Start-up funding now available in reopened project
Black industrialists can now source up to R50m in start-up funding from the manufacturing competitiveness enhancement programme
THE manufacturing competitiveness enhancement programme (MCEP) was partially reopened on Monday, after a year-long suspension, to accommodate black industrialists in need of start-up funding. Start-ups were previously excluded from the programme. The new dispensation announced by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies on Monday would permit emerging industrialists receiving aid of up to R50m each under MCEP’s industrial financing loan facility. This is the tranche of the competitiveness enhancement programme that was reopened. The loans would be disbursed at an interest rate of 4% and would be repayable over a maximum seven-year period, Davies said. So far, 20 of the 100 black industrialists that government intends to set up have applied for the lending facility. Davies said repayments from existing manufacturers who had taken a loan under the old dispensation had enabled the partial reopening of the new MCEP window. The value of repayments currently stood at about R500m. The produc...
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