New SME fund to assist black-owned ventures
Former PPC head wants to give black-owned SMEs a leg-up
Former PPC CEO Ketso Gordhan has returned to the corporate arena to become the head of SA’s first privately supported fund dedicated to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Gordhan, who is the nephew of public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, became CEO of The SA SME Fund in August 2018. He said one of the main reasons he took on this role was so he could have access to a mechanism that would provide money to black-owned companies which had not had a fair chance in competing with large and old SA corporations. Within four months, he clinched a tie up with Spartan SME Finance and is offering R100m in debt financing to SMEs across the country. The SME fund is the anchor investor in Spartan SME Finance's new debt fund known as Spartan SME fund. The SA SME fund, funded by a number of private-sector investors, has allocated R100m to the new Spartan SME debt fund. Gordhan, who left PPC after a major fallout with the cement group’s board, says the debt fund can provide debt to SMEs fas...
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