About 1Â 500 jobs will be created and 4Â 500 supported in the next year through the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) — which identifies and supports black businesses — its chairperson said on Wednesday.
Presenting the fund’s third annual report to Parliament on Wednesday, chairperson Ronnie Ntuli said: ”Three thousand five hundred applications [for funding] were processed during the year with an expected 1Â 500 jobs to be created and another 4Â 500 jobs supported.
”Almost R1-billion of deals are in the pipeline. Seventy-seven, worth R492-million, were approved for funding and 63 of these had received financing totalling R277-million.”
NEF chief executive Philisiwe Buthelezi said in the 2005/06 year under review, the NEF had invested about R252-million in companies in the construction, media, tourism, entertainment, food and agri-processing industries.
She said the NEF supports all stages of black business development, with nearly half of the disbursements supporting the black economic transformation of white-owned businesses.
The NEF, under the Department of Trade and Industry, provides funding of between R250Â 000 and R50-million to help start-up, expand or transform business. — Sapa