businesswomen on Isivande Women's Fund
29 January 2008
The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) will hold a seminar on the
Isivande Women's Fund at the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Kliptown,
Soweto, tomorrow (Friday), 30 January 2009, from 10h00 to 13h00. The purpose of
the seminar is to educate women entrepreneurs and existing businesswomen about
the requirements for accessing the fund.
Former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka announced the R100 million
development finance fund in Tshwane in February last year. The fund came into
being as a result of a study conducted by the Gender and Women Empowerment Unit
of the dti, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and FinMark in 2006, on
women's access to finance in South Africa. The study found that limited access
to finance by women inhibits the establishment, growth, sustainability and
profitability of women's enterprises.
The study also pointed to gender bias within existing financial
institutions. The study was followed by a series of consultative workshops on
access to finance for women entrepreneurs, which confirmed the need for the
establishment of an exclusive fund for women, hence the birth of the Isivande
Women's Fund.
Isivande, (a Zulu word for 'garden'), aims to accelerate economic
empowerment and cultivate opportunities for women by providing more affordable,
usable and responsive finance than is currently the case. It provides financial
support for deals requiring start-up funding, involving business expansions,
rehabilitations, turn-around and franchising, by providing loans that range
from R30 000 to R2 million per business, with a maximum loan-repayment period
of five years.
According to Mmabatho Matiwane, Head of Gender and Women Empowerment at the
dti, the announcement of the fund resulted in her office being inundated with a
plethora of enquiries from businesswomen hoping to access much-needed
funding.
"The huge interest generated by the announcement of the fund confirmed that
such an initiative was long overdue. But it is necessary to hold these seminars
in order to ensure that businesswomen fully understand how the fund operates
and what the qualifying criteria are. This will help us expedite the process of
applying and improving the turn-around time of applications, and ensure that
only those businesswomen who meet the prerequisites for funding assistance,
submit applications for processing. We will also be distributing application
forms at the seminars and assisting businesswomen to correctly complete them,"
added Matiwane.
Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
29 January 2008
Source: Department of Trade and Industry (http://www.thedti.gov.za)
