Massmart Joins The Ranks By Offering Accessible Business Finance To South Africa’s SMEs
Massmart Joins The Ranks By Offering Accessible Business Finance To South Africa’s SMEs. Massmart has joined forces with local Fintech, Retail Capital, providing access to funding to small, medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa. Retail Capital is one of the country’s leading alternative funders and a leader in Fintech solutions.
“There are approximately 2.6 million SMEs in South Africa contributing 34% to GDP, however many still struggle to secure financing,” says Varsha Dayaram, Senior Vice President for Group Financial Services at Massmart. “These businesses play a huge role in our economy, so we are grateful that, with the support of Retail Capital, we are able to assist these SMEs to flourish by helping them maintain a healthy cash-flow and replenish their stock.”
Through this partnership more business owners will benefit from working capital of up to R5 million, accessible within around 24 hours. They can also access the pre-funded Mastercard chip-and-pin Cash Card to bolster their cash flow and liquidity challenges, which enables traders and commercial customers to earn 1% cash back on their spend in Massmart stores, including Makro and Jumbo Cash and Carry. This will be extended to Builders Warehouse in the near future.Speaking about their role in the partnership, Rean Bloem General Manager of Funding at Retail Capital says: “We wanted to create an inclusive offering that would help business owners all over the country. With our rebate offering our customers feel rewarded for spending money at Massmart.”
This is Massmart and Retail Capital’s way of giving back. “We also value transparency when it comes to financial services and, as such, charge a flat fee instead of interest or hidden service fees on the funding. Payments are linked to a percentage of turnover, making it more affordable. This product is the result of extensive market research and customer feedback, ascertained by creating focus groups and understanding their needs. We are proud of the end-result being easy access to short-term funding that unlocks SME growth.”
Dayaram adds: “Since we launched this partnership, SME business owners have been benefitting from easy access to working capital. With early indicators of growth and positive impact, it is encouraging to see them returning for additional funding. We look forward to onboarding more small businesses and equipping them to drive growth in this important sector.
