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Your essential guide to funding

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Seed Academy has developed The Essential Guide to Funding in South Africa, which is available as a free e-book download.

Donna Rachelson, chief catalyst at Seed Academy, says that based on surveys and the training of hundreds of entrepreneurs, raising funds is the most common concern for entrepreneurs.

“The survey showed that 70% of respondents say they require funding to grow their businesses – 83% of start-ups are self-funded and only 3% fund their businesses from the vehicles formally established to support them,” she says.

“There clearly was a serious gap – tremendous demand for funding, substantial funding available, but the entrepreneurs had a knowledge gap. This practical guide aims to show entrepreneurs just how much support is actually available and how to go about applying for it.”

The Essential Guide to Funding in South Africa has been written as a resource for micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

As an e-book, it will become more comprehensive over time as funders and users add to the content.

There are funding options for all types of entrepreneurs, including women, those involved in green projects, mining, manufacturing, technology and even businesses in distress.

The Essential Guide to Funding in South Africa covers some of the more current forms of fundraising, such as crowdfunding, but the more traditional topics like investors, public and private equity, as well as venture capital funding and bank loans, are covered too.

The full array of funding available via the development finance institutions is explained in some detail, including loans and grants.

This section includes the department of trade and industry, the National Empowerment Fund, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, the Enablis Acceleration Fund, the Khula Credit Indemnity Scheme, the Industrial Development Corporation, the Small Enterprise Development Agency, the Technology Innovation Agency and the Jobs Fund.

The guide also contains some tips for pitching for funds and recommends being extremely conservative in financial projections, understanding the competitive environment and having a clear understanding of business differentiators.

The Essential Guide to Funding in South Africa can be downloaded for free.

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