SME financing 101: Knowing Your Options Is Key To Survival

Jeremy Lang - Chief Investment Officer at Business Partners Limited talks about With the recent increase in the interest rate, finance has become less affordable for many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) however Jeremy Lang, Chief Investment Officer at Business Partners Limited, urges business owners to be realistic about their expectations and plans for the year ahead, but not to give up hope as there are many different funders in South Africa. “While the situation may seem bleak and we still have a long road to recovery, I implore SMEs who might be tempted to throw in the towel to reconsider their financing options.”



New institutions and types of financing are introduced each year, and there is a whole host of financing products available from the private and public sector. This financing mainly consists of grants, risk free and risk-based finance where either grants, debt or equity investments are made available.



Financiers include commercial institutions such as banks and SME focused financing institutions, development finance institutions, angel investors, crowd funding, enterprise development funding and private equity firms, amongst others. They may also relief programmes specifically designed to help SMEs weather the COVID-19 and most recently, the electricity load shedding.