Cape Venture Partners on Understanding Investors’ Needs
David Murray, director at Cape Venture Partners (CVP) believes that while entrepreneurs’ complaints about the difficulties of accessing funding are a reflection of reality, their lack of understanding about what investors require doesn’t make the process any easier. “Because they don’t know what investors' requirements are, they are totally unprepared to meet these requirements and in this way are sometimes their own worst enemies when it comes to getting funding,” he explains.
CVP has a long track record of helping entrepreneurs in the technology space gain access to capital from a range of different sources.

The company has a strong network of local and international investors including equity funds, venture capital funds, business angels and institutions (private, government and NGOs), and is currently in the process of raising its own early stage venture capital fund. Read more

EyeSlices: Accessing Government Grants and Loans
While securing finance is one of the most difficult hurdles facing entrepreneurs, it can be done. As so many of the featured businesses we profile reveal.

One businesswoman who has excelled at securing finance is Kerryne Krause-Neufeldt, founder and innovator of eyeSlices, a unique beauty product designed to relieve signs of ageing and stress in the eye area (see the write-up on page 25). Kerryne is living proof that determination pays off – she has managed to secure financing from around 12 different organisations and investors. This has totalled over R3 million and comes mostly from government grants and loans. “There are loads of government grants – you just need to know where to look and be committed to following the administration process through,” she says. Read more

Yeigo Chasing Big Investors
At times, a bit of creative thinking and an alternative approach can make all the difference when faced with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

We take a look at the story of Yeigo, a cutting edge technology company driven by three young UCT graduates. Having exhausted many of the traditional financing channels, the directors of Yeigo were forced to change their approach. This lead to them establishing contacts with seasoned entrepreneurs, more accustomed to risk-taking than traditional investors. Read more

Alu-Absoluut: Youth Fund for Start-up & Growth Financing
Securing funding is one of the biggest hurdles entrepreneurs face and many will tell you that it’s a waste of time approaching traditional funding institutions. But there are those institutions focused primarily on providing entrepreneurs with the start-up capital they so desperately need.
 
Here’s how one entrepreneur, Chené Motaung, secured finance from Umso­bomvu Youth Fund for aluminium start-up, Alu-Absoluut. Motaung highlights the importance of perseverance, an excellent business plan and the ability to answer the questions that funding institutions throw at you, in achieving success. She also offers some interesting insights from the other side of the fence, gained from her experience in the business financing division of one of the country’s major banks. Read more

Skyrove: Attracting Investors
IT start-up Skyrove has done what most small businesses only dream about in attracting venture capital investment not once but twice

Even though IT start-ups have produced some of the most astonishing growth and profits in the past decade, the IT sector remains one of the highest risk categories of business for potential investors. It would seem that people still haven’t quite recovered from the dot.bomb catastrophes of the 90s. So when Henk Kleynhans and Allister Kreft co-founded Skyrove in 2005, it’s unsurprising that funding was the biggest hurdle they faced. But Skyrove’s story is one that illustrates just how important an innovative product, and some basic marketing suss, can be to securing investment. Read more

Vinny Lingham: High Risk Debt Finance Reaps High Reward
An IT guru risks everything to fund his business – and reaps the benefits

Getting investors to see the potential in your idea can be a frustrating process but one that almost every business owner looking for investment has to contend with. It’s one that Vinny Lingham, founder of Internet search engine marketing and technology company incuBeta, remembers ruefully. When he approached the banks to fund his business idea, they didn’t understand what he was talking about. “They wanted to see ‘stock’,” he laughs, looking back, “It was clear that they just didn’t understand what Internet search marketing was and how it could make money.” Read more

RE:Public: Cash-flow is King
Creative media company RE:Public found success, and funds, growth through smart cash-flow management

How many times have you heard people say that their business ‘funded itself’, that the cash flow generated in the business provided the capital needed for it to continue to exist? How do they do it, you may wonder. And before the business started generating cash flow, where did the ‘seed’ money come from? After all, everyone has to start somewhere and you can’t create something out of nothing, right?
Wrong. It is possible to start a successful and sustainable business without external funding. Read more