【非洲科技·南非】Data could solve South Africa’s $21.5 billion SME funding gap

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South Africa’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) face an estimated R350 billion ($21.5 billion) financing gap. Yet the number of small business funders has doubled, from 148 in 2018 to over 300 in 2025, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a global economic policy research organisation.

Edna Sathekga-Montse, Group Chief Transformation and Sustainability Officer at African Bank, a South African lender focused on financial inclusion, believes that contradiction points to a problem that cannot be solved simply by putting more money into the market.

Banks need to know the businesses asking for assistance better. “When we understand them better, it allows us to assess their affordability and assess their credit status a lot better and a lot differently,” Sathekga-Montse told TechCabal on the sidelines of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress Africa (GEC+Africa) in Cape Town.

The technology problem underneath South Africa’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) funding gap is that too many businesses remain difficult to read through the data systems banks use to assess risk. Without that data, even willing lenders struggle to know who to fund.

The OECD’s Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2026 report found that 56% of South Africa’s MSMEs are unregistered, while only 7% used a formal financial-services provider business loan to start their business. The sector employs about 80% of the country’s workforce.

Sathekga-Montse says African Bank is responding by moving beyond the traditional model of simply assessing an application and deciding whether to approve a loan. “Without the data that we require, we are unable to, as organisations, understand whether or not any type of risk falls within our risk appetite,” she said.

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来源：TechCabal Africa (https://techcabal.com/)
原文链接：https://techcabal.com/2026/09/18/south-africa-sme-funding-gap-data/
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