iKhokha, the KZN based fintech who recently picked up the MTN Financial App of the Year Award, has announced that they have surpassed the impressive milestone of disbursing more than R2bn in working capital to their SME customer base, in partnership with Retail Capital, now a division of TymeBank.
“In a tough South African economic climate with gloomy daily headlines, to have been able to inject R2bn worth of working capital into the small business sector in South Africa is a really special achievement and milestone for us collectively,” says iKhokha CEO and co-founder, Matt Putman
“Most importantly, to have built a sustainable funding model in this space, speaks to the resilience of the small business sector in our country despite all the macro negativity.” “Our research shows that 80% of these businesses would struggle to access loans through traditional banks and therefore we are stimulating the part of the market that needs it most,” he says.
Miguel Da Silva, Managing Executive at Retail Capital, adds “This remarkable achievement underscores iKhokha’s extraordinary resilience and commitment to empowering small businesses. The accomplishment not only fuels economic growth but also highlights the value of strong partnerships to provide vital support to entrepreneurs navigating funding challenges in a tough economic landscape.”
In addition to the impact that iKhokha is making in the lives of its merchants, there have also been some structural shareholding changes made on the back of iKhokha’s significant growth over the last five years. This includes the decision made recently by iKhokha shareholders to spin the business out of the Adumo group.
“iKhokha has become one of the market leaders in the South African SME payments space and we believe that the business is better positioned for growth opportunities as a standalone business,” says Nic Smalle, MD of iKhokha shareholder Apis Partners.
Dean Sparrow, CEO of Crossfin Holdings who has been invested in iKhokha since its inception in 2012, agrees “Crossfin, Apis and IFC continue to back the vision of Matt Putman and his team based on their impressive track record.”
iKhokha’s SME focused financial services platform empowers entrepreneurs to accept both in-person and online payments. The fintech also provides access to working capital and offers easy access to business management tools, including daily sales analytics and the ability to set sales targets and track sales performance.
“The underserved self-employed sector of South Africa plays such a vital role in stimulating our economy and helping to bridge the unemployment gap. Their continued growth is fundamental if we want to see our economy grow. We will continue to help entrepreneurs and SMEs to believe in better business by investing in our SME focused financial services platform to expose more local SMEs to the digital economy,” adds Putman.