Page 48 - Nine Yards Magazine 2021/2022 - Old Mutual Corporate

the home stretch growing
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM THE DEAL
Bryan Hattingh, CEO of Cycan, emphasises the importance of also having a clear idea of what you want your journey with the programme to look like.
‘These environments offer great resources and guidance if you want to grow your business, which inevitably means that you will need to have more people, more processes, more workflows and more structures in place,’ he says.
‘SMTAX Transire, in partnership with Old Mutual’s Masisizane Fund, supports SMEs through their entrepreneurial journey with pre- and post- investment support, coaching, training and mentorship,’ explains Thabo Hleza, Head of Post Investment, Monitoring and Business Support at the Masisizane Fund.
‘WE DO A DEEP DIVE ANALYSIS TO FIND ANY GAPS IN THE BUSINESSES THAT APPLY TO WORK WITH US, AND THEN PROPOSE AN ACTION PLAN.
‘We walk the journey with each entrepreneur as they work through the plan and refine it, knowing that it is not a quick process but a meaningful one built on a relationship of respect and trust.’
Some programmes are sector-specific, like The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (for social justice and legal tech), or WomHub, which is focused on women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Although the Masisizane Fund focuses on businesses in agriculture, supply chain, franchising, tourism and technology, the Transire Accelerator is open to all and is not limited to Masisizane beneficiaries.
This is similar to most other programmes that don’t focus on a sector, but rather on how well a business is established. Elian Wiener, chair of the South Afrian chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’, notes that only businesses with a turnover of $1 million or R15 million per year are eligible for its main programme. But it does have an accelerator initiative unique to South Africa for businesses with a turnover of more than $350 000 (R5 million).
While the definitions of the two options are clear, the South African landscape is considerably different to the sexy startup world of Silicon Valley, with stories of very real angels making businesses scale into multimillion-dollar operations overnight.
The processes take longer here, and are much more focused on relationships, but they’re designed to achieve the same results: to help businesses grow and succeed.
Find these incubators and accelerators here
Cycan
cycan.co.za
Entrepreneurs’ Organization eonetwork.org
Masisizane Fund
masisizane.co.za
Viridian
viridian.africa
SMTAX Transire
smtax.co.za/transire
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44 2021/2022