Author: Maryna Steyn

SME South Africa is proud to announce that the SME Funding Summit will be returning in 2026. The second edition will take place on the 11th of June, 2026, and promises to have a full day of funding-related activities, such as panel discussions, a funding-focused keynote address, and traditional and non-traditional funders exhibiting.

“We will once again be hosting the SME Funding Summit,” announces Velly Bosega, CEO of SME South Africa. “We have positioned this event as the premier funding event that delivers relevant funding advice and guidance to small to medium-sized enterprises across the country.”

Hosted in the heart of Gauteng, entrepreneurs from across South Africa gather to network, learn, and improve their chances of securing funding.

The 2026 edition promises to be bigger and better, featuring more exhibitors, expert speakers, and actionable insights designed to educate, inspire, and help entrepreneurs become funding-ready.

What To Expect

Attendees can expect to see a similar format to the previous year’s event. A powerful keynote about the funding landscape will take place, as well as multiple panel discussions and presentations.

Topics that will be addressed throughout the day include:

• Diverse Funding Pathways
• Targeted Funding Opportunities
• Funding Readiness and Compliance Foundations
• Government and Public-Sector Funding

“Some of the agenda items that attendees can expect to see again this year are a keynote centred around the South African Funding landscape, exhibitors from both traditional and non-traditional funding spaces and powerful networking opportunities,” said Bosega. “Based on the feedback from exhibitors and attendees, SME South Africa will be adding a few exciting surprises to the itinerary, but we will only be sharing this news closer to the time.”

Last year’s attendees agreed that the format drives transformation, empowering entrepreneurs with knowledge, mentorship and insightful discussions. This year, the data-driven event that connects SMEs with funders aims once more to address the common issues that plague entrepreneurs when it comes to funding.

Ticket Sales are Open

Tickets are officially on sale, with an early-bird discount for a limited time. Discounted prices are R 699 and give attendees full access to the SME Funding Summit and all activities on the day.

The event will be hosted at The Empire; Conference and Events Venue.

“We encourage funders who are interested in exhibiting to reach out to us,” he adds. “Brands that would like to partner with us are also welcome to reach out to us,” he concludes.

The 2025 edition of the Funding Summit saw many businesses across the SME landscape attend, aiming to liaise with small business owners and entrepreneurs who can benefit from their services. Included among these businesses were alternative funders, traditional funding, and tax and compliance industries. One such brand is PSTM.

“We are accountants helping SMS with compliance, financial statements, their taxes, wealth management and their business structuring,” says Phuthanang Motsielwa, representative of PSTM.

“It was important to us to be at the 2025 Funding Summit because we follow SME South Africa and we read their reports,” Motsielwa expands. “We understand the struggles that SME’s face, and a lot of things they struggle with are their compliance.”

This fact was noted by many of the funders on the day, as well as the speakers.

“They’re not finance-ready,” she continues. “There are a lot of issues that SME South Africa writes about, and those are very relatable to us as a business.

“So, being present is vital partly because SME South Africa is speaking to our audience, our target market, and that’s why it was important.”

Reaching Those Who Matter Most

Motsielwa elaborates that not only has the day allowed them to educate SMEs, but it has also helped them expand their mailing list. From a marketing perspective, it has allowed them to have face-to-face interactions with their target market. “The people that we want to serve – the people that are actually looking for accountants – that can help them to grow and not just look at whether or not someone filed their tax returns.”

PSTM is actively seeking businesses that it can support to grow and ultimately enhance the value of the South African economy.

One benefit of attending or participating in live events is that it allows brands and potential clients to connect with each other. It creates a platform that does more than just offer networking opportunities – it drives dialogue with all stakeholders within a particular industry. Furthermore, this one-on-one connection means that a personal connection can be made between the entrepreneur and the brand with the solution. In essence, the entrepreneur is more than just a name. They become a face with a backstory and a need for assistance.

Helping SMEs Take Back Control

“I think you are in control of your own destiny,” Motsielwa says. “A lot of the time, you like to talk about what’s wrong, what’s not going right, etc, but I think if you’ve taken the step and you’ve said that you are going to be an entrepreneur, then it is quite different. You need to take control of your own life and your business. If you don’t like the feedback that you’re getting from your business, then you need to reach out to someone who can help you. You need to make sure that you get the right level of support.

“I think there are very good people exhibiting here,” she adds. Her wish for business owners is that they gather their teams to attend the next summit. “Make sure that when you walk away from the next summit, you’ve got those people that you need to go back and speak to once the event is over.”

If you’d like to know more about governance, stay tuned to see the webinar about Governance for SMMEs by PSTM. It will take place on 2 October 2025, at 11:00. You can register via the link on the SME South Africa Webinar page.

The next SME Summit will be announced soon, so keep your ears and eyes open so you don’t miss a thing.

Finding funders for small businesses is like match-making. Although very different to a popular dating site that lets you swipe left or right, matching a funder is equally thrilling. The funder has its set criteria that they are looking for; specific revenue targets, loan amounts, business size, industry, collateral… The list goes on. However, when a business that is looking for funding aligns with his criteria, the two parties can connect and begin their working relationship.

Get Funds is one of the companies that acts like a matchmaker. It brings various funders to one platform where SMEs can connect with them and raise capital.

