SiMODiSA forum set-up for South Africa's entrepreneurs and investors to help promote the conditions necessary for entrepreneurial activity to flourish, something South Africa desperately needs. Malik Fal from the Omidyar Network opened up with some powerful numbers: By Jean-Michel Koenig
There are 50 million South Africans of which 15 million are economically active. Of these, 10 million are employed with only 5 million earning sufficient income to be registered taxpayers. This is a ticking time bomb, as he said.
Ultimately, this trajectory will not lead to a stable and prosperous society unless something dramatically changes. While small pockets of VC funding exists, our local VC industry is still in its infancy and there is not nearly enough capital available for them to invest in the promising businesses they see, particularly for funding rounds greater than R20-million.
At Triggerfish, we were fortunate to raise development funding from the Business Partners Venture Fund who stepped up to the plate after we approached over 130 investors in the last two years. Their funding gives us the resources we need to continue with our development work so that we don't lose momentum.
Triggerfish is already a significant scalable global business, with multi-million dollar revenues, producing a world-class product into a multi-trillion dollar industry undergoing rapid change. We have distributors around the world and there is simply no company better placed than us to change the way the world sees Africa - tens of millions of people in over 70 countries will see our movies.
khumba_triggerfish
Despite all of this, it was still incredibly difficult for us to raise money. One significant corporate investor turned us down because they couldn't accurately calculate their Return On Investment (ROI). This is impossible to calculate for a high-risk, growth investment. Instead the focus should be on whether or not the opportunity is real and the management team competent.
I believe the funding problem exists across the entire SME sector from the township fruit-vendor to middle-class kids working on the next big thing from their bedroom. Apartheid effectively put a bubble on South Africa's economy and even though it's ended, the bubble remains. The political and economic environment is not conducive to the growth of SMEs. At Triggerfish we have bumped up against every hurdle from constrictive IP regulations to exchange controls and funding. We know how hard it is.
Besides the difficult regulatory environment, the shortage of risk capital is probably the biggest challenge we face. We cannot expect to build the economy we need unless we start to believe in ourselves and invest in our own entrepreneurs. If people are unable to feed their families or find decent work, social unrest quickly follows. There has to be the hope that people can do something for themselves. Small business will be key to South Africa's future.
Koos Bekker is stepping down from Naspers after finding incredible success with Chinese entrepreneur, Pony Ma, who founded Tencent. News24 reports that he hopes to travel to places like Seoul and San Francisco where the future is being manufactured, and see if there are new technologies we should be trying out. I would love to invite Mr Bekker to come visit us at Triggerfish to see how we are manufacturing the future not 20 minutes from the headquarters of Naspers.
If we're not prepared to invest in local entrepreneurs, our future will look more like the riots in Venezuela or the Ukraine. South African corporates and investors need to enable funding to SMEs to kick-start growth. They need to boldly lift their appetite for risk.
At Triggerfish we are putting in place a plan to raise further funding from overseas. The risk capital we need is not available here and we cannot wait any longer. Great businesses are not started off the back of great spreadsheets. On paper it will never make sense. Like climbing Everest, it is a bloody-minded act of the will that starts with the heart and we need to find investors, with the resources and risk appetite, who understand this.
http://ventureburn.com
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
01/07/2026
Nectar360, the Retail Media, Loyalty and Insights business of the Sainsburys Gro...
01/07/2026
9.2 million streams on RT Player between 11 and 28 June
Reach of 2.9 million viewers during Group stages of FIFA World Cup on RT 2
23 million video views acr...
30/06/2026
Could your journalism reach an international stage?
Entries are now open for the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2026, one of the most prestigi...
30/06/2026
As Brazil's only way for fans to see all 104 matches, YouTube channel proves the power of digital...
30/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
30/06/2026
New IR reverb engine, Juno-inspired chorus & more
The latest version of Rapid Flow's hardware-emulation synth plug-in expands on its predecessor with a ...
30/06/2026
Excels at heavy-handed VCA compression
For their latest release, Shy Audio have recreated the crunchy' sound of a rackmount compressor that found its w...
30/06/2026
Component scarcity drives cost increases
Shortly after Apple's CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that cost increases would soon be inevitable , the company hav...
30/06/2026
Statement regarding GetUp Save Our SBS' campaign
30 June, 2026
Media releases
The GetUp Save Our SBS' campaign is an independent initiative. SBS ...
30/06/2026
Hitachi and Bank Pekao S.A. have completed the installation of the first Hitachi...
30/06/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
MainStreaming, the award-winning and innovative Edge Video Delivery Network, today announced that it has been selected by ITV to support the delivery of ITVX, I...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
When Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! needed to upgrade their wireless communications system, they turned to Clear-Com FreeSpeak wireless for their iconic televi...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/06/2026
Other World Computing Launches New Atlas Core Line with 256GB CFExpress 4.0 Type...
SiMODiSA forum set-up for South Africa's entrepreneurs and investors to help promote the conditions necessary for entrepreneurial activity to flourish, something South Africa desperately needs. Malik Fal from the Omidyar Network opened up with some powerful numbers: By Jean-Michel Koenig
