Opportunity Issue 108

SOUTH AFRICAN FUTURE TRUST
The inaugural South African
Future Trust Summit
was a great success
CEO Nico Jacobs reflects on the event and outlines how the South African Future Trust is redirecting
its operations to encourage and support entrepreneurs, having started life as a Covid-support fund.
Biography
Nico Jacobs, CEO of the South African Future Trust, has
vast corporate experience across retail, finance, FMCG and
telecommunications. During his tenure as Head of the Small
Business Banking Division of a large commercial bank, he
produced a documentary on the five key qualities of successful
business owners. He has a passion for entrepreneurship with
business interests across the manufacturing, engineering,
technology, property, agriculture and craft sectors.
Pictured at the South African Future Trust Summit, left to right,
Nico Jacobs, SAFT CEO, two beneficiaries of the Trust, and
Jonathan Oppenheimer of the Oppenheimer Generations
Foundation, a founder of the Trust.
How did the South African Future Trust come into being?
The Oppenheimers generously donated R1-billion with
some partners to Covid relief: it went to small business staff
members’ accounts. The business owner stood surety on that
facility and it was payable in December 2025, probably the
softest loan ever. Many business owners said that the loan
not only helped them pay their salaries, but they were able
to retain their good staff. We started in 2020 and as money
started coming in from repayments, we gave some discounts
away, because there was no good reason to pay earlier. Then
we had conversations about “What now?” Covid was not there,
but how do you still keep looking after this vital sector of the
economy? That’s what we’re really excited about.
Was the funding sector-neutral?
It was first come, first served, and there were certain criteria
such as they’ve had to be two years or older, they had to be
in good standing and compliant. In visiting clients, I have
been to franchise owners of FMCGs. I have been to printers,
manufacturing floors, logistics companies, legal companies,
cleaning services and to security companies, so it’s across the
whole board and not industry specific at all and 2.0 won’t be
industry specific either.
How was the money disbursed?
We asked six retail banks to look into their customer base and
make facilities available so that R1-billion in total was dispersed
to the banks. There were 40 000 applications of which 10 000
were successful.
And that became a post-Covid funding vehicle for SMMEs?
We had to pivot. The money we have got back is substantial
enough to start looking at the 2.0 model. We will not be giving
interest-free Covid loans away but a lot of work now is being
placed into spaces where we look at how we can support
SMMEs and the SMME environment. A business owner might
think they need financial support but if they get good access
to market and if they look after their cash flows properly
then perhaps they only need guidance. Sometimes it’s really
about unlocking that latent potential or energy in the SMME
themselves to understand cash flow or pricing. How do we get
them help to price properly?
Please tell us about the summit.
The aim of this first summit was really based on a lot of the
conversations we had with our banking partners, grantees,
customers and various stakeholders. Similar themes came up with
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