SME fund must think out of the profit box to truly make a difference
Redistribution would be better tackled by a fund that is willing to lose money through an appetite for risk and a willingness to innovate
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently “launched” the SA SME Fund (though it has been around for some months). This is a $1.4bn fund initiated by the CEOs of some of SA’s largest companies, with a mandate to “invest in scalable small and medium enterprises with the best potential for growth and sustainable employment creation in the SA economy”. This demonstrates recognition by the private sector that revitalising the economy is not just the responsibility of the government and requires something more than just business as usual. It is also — though the founders may not agree — an act of redistribution: taking corporate profits and ploughing them into a mechanism that is intended to put assets in the hands of the historically marginalised. The need for redistribution is a difficult conversation South Africans still need to have, so it’s good to see a willingness to act. SA SME is a “fund of funds”. According to its website it will not finance enterprises directly but rather “allocate i...
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