Find Funding by Sector:
Youth and Black-Owned Business
If your business is majority black-owned, or led by young entrepreneurs, you can tap into tailored funding programs that exist to support your success.
Many incentives and funds have transformation criteria – for example, the Black Industrialists Scheme (BIS) was created to fast-track black-owned industrial firms with grant funding. The National Empowerment Fund (NEF) is a primary vehicle for financing black-owned businesses, offering everything from small startup loans (iMbewu Fund) to large expansion capital (uMnotho Fund) as well as non-financial support like training and incubation. There are also special funds like IDC’s Women Entrepreneurial Fund (for women, many of whom are black industrialists) and funds for youth businesses (IDC has supported youth in sectors like tech and agriculture via dedicated initiatives). This page also covers partnerships such as enterprise supplier development funds focused on black SMEs.
Available Funds for the Youth & Black-Owned Business sector
Black Industrialists Scheme (BIS)
The Black Industrialists Scheme (BIS) is a targeted financial and non-financial incentive programme that supports black-owned and black-managed manufacturing enterprises to invest and scale in strategic South African industrial sectors. The scheme provides a cost-sharing grant of 30% to 50% of qualifying costs, up to a maximum of R50 million, depending on the level of black ownership, management control, economic benefit of the project, and project value.
Black Industrialists Support Programme
The ECIC Black Industrialists (BI) Support Programme provides a specialised export credit insurance underwriting framework for Black South African-owned businesses seeking to participate in international export markets. The programme removes several standard barriers — including no assessment fees, unsecured insurance support for bonds and working capital, and a simplified approval process — to make ECIC cover accessible to black-owned start-ups and going-concern exporters. Export projects of up to USD 20 million are covered at 100% for both political and commercial risks.
iMbewu Fund
The iMbewu Fund supports black entrepreneurs wishing to start new businesses as well as existing black-owned enterprises seeking expansion capital, offering funding from R250 000 to R15 million through debt, quasi-equity and equity finance products.
Rural and Community Development Fund (RCDF)
The Rural, Township and Community Development Fund (RCDF) provides funding to aspiring rural entrepreneurs and facilitates skills transfer and operational involvement by community groups, promoting social and economic upliftment in rural and township areas.
uMnotho Fund
The uMnotho Fund improves access to BEE capital for black-owned and managed enterprises through five products — Acquisition Finance, New Venture Finance, Expansion Capital, Capital Markets, and Liquidity and Warehousing — with funding ranging from R2 million to R50 million.
Women Empowerment Fund (WEF)
The NEF Women Empowerment Fund (WEF) accelerates access to funding for businesses owned by black women, offering R250 000 to R75 million across a range of sectors for start-ups, expansions, and equity acquisitions.
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