South African advisory company Edge Growth has announced a joint initiative with funding solutions firm ProfitShare Partners to provide funding and advice to local small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Edge Growth provides funding, growth support and skills acceleration to SMEs; while ProfitShare Partners – which launched this year – provides transaction funding for already operational SMEs who meet their specific requirements.
The partners announced the new initiative which sees them combine their SME-oriented activities, while they will also share facilities.
The initiative aims to boost growth in South Africa’s SME sector, which can only be achieved by industry players coming together to offer impactful support initiatives, the partners said.
“We don’t believe in a one-size fits all approach because every business is specific to their market and business life-cycle, including SMMEs. We tailor our solutions to the needs of their operating environments and the impact objectives of their enterprise and supplier development (ESD) programmes, which are long-term in nature,” says Daniel Hatfield, managing director of Edge Growth.
Under the partnership, SMEs will be able to access various forms of funding – from Edge Growth’s customised funding options, to ProftiShare Partners’ transaction or purchase order based funding.
“There is a definite synergy between the two companies that will broaden our offering to our clients. We have come across several instances where corporates issue spot orders and, to respond, the SMME requires quick funding. We see our partnership with ProfitShare Partners complementing what we do, and vice versa,” says Hatfield.
“Our partnership is an opportunity to disrupt traditional funding and unlock the market for SMMEs. We have witnessed rapid growth for small businesses in a period as short as two to three years, because of our funding model. We believe that it will change the SMME landscape quite dramatically in the near future,” says Andre Maren, chief executive officer (CEO) of ProfitShare Partners.
