Silverleaf Investments, the first of its kind South African-based cannabis fund, has launched the Silverleaf Business Accelerator.
It said in a statement this week that as the cannabis industry in South Africa is gearing up for greater growth as legislation changes take effect, Silverleaf Investments had developed a programme aimed at catapulting the high-growth cannabis small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) into this new dawn.
The Silverleaf Business Accelerator would assist high-growth SMEs to be a functioning part of the legal market, across the entire value chain, which is forecast to reach $80-$100 billion (R1.7 trillion) by 2030 globally.
The objective of the Silverleaf Business Accelerator Programme is to identify and select the leading cannabis SMEs that have the potential to scale that are not quite investment-ready and put them through a hands-on focused Business Accelerator. This will ensure that the cannabis SME will, after three months, together with Silverleaf Business Accelerator, be in a position to prepare an Investor Memorandum to secure growth capital.
Companies wishing to apply for the Accelerator Programme must have an established business that is registered as a company, must be earning revenue from legal means, and have a company valuation of at least R2.5 million.
“Silverleaf Investments decided to put up its own capital and launched the Silverleaf Business Accelerator. The objective of the Accelerator is to take those early-stage commercial cannabis SMEs that have the potential to scale and provide some initial working capital and focused business and professional skills that will position the accelerator company with the opportunity of securing growth capital once it has completed the Silverleaf Business Accelerator Programme,” it said.
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