Working together to drive positive change in South Africa

We announced at the end of 2020 that we would once again be championing the local SME landscape, having obtained a R600m portfolio guarantee facility (NASIRA) from FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank to provide loans to female-owned businesses, youth and COVID-affected companies. In a follow up to this, we are proud to announce our sponsorship of the second season of the Small Business Showcase, created by Suits & Sneakers and hosted by entrepreneur, author, and speaker, Mark Sham.

A year ago, COVID hurt Mark’s business badly. After a few weeks, he managed to setup a small video studio. As soon as he was up and running, he decided to start interviewing other small businesses who were doing amazing things but had also been badly affected.  The concept was an instant success. There was one interview in particular that stood out: Davy from Cakey by Davy and the video went viral: https://fb.watch/4sahz0EIat/  Since then, Davy has featured on The Good Things Guy, the Expresso Show and in The Sunday Times!  He’s SAs own Cake Boss!

“Over the years, I have become particularly careful with who we partner with, and I can honestly say that there is an alignment of values in this partnership with Sasfin. With this in mind, I asked Elisheva Gilbert, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Small Business at Sasfin, to join me in studio for an interview so that we could spill the beans: https://bit.ly/3vYbnN9

Often times, people don't realise how HARD entrepreneurship can be. And they don't appreciate that small businesses really are the engine room of our economy. Thank you to Sasfin for backing my idea, and for putting their money where their mouth is. It's easy to say that you care about small businesses, but it's another to actually do something about,” says Mark.

Why does this partnership matter? Because at Sasfin, we don’t just have a purpose statement, we live it. We go beyond a bank to enable the growth of business in South Africa.

Every week two small businesses will be showcased and the business owners will have the opportunity to tell their story. This content will be amplified on social media. We are so excited to see what unfolds as we share stories of triumph and tears, hardship and overcoming. It will be incredible to see behind-the-scenes of what it takes to run a small business and pay homage to that process.

We want nothing more than for these businesses to succeed and that this showcase is part of their journey, part of the story they’ll tell for years to come.

1. Follow Sasfin, Suits & Sneakers, and Mark Sham on social media - comment and share the posts. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter

2. Support one of the small businesses from the SBS, follow them and post about it on social media.

3. Support a small business, and post about it on social media

We believe a partnership like this is the perfect example of how small and big business can work together to create positive change in our country. Because supporting your business is our business.

We look forward to you joining us on this journey!