Andrew Maren - Afrikan Heroes

South African Fintech Firm, ProfitShare Partners, Secures $5.8 Million From SA SME Fund To Support SMEs

July 6, 2020

Andrew Maren, CEO and founder of ProfitShare Partners

At a time when South African SMEs need it most, FinTech SME capital provider, ProfitShare Partners has announced that it has secured R100 million ($5.8 million) from the SA SME Fund. This will allow ProfitShare Partners to partner with more small and medium businesses to provide much-needed capital to catalyse growth for SMEs.

“This deal is a great win for SMEs who can’t access traditional funding. This capital helps ProfitShare Partners financially partner with hundreds of SMEs to catalyse their businesses to becoming bigger and more sustainable, enabling them to attract traditional funding in the future,” said Andrew Maren, CEO and founder of ProfitShare Partners.

Here Is What You Should Know

SA SME Fund ‘s latest investment in ProfitShare Partners will enable the firm’s business model to offer South African SMEs capital for high-impact growth.
SA SME Fund invests in intermediaries that provide debt and equity instruments to SMEs.

“The availability of funding and access to working capital has always been a challenge for SMEs. This has been exacerbated by the country’s economic crisis which has been deepened by the pandemic. PSP will provide SMEs with an alternative funding model to act as a catalyst for their survival and growth. The SA SME Fund is extremely pleased to be announcing this investment; it could not be more timeous,” said Ketso Gordhan, chief executive officer (CEO) of the SA SME Fund.

The ProfitShare Partners business model is best described as a hybrid between venture capital and private equity, however it does not involve taking up shares in its clients’ businesses but rather, partners with them principally on the specific transaction. The FinTech business provides the capital and business support needed for the SME to deliver on their contract.

“Our model is designed to give SMEs a boost. As opposed to providing capital as a form of a loan, we share in the profit and assist our clients in achieving financial sustainability to the point where they are either in a position to qualify for traditional finance or they no longer require finance,” Maren continues.

SMEs in supply and delivery who have an order but cannot access the capital needed to deliver, either because they do not qualify or because they do not have the necessary track record, financial history or paperwork, now have improved chances of gaining access to business and delivering more efficiently on their contracts.

“This investment also shows the confidence that funders now have towards our disruptive type of business model, which has demonstrated the real impact we’ve had with our existing SME clients,” Maren concluded.

ProfitShare Partners financially partners on transactions with SMEs to deliver successfully on their orders and contracts with reputable organisations, allowing them to access bigger business and grow exponentially in short periods of time. Since introducing its business model to the market, the FinTech disruptor has assisted more than a hundred SMEs and helped numerous SMEs grow their turnover tenfold in less than two years.
The SA SME Fund is a private sector led initiative born out of the ‘CEO Initiative’, a partnership between the SA Government and CEOs to stimulate the economy and create jobs. The shareholders of the Fund are 50 of South Africa’s largest corporates and the Public Investment Corporation. The Fund has R1.2 billion of investable capital, which it invests via partnerships with fund managers. The primary focus areas are venture capital and growth capital.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

ProfitShare Partners Launches A $5.9 Million Fund For South African SMEs

June 4, 2020

ProfitShare Partners, the South African fintech business that provides disruptive short-term capital solutions (from R250,000 — R5m) and transactional support to SMEs who have no access to funding, in partnership with award-winning local community radio station Hot 91.9FM, and the all-new ‘getlion’ mobile app have launched an exciting year-long initiative designed to get small businesses working and creating jobs. The all-new ‘getlion’ mobile app is designed to support SMEs in managing and growing their businesses, and ProfitShare Partners, the disruptive Fintech provider, will invest R100m ($5.9m) in capital to support SMEs to deliver on their contracts this year. The sweetener is a prize of R1m for the small business that has created the most net jobs during the period of the campaign from 1 June 2020 to 31 May 2021.

*ProfitShare Partners’ founder and CEO, Andrew Maren*

“This is an initiative to help boost our economy by accelerating SME business growth and development. With our high unemployment rate and the steep rise in job losses over the past few months, we want to encourage entrepreneurship and assist small business owners in need of capital to start or get going. Unfortunately, many of these businesses do not have the financials, security or track record and are turned away by the banks. How do you develop this track record or get a set of financials if you cannot access capital? Our model is to provide this capital to get them going so they can get a track record, cash in the bank and ultimately, financials so that they can graduate to getting capital from traditional funders such as banks,” ProfitShare Partners’ founder and CEO, Andrew Maren said in a statement.

Here Is What You Need To Know

The Get South Africa Working campaign is an initiative that was introduced by ProfitShare Partners’ founder and CEO, Andrew Maren to help small and medium sized businesses create jobs and to keep them going, and this has become even more relevant now during these challenging times.
SMEs and entrepreneurs have the power to change the status quo, especially in challenging times. Starting today, 1 June 2020, the Get South Africa Working initiative will be providing up to R10m in capital to SMEs per month to grow by partnering with them on their contracts or valid purchase orders that they have or are trying to get with large corporates and certain Government Departments.
To enter, South African SMEs and entrepreneurs must download the ‘getlion’ mobile app, available for iOS and Android devices, to track their business performance and apply for capital support via the ProfitShare Partners website. Full details are also available on the Get SA Working website.

“The getlion app is a purpose-built platform of services, tools and resources from various industry-leading companies, all in the interest of helping small businesses grow. Through the app, business owners will be able to access the tools to make running business easier, from accounting to online sales. As the virtual partner of the Get SA Working initiative, we’re excited to contribute to small business growth and job creation through our platform,” says Mathew Marsden, Co-founder of getlion.

In the final month of this initiative, ProfitShare Partners will give a R1m cash prize to the small business that has created the most net jobs in the period.

“The net jobs that we refer to here are permanent jobs created by the entrepreneur or small business, starting today until the end of May 2021. All information supplied will be audited and verified using our technology and reporting processes because ultimately, our aim is to assist our country in alleviating poverty by helping to create jobs and mobilise the development of SMEs,” adds Maren.

Powering this initiative as the official media partner of the Get SA Working initiative, multi award-winning, local community radio station, Hot 91.9FM, is the proud broadcasting partner and will be running all of the latest news and announcements for the campaign.

“Hot 91.9FM prides itself on uplifting our communities, and what better way to do that than to partner with such a powerful campaign to create much-needed jobs. We are deeply passionate about the development and survival of small businesses and that is why we are a proud partner in this ProfitShare Partners campaign”, says Lloyd Madurai, Managing Director of Hot 91.9FM.

To top it off, together with Hot 91.9FM, ProfitShare Partners will be giving away R10,000 in vouchers every month to help existing and would-be business owners and SMEs to start up or keep going. To enter, download the getlion mobile app, send what your business would do with R10,000 to the Hot 91.9 FM WhatsApp line 084 2212 919 and listen to Hot 91.9FM daily for more.

Visit getsaworking.co.za for more information.