Sparkling results for SME financing group

Peter Schwandt.... looking after entrepreneurs

Business Partners, one of South Africa's leading investment groups for small and medium enterprises, invested in no less than 496 entrepreneurial enterprises during the past financial year, to the value of R400 million.
The group's sparkling results for 2002/3 showed an increase of 33,3% in headline earnings to 65,3 cents per share and a 33% increase in dividends to 16 cents a share, with the net income attributable to ordinary shareholders up by 31,3% to R117,9 million.

“Our results speak for themselves,” says George area manager, Peter Schwandt. “Business Partners remains at the forefront of empowering the country's entrepreneurs through investment financing and added-value services. “During the 2002/2003 financial year, we not only continued to provide innovative products and services, we also took a significant stride towards making investment financing available to young entrepreneurs from historically-disadvantaged communities.”
Earlier this year, Business Partners announced the formation of a new investment fund aimed at making the opportunities and benefits of franchising available to the country's previously-disadvantaged youth. The Business Partners Umsobomvu Franchise Fund, which was launched in April, is a private/public sector joint venture between Business Partners Limited and the Umsobomvu Youth Fund initiative of the national government. The Fund has allocated R125 million for investment into viable youth-owned franchises.
In addition to this, 150 investments of the group's total investments for the year were approved for historically-disadvantaged entrepreneurs, representing a value of R113,9 million. Business Partners has similarly continued to invest actively in female entrepreneurs. In the past year, 131 investment to the value of R87,4 million were approved for women in business.
“Business Partners' role as an investor in entrepreneurs also continues to make a real difference to economic growth and job creation,” says Schwandt.
Investments directly facilitated the creation of 7 800 new employment opportunities, something of which the group is justifiably proud. This especially as Department of Trade and Industry figures show that more than half of the people in formal employment in the country are employed in the small and medium enterprise sector, which contributes in the region of 42% to the gross domestic product year-on-year.
“This kind of job growth is made possible by the kind of entrepreneurs we invest in - self-starters who have in-depth knowledge of their industries and solid business plans,” continues Schwandt. “Of course, we also provide professional mentorship services to assist them as and when needed.”
Business Partners Mentors, an independent subsidiary of Business Partners Limited, provides entrepreneurs with access to the services of over 200 mentors to assist them in disciplines as diverse as business strategy, marketing, communications, financial management, systems development and tax.
The group's property division, on the other hand, provides both property broking and management services as part of Business Partners' full-service offering. The broking arm assists entrepreneurs in finding suitable premises for their businesses either to rent or to purchase while the management arm manages large premises such as shopping centres for clients who have chosen to invest in property. Properties under management by the division totalled a lettable space of 710 000 m˛ during the period under review, properties that were occupied by more than 3 600 tenants across all sectors.
Other added-value services offered by Business Partners include a free business planning model, which may be accessed on the group's web site at www.businesspartners.co.za, free initial consultations and extensive due diligence and counselling for entrepreneurs during the pre-investment phase.
“Last year South Africa was ranked first in Africa for economic development by the World Economic Forum,” says Schwandt. “We at Business Partners have great faith in the fact that entrepreneurs here will go from strength to strength in the next year and we will continue in our mission to invest in them.”
Business Partners' investment portfolio is testimony to this commitment. The group has R1,1 billion currently invested in entrepreneurs, with equity investments accounting for 40% of the portfolio. The group has allocated R500 million for investment in entrepreneurs during the 2003/2004 financial year.