Big money for small firms

Business has made progress with setting up a fund to invest in smaller enterprises that have a high impact on job creation. This amounts to a new asset class for investors and should stimulate the venture capital industry.

Last month Discovery CEO Adrian Gore announced plans for this fund, which will also provide an incentive to invest in blackowned firms. Now a public company is being set up to house the fund, and a board of directors is being recruited.

The private sector will supply about R1.6bn for the fund and deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said last month that government would match its contribution.

The initiative is part of the joint effort by business and government to avert a credit downgrade for SA.

Gore says he, together with Bidvest founder Brian Joffe and national treasury, consulted widely with top JSE-listed companies, venture capitalists and organisations that support entrepreneurs, such as Endeavor SA and Edge Growth.

“We put it out to CEOs and the response was unanimous, I think,” says Gore, who is also chairman of Endeavor SA.

He says some details are still being worked out, but the idea is that the public company overseeing the fund will accredit fund managers of venture capital companies and other funding vehicles to accept funds.

Fund managers will then be able to use