First National Bank (FNB) has opened applications for participation in the eighth round of the FNB 10X Entrepreneur (10X-e) Accelerator Programme, which enhances the ability of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with exceptional potential to scale up successfully.
A maximum of 12 businesses will be selected to be part of the Programme, and must apply on the website before September 6, FNB said.
The FNB 10X-e Accelerator Programme, delivered by Edge Growth Accelerate, aims to increase the SME scale-up success rate by driving critical management behaviour changes to promote job creation and to unlock further and improved capital, talent and support.
The 10X-e focuses on gazelles: SMEs with significant potential for growth. They typically have a large prospective market, an innovative product, and impressive leadership.
“They’re diverse in terms of the sectors in which they work, but similar in that they’re young, have head counts of around 40 or fewer, and are hungry to scale but experiencing growing pains,” the programme stipulates.
Applications are open to businesses that, “are founder-led, with three or more senior leaders with complimentary skills, have an innovative business offering, an annual turnover of less than R50 million, have more than 10 staff members and are re majority black-owned”.
Visit the FNB website (www.fnb.co.za)) > click on ‘For my business”> scroll down to “Value adds and rewards” and select “Business Hub” > select “FNB 10XE Accelerator Programme” for a link on the Programme landing page to the application form.
BUSINESS REPORT