“We are a specialist consulting firm that has partnered with multiple funders to provide funding to SMEs,” says Juan Van Diggelen, owner of Get Funds, at the 2025 Funding Summit. “This partnership helps us match SMEs with access to working capital.”

Funding Matchmaker that Puts its Money Where its Mouth Is

Get Funds attended the Funding Summit to highlight that they are in the trenches with SMEs and truly understand their challenges. “One of the motivations for us to be present at the 2025 Funding Summit is to find like-minded business owners who want to scale; Entrepreneurs who want to grow and who need some support and empowerment.”

The brand’s attendance emphasised that they aim to do exactly what their name implies: to help SMEs get funding. Thinking about the day’s events, Van Diggelen shares what the team’s hope for the day was: “ We want attendees who visit our stall to go away with the idea that working capital is easy to raise if you know the right people. That’s our purpose in South Africa: to match SMEs with the correct funder.”

Van Diggelen also notes that brand awareness was an important factor in attending too.

Addressing SME’s Concerns

“Interacting with SMEs fuels me and the organisation because we know that the SMEs are the bourgeoisie class, so the economy only exists because of the blood, sweat, and tears of these guys. We care about them, and they need as much support as humanly possible.”

It’s because of this that Get Funds works hard to provide instant access to a range of funding solutions with just one paperless application and no capital raising fees.

“Each funder has its own terms and conditions, requirements and application processes, and it can all be tiring. We aim to make this process as simple as possible,” he concludes.

Benefits of Using Get Funds

By turning to Get Funds, applicants have the following benefits:

• More flexibility and options to match their needs
• Increases chances of approval by finding the right match
• Potentially lower rates by comparing offers
• Ability to choose the fastest options
• More Personalised funding solutions
• Increased negotiation power through our volumes and network
• Access to broader market knowledge and advice

The company has already funded over R5,3 billion across more than 9 600 clients. They are also Shariah-compliant.

Among their various products and services, they offer merchant cash advances, invoice-backed funding, revolving credit and short-term loans. Funds received from this process can be used for the following reasons:

• To assist in cash flow management in lean months.
• Buying inventory and raw materials, or expanding a product offering.
• To enable business growth and expansion in the form of new products, new facilities, or to upgrade existing facilities and diversify business portfolios.
• Run digital marketing campaigns or fund public relations.
• To purchase, repair or service any equipment and assets that the business requires in both expansions or its current operations.
• Assist in high-cost investments such as supporting research and development, and funding IT and technology updates.

At the 2025 edition of the SME Funding Summit, exhibitors and attendees had the opportunity to meet and discuss the issue of obtaining financing for businesses from different sectors and business stages. One of the sponsors and exhibitors on the day was Fund the People, and they strive to change the narrative about funding accessibility.

“Fund the People is a tendering platform,” says Praneshan Naidoo, Founder of Fund the People and Go Fund Yourself. “What we do is we take someone who doesn’t even have a company and help them get a tender. We help with full skills development by taking somebody who can, for example, manufacture a table and look at how we can help them develop that into a tender.”

Naidoo explains that Fund the People doesn’t just hand out money. “We help people with the tender process from A to Z. A lot of people have a particular skill and knowledge about how to make a product, but they don’t always know how to sell it.”

Key Takeaways from the SME Funding Summit

“The key takeaway we want for anyone who interacts with our brand, such as attendees at the SME Funding Summit, is how they can grow with us,” he shares. “Partnering with us can help show these entrepreneurs a sustainable future and how they can grow within the economy.

“When I say grow, I don’t just mean your business. Grow by hiring more people. Grow by transferring skills. Take your skills and pass them on to the next person or generation. Let the economy grow. That’s what we want, right?”

Naidoo’s passion shines through as he continues to use his prior example of a furniture maker. “We want the person who is making furniture, building tables or developing products to pass it on to the youth so that the youth can carry on with it. That is how you are going to build a South Africa, and that’s what we as Fund the People do.”

Fund the People’s Goal

Fund the People offers purchase order funding and invoice discounting. With the former, entrepreneurs can fulfil big orders and pay suppliers upfront. With the latter, business owners can unlock the cash tied up in unpaid invoices.

“Like I said,” Naidoo emphasises. “We don’t just hand out money – we execute A to Z across the board, and that’s what makes us different.”

Fund the People believes that attendees could walk away with knowledge and confidence based on the interaction they had with entrepreneurs at the SME Funding Summit.

“I am seeing hope, and I am seeing people who are grateful to see the various funders here.” Naidoo recalls attendees’ words and the value the event had for them. “It’s especially valuable for people who are saying: ‘I knew about the five major banks, I knew about loan sharks and borrowing money from family, and they are all saying no to me all the time.’ It’s this sentiment that we want to change.

“We want to have the new narrative that entrepreneurs come to us first before they go anywhere else.”

Exhibiting and Sponsoring the SME Funding Summit

As one of the Summit Bronze sponsors, Naidoo enthusiastically shared their passion for being involved in the day.

“The SME Funding Summit reminded us why these events are so vital for our economy. These events aren’t just about name tags and business cards: it’s about connecting the dots between real people and real solutions.

“I am loving what SME South Africa has done here, bringing niche funders into the market.” He highlights that in many instances, traditional funders such as banks are unable to fund businesses – a reality that many unbankable entrepreneurs can attest to.

“The platform that SME South Africa has put together here is massive,” he concludes.