On Thursday 4 April 2024, the Masisizane Fund was proud to host a Value-Add Partner networking event at Mutual Place in Johannesburg, to engage and onboard key business partners and entrepreneurs who are the life blood of their SMME funding and support business support offering. During the event the Masisizane executive team, dynamic keynote speaker Andile Khumalo, founder of I Am an Entrepreneur, and a panel of influential SME owners, did a deep-dive into the importance of the ecosystem that drives the SME sector, supporting partners, funders, and new business entrepreneurs.
The event also showcased how Masisizane approaches business finance as a partnership, supporting employment, poverty reduction, economic growth, and investment attraction. It highlighted collaboration through initiatives like the Deal Originators Programme and Value-Add Partners to assist entrepreneurs, emphasising that SMEs need more than capital to thrive, requiring a holistic support system with strategic guidance, mentorship, networks, and specialised resources for innovation and skills development. The Value-Add Partner Networking event reinforced the Masisizane Fund's ongoing commitment to growing the SME ecosystem development through support infrastructure, partnerships and collaboration, and shared initiatives.
SUPPORTING MATERIAL: See some of the videos from the day: