For some time now I have been advocating for South African banks to get behind its entrepreneurial clients and support us in the risks we are taking to create livelihoods, employment and growth for the SA economy. Finally, it seems that FNB now has come to the party and are starting to support woman entrepreneurs. Lets trust that FNB will keep their word.

Ben
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This article from BuaNews (Tshwane)


One of the country's major retail banks has pledged to support women's business and highlighted the opportunities to be opened to them by the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa.

First National Bank has encouraged female entrepreneurs to grab the opportunities presented by 2010, but urged all to seriously consider the sustainability of their tourism businesses beyond the month-long soccer tournament.


"Barriers to entry are relatively low in the tourism industry, but sustainability is a big challenge, especially access to domestic and international markets as well as channels," said Elizabeth Maepa, FNB's Chief Executive Officer for Public Sector Banking.

Addressing a conference on Women in Business in Nelspruit, Ms Maepa said potential tourism entrepreneurs should contact their provincial tourism authorities to access tourism enterprise programmes.

These will assist them with business plans and contribute about 50 percent towards their grading fees. Tourism is one of the high priority industries that is expected to benefit handsomely from the tournament.

"With the expected growth in tourism, owing to the 2010 Fifa World Cup, women entrepreneurs should capitalize on the opportunities to be created by the tournament through setting up viable business enterprises," said Ms Maepa.

"While the tournament will be a significant launching pad for some women's business enterprises, it will be a platform for growth for many existing tourism business operations." FNB, one of the official national supporters of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, has revamped its strategy in the non-listed business space to focus on supporting the development of small business and entrepreneurship in South Africa.

The bank explained that it had recently launched Solutions for Tourism in a bid to assist business looking to play in the fast-growing tourism sector. The offering is unique in that it provides appropriate financial solutions that take into account the seasonality inherent in tourism businesses.

Tourism is an important industry focus for FNB's commercial banking, which provides SMMEs in the tourism arena with industry advice by top experts from the field employed by FNB, as well as non-traditional banking offers through value chain partners. To assist tourism operators preparing for 2010 and beyond, FNB will finance the purchase of commercial property with no bond registration fees.

As the official bank of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government, FNB has partnered with Government to promote heritage tourism and assist the region's SMMEs in setting up and running successful tourism businesses.

The project identifies important archaeological sites in the Province which can be turned into new tourist sites, while promoting the history of the area, too. "Transformation is an economic reality and a business imperative. More so than in other emerging economies and especially among black entrepreneurs and women, South African entrepreneurs need advice, encouragement and support.

"In order to harness the tourism potential among our top source markets of Germany, the UK, USA, Netherlands and France, women in the province will need all the financial and mentorship assistance they can get from their service providers," said Ms Maepa.

"In 2006, over a million of the foreign tourists visiting South Africa chose to explore Mpumalanga. Women today play a crucial role in our local economy, especially in the service-driven tourism industry." FNB has a specialist division catering for new businesses, geared to provide new entrepreneurs with advice, mentorship and appropriate finance solutions, as well as seamless service and handholding from start-up specialists.

"We have helped start SA's largest mentorship and SMME business support organisation, Enterprise Support, and it has over 500 mentors, from general business consultants to industry specialists to seasoned retired business executives," said Ms Maepa.

"We run a network and business support platform called Biznetwork, where you can gain business know-how, special deals and countrywide network partnerships to grow your business."

Source: BuaNews (Tshwane)