Administered by the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), and in collaboration with the Department of Tourism, the Tourism Transformation Fund (TTF) is a dedicated capital investment funding mechanism that focuses on financial support for black entrepreneur projects in the tourism sector. The Fund aims to drive transformation in the tourism sector in a more direct and impactful manner. Tourism in itself offers numerous opportunities for emerging economies and developing countries. It creates jobs, strengthens the local economy, contributes to local infrastructure development, and can help to conserve the natural environment, cultural assets and traditions, and reduces poverty and inequality.
By the same token, the Fund assists black-owned tourism enterprises to expand and grow, and moreover, catalyses the growth of a new generation of black owned youth, women, and community owned tourism enterprises to upscale the tourism sector. DTC can assist with developing a comprehensive application to access the Fund, propelling your business in the tourism sector.
The TTF provides a combination of grant funding, debt financing, and equity contributions to facilitate capital investment in the tourism sector by prospective black investors. The grant funding portion reduces the approved loan finance and/or equity contribution by the NEF for tourism projects. The grant funding component is capped at 30% of the total funding requirement, up to a maximum of R5 million per applicant. Applicants must submit their application forms and supporting documents directly to the NEF.
The Tourism Transformation Fund Focuses on:
- Majority black owned tourism entities and transactions that are commercially viable and sustainable, as per the results of the due diligence processes of the NEF;
- Unlocking investment support in the sector for new and established (greenfield and brownfield) small and micro black-owned tourism enterprises that provide services to tourists as its direct clients; and
- