Kisby SME Fund – Getting SA back to work

Kisby is a joint undertaking whereby Arena Holdings, 4AX Debt Services and other partners are seeking to assist SME’s struggling to survive to access capital and other resources. We believe that access to these resources will assist in facilitating their survival and in so doing preserve and ultimately create jobs.

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What is an SME?

How the world defined SMEs

A comprehensive definition of an SME in South Africa is a small to mid-size enterprise (SME) with the following key attributes:

Fact Box

Globally, SMEs represent 90% of businesses who contribute to more than 50% of employment*

Formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of GDP in emerging economies

In South Africa, SMEs employ 47% of the workforce and contribute slightly more than 20% of the GDP

Fact Box

Globally, SMEs represent 90% of businesses contribute more than 50% of employment*

Formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of GDP in emerging economies1

In South Africa, SMEs employ 47% of the workforce and contribute slightly more than 20% of the GDP2

How KISBY defines SMEs

The lifeblood of our economy, able to create jobs, improve standards of living, innovate and increase competition in a country undergoing an economic crises.

SME’s:
• Participate in production gaps not filled by larger entities
• Create and sustain economic growth
• Employ the largest share of our population

The sector provides a “compelling, largely untapped market opportunity” for innovative funders who are able to develop new lending models and risk assessment tools tailored to address the challenges of this complex and burgeoning market.

Access to funding and support services

SME’s Funding Sources:

SMEs are not able to secure the funding and support they require to kick start their contribution to economic activity:

Unfavourable funding skews	Large banks account for 20% of the funded SMEs, followed by business incubators at 24%, while friends and family accounting for 50% of the funded SME population
Unreasonable funding rates	Predator funders charge astronomical rates, stifling the financial position of the SME
Longer lead times	Bank funding has an estimated 12 week turnaround period
Hurdles to success	Added bureaucracy makes access to bank funding extremely difficult for SME’s
Irrelevant ratings	Banks also use traditional sources of information and rating criteria that don’t focus on small businesses
Insufficient support structures	Government and private sector initiatives are insufficient to curb the effects of Covid19 on local SMEs

*Loan Rate is calculated based on the three-tiered risk assessment approach of Moody’s, TransUnion and proprietary DSC risk scoring metrics

A lifebelt, lifebuoy, water wheely, ring buoy, lifering, lifesaver, perry-buoy, life donut or life preserver, also known as a “kisby ring”. A Kisby ring is a life saving buoy designed to be thrown to a person in the water, to provide buoyancy and prevent drowning.

Salient features

Kisby is a unique and innovative fund concept in South Africa.

Kisby provides funds to SMEs (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) an online loan platform underpinned by a debt marketplace – 4AX Debt Services.
Kisby executes on its objectives and attracts borrowers through partnerships with media houses.
Impact Capital provides the optimum mix for growth.
Kisby aims to raise and efficiently deploy 4 times the value of the initial impact capital with debt capital.
Kisby applies cutting edge technology to streamline the administration of a large scale lending solution.
Kisby drives success through an integrated, multi-faceted borrower support package.