnership Fund, a R300 million debt fund for small businesses based in Gauteng townships.

The Fund aims to reach a critical segment of the SMME Market that requires relatively small loans from (R500k to R1,5m) to fund their businesses. Qualifying SMMEs are those with revenues of less than R20 million.

• The fund will allocate capital to non-bank lenders/intermediaries to on-lend to final beneficiaries. This will result in quite an extensive reach.
• The intermediaries have diverse product offerings, unique platforms; and approaches. They each have a niche market segment that they will service in the broader SMME sector. This diversity bodes well in that many more SMME’s are likely to fall into the net and be assisted.
• The intermediaries will manage the application and credit processes.
• Loan Funding will be provided at the lowest interest rates – max of 1% per month.