"Start your business with free capital"

[Faan]

This is a so-called gift from the Prestige Bulletin mentioned in another thread.

The claim made is that anyone (all races) can get capital from the government for free. How to go about doing it will be made known when one subscribes to their Prestige Bulletin. One could get up to R1,5m with no pay back.

Any one on the forum with experience about this

[francoisvr]

I have worked with quite a few agencies that provides funds for start-ups, and I have never come across an offer like this. Unless they are referring to DTI? That is open to everyone I guess, or at least they do not discriminate against racial groups in theory. I am not an expert on the support that DTI gives so I cant say whether it is free or not.

Khula is another agency that gives support to all racial groups (I have personally helped white people get assistance from them) but they are not free, or cheap for that matter.

[Dave A]

I vaguely recall a pretty hefty employment creation grant from the DTI - via a DTI agency, I think.

One could get up to R1,5m with no pay back.

Not sure whether to point to some of the examples where that's been happening anyway, regardless of the contract or source of the funds, and on a much larger scale

How about ripping off the Land Bank, or trade union pension funds.

[Greig Whitton]

It's also non-existent.

[Source: my company is certified and contracted by the DTI and DSBD for the Black Business Supplier Development Programmme, and am very familiar with most government funding agencies including the IDC, NEF, SEFA, and SEDA]

[New Perspective studio]

Ive worked with a client and seda , they are a member of the DTI, on the business leaders growth forum. They do supply funding to formerly disadvantaged business owners, not R1.5mil though.
I cant imagine anyone handing out that kind of money without some kind of return in mind. Why is it when people hear "free money" ( and usually the bigger the sum ) the more likely they are to believe it.

[Greig Whitton]

Yes, SEDA does subsidise business development services on a (usually) generous cost-share basis. However, they don't provide funding directly (i.e. they pay service providers to complete a specific project rather than giving cash to applicant entrepreneurs). Certainly nowhere close to R1.5M. Also, like many government funding agencies, their application management is horrendous so expect long delays before your application is processed & approved (typically a year or so).

SEDA funding is not limited to previously disadvantaged business owners. Any startup / SME can apply. While this is not true of every government agency / program (e.g. the NEF only funds black-owned companies), there are a number of funding options (including non-repayable grant funds) that are available to all.