Funding boost for Bhongoloncedo
The establishment of Bhongoloncedo General Trading (Pty) Ltd (“Bhongoloncedo”) should not only inspire prospective black businesses owners, but black women entrepreneurs as well.
Enterprise and supplier development and loan funding provider Inyosi Empowerment said it was excited to announce the successful Inyosi loan funding provided to Bhongoloncedo.
This loan funding will be used for the purchase of assets and Inyosi said this would represent a pivotal turning point for Bhongoloncedo.
Having identified a gap in the market to supply various villages surrounding East London with bricks and other building materials, the wife and husband duo of Bongolethu Webu and Nkosomzi Webu seized this business opportunity when they spotted it.
In July 2018, the two established the 100% black-woman owned entity, Bhongoloncedo.
This buildings and material manufacturing and supply services company is based in Mpongo Village.
Mpongo is a remote rural settlement 40km from East London.
The Webus have a long history and experience in the building industry.
Before Bhongoloncedo’s establishment, residens of Mpongo and the surrounding communities would travel more than 40km, often by way of public transport, to source building materials in East London. Bhongoloncedo allows community members, contractors and developers in
this part of the Eastern Cape to source quality building materials closer to home at affordable prices.
Being locals themselves, the two say they hves an in-depth understanding of the community and its needs, which was why they approached Inyosi for asset funding.
Inyosi’s funding has been used to acquire delivery vehicles so Bhongoloncedo may deliver directly to customers.
This will also allow the business to assist more clients across a wider region.
Through Inyosi Empowerment’s iHive Preferential Procurement Portal, Bhongoloncedo was introduced and has become one of Inyosi Empowerment’s most recent beneficiaries.
Inyosi has provided Bhongoloncedo with asset finance for their business and is in the process of considering
additional growth capital. With a team of 29 people, Bhongoloncedo has managed to grow exponentially over the past four years despite setbacks such as Covid-19 and the ongoing loadshedding crisis.
The purpose of Bhongoloncedo is closely aligned with that of Inyosi, with both parties aiming to create sustainable economic transformation in the rural Eastern Cape, where job opportunities are limited or non-existent.
Inyosi said besides this partnership it would continue to provide qualifying black-owned businesses with the financial assistance required to achieve their growth ambitions and goals.
Inyosi assists businesses which are at least 51% black-owned and that have been in operation for at least three years with loan funding.
In recognition of a decade’s worth of loan funding and pushing the envelope for black-owned SMMEs in SA, Inyosi has launched a business loan funding competition, whereby one black-owned business could win an interest-free loan of up to R5m.
This competition is aimed at celebrating the positive impact loan funding can have on the growth of SMMEs, and how this in turn boosts job creation and economic growth, according to Inyosi Empowerment.
The business has more than a decade’s worth of experience in facilitating black-owned businesses’ access to capital, markets and skills.
Inyosi says it has assisted more than 300 black-owned businesses with more than R900m in funding.
It has also helped many businesses adapt to the ever-changing economic situation, and assisted with the skills development for many business owners, while providing competitively priced funding, in some instances agreed matched grant funding and access to an inhouse web-based preferential procurement portal at www.iHive.co.za, which gives Inyosi’s beneficiaries access to more than 500 corporate investors, the company says.