News24 reports that three Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are set to benefit from R110 million in debt relief capital, provided through Sanlam Investments' SME Debt Fund.  

The financial services provider issued a statement last week indicating that it expected as many as 630 jobs to be preserved and a further 356 to be created from the latest commitment.  This debt relief capital is part of an impact fund initiative launched by Sanlam Investments, a subsidiary of Sanlam, earlier this year to support businesses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.  The initiative is targeted at companies which have viable and sustainable business models, but which require funding due to the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions on their operations.  It comprises three impact funds – the SME Debt Fund, the Mid-Market Private Equity Fund and the Corporate Debt Fund.  Sanlam provided seed capital of R2.25 billion, with the hope that a further R4.75 billion would be raised.  Mettle Administrative Services - which for the past 15 years has been providing working capital finance, mainly to panel beaters - and Retail Capital - which offers merchant cash-advance lending to SMEs in retail and hospitality industries – were two of the first beneficiaries. Black-owned specialist retailer Oilstar was the third beneficiary and the funding is expected to provide job security to 630 current employees, mainly from low-income households

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lameez Omarjee at News24

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