Cape Town - The Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) has set aside close to R2bn to fund youth-led businesses, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel told MPs on Tuesday.
"Sefa will make R1.7bn available over the next five years for youth enterprises, with a target of R220m in this financial year," he said during debate on his budget vote in the National Assembly.
This was in addition to the funding made available by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to finance youth entrepreneurship last month.
"Three weeks ago I signed a youth employment accord... to support the accord, the IDC announced a R1bn youth fund to provide concessional lending to youth-led enterprises that create jobs," Patel said.
He described the allocated money as a "combined fighting-fund" to ensure more young people became active in the economy.