Cape Town - The owner and staff of Spinach King received and dined with high-profile guests at the launch of their new and third enterprise serving as its central production factory and restaurant in Salt River on Tuesday evening.
Soon after delivering the concluding remarks at the Small Business Budget Vote debate on Tuesday, Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, joined by Deputy Minister Dipuo Peters, were seated at Spinach King for the launch.
The business received financial backing during the Covid-19 pandemic through the Township and Rural Economic Programme (Trep), allowing it to greatly expand its operations.
Spinach King specialises in all things spinach, with gluten-free spinach bread and other green products such as smoothies, sandwiches and burgers.
Through one of the department’s programmes, the Youth Challenge Fund, the owner was able to set up the new enterprise in Salt River, currently employing around 15 people.
“For us, it is indeed an exciting moment to say even though people don’t get to see or believe us when we say it, we really develop small businesses,” Ndabeni-Abrahams said.
“As much as people say there’s money for small businesses in each and every department, we are the only ones that have the responsibility of developing small businesses.”
The financial support in the form of a grant and loan was given through the department’s twin-agency, the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa).
The business started with R40 and a big idea in 2011, said Spinach King owner Lufefe Nomjana, 35, from Philippi. The two other businesses are in Khayelitsha and Philippi.
“The support I received from Sefa has really been phenomenal because it has been an ongoing process from Trep, the youth fund that we got for township businesses and then we’re getting R7.5 million to build a factory now.”
The business received R7.5m last October for the Salt River expansion. The business has secured around 180 contracts to supply businesses with the gluten-free products in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Pietermaritzburg.
It will also soon be sending its breads to markets in Europe.
Sefa CEO Mxolisi Matshamba said: “Our mandate is to provide funding to small businesses, particularly start-ups like this one, and even for companies that are in the small and medium enterprise space that want to upgrade into bigger enterprises.”
Support is given usually over a five-year period; this can be extended to 10 years. Financial support can start from R50 000 with the maximum set at R15m.
Last year, Sefa assisted 74 000 SMMEs nationally and hopes to see 90 000 SMMEs supported this year (2023/2024) with a budget of R2.2 billion.
“We target mainly youth, women and people who live with disabilities, but also we prioritise enterprises that are based in townships and rural areas,” Matshamba said.
To apply, visit the Sefa website, or Seda (Small Enterprise Development Agency) for non-financial support such as business planning.