BLACK owned enterprises to be ‘fuelled’ from the deal entered between BP Southern Africa and Small Enterprise Finance Agency.
A staggering R58m has been allocated to finance, train, develop and acquire service station properties in the country.
The investment will be used by sefa to finance 50% of the capital needed by approved businesses and 70% black owned by 2025.
The co-operation agreement comprise of an initial R18m investment and a further R40m that sefa will receive from the proceeds of all annual loan recoveries ceded to the bp/sefa fund from a previous ESD Fund.
Addressing guests at the announcement ceremony held at the company’s head office in Rosebank today, Taelo Mojapelo, BP Southern Africa CEO says the agreement is a sign of resilience, transformation and diversity in this sector.
“As part of our transformation journey and strengthening our convenience portfolio, building strong partnerships is key in ensuring the successful delivery of our business objectives, which are underpinned by a customer-centric strategy,” says Taelo- whose name loosely translated ‘one who orders’.
A success story is one told by Khosi Snondo- a BP dealer from Cape Town (Pinehurst), whose franchise has turned around lives of ordinary staff members to become households in the company and their respective homes.
The Free State born also boasted, rightfully so, that she has settled her loan and has no overdraft facility- thanks to SEFA that has provided both finance and mentoring.
“Helping black-owned businesses enter this sector is a huge opportunity to create sustainable enterprises that provide employment opportunities. Access to capital is one of the main barriers to building a thriving entrepreneurial business community and we are proud to be working with bp to open up the energy sector to more black players,” says Mxolisi Matshamba, CEO at sefa.
“We are delighted to be working with bpSA to drive further transformation of the country’s service stations.”
The bespectacled Matshamba elaborated further that:“ The fuel industry in South Africa remains one of the strategic importance in ensuring sustainable economic growth. With the imminent recovery of the economy, the industry has a larger role to play.
The strategic importance of the sector may not be fully beneficial if it is not intended to stimulate increased growth and economic transformation, and access to resources by women, youth and persons with disabilities. To this effect, the government has created enabling platforms through the introduction of legislation, policy mandates, and regulations.
Access to finance, market, lack of skills and non-financial support have remained challenges to achieving sustainable transformation in this sector. In this regard sefa-bpSA agreement is a deliberate public-private partnership in promoting and advancing transformation in this industry,” says Matshamba, who also made a clarion call to youth’s, disabled and women companies to apply.
Jointly, both bpSA and sefa will approve the beneficiary businesses.
“As part of our retail transformation agenda, we aim to have 70% of our service stations operated by black dealers by 2025. To put that in context, bpSA currently has over 500 branded retail stations throughout the country, a number that is set to grow in the next year,” continued Mojapelo.
On murmurs that the company is considering disinvestment in SA, Mojapelo, who joined BP in 2020, having led managerial roles in companies such as HDL, Mondelez, emphasised with conviction that ‘we’re going nowhere and this is evident in investments we’re undertaking in our country”, she told this reporter.
For funding and more information visit sefa website.
Image SLM (Fuelling the deal. Left- BP Southern Africa CE Taelo Mojapelo and Mxolisi Matshamba, SEFA CEO, at the deal announcement held at BP offices, Rosebank, today).
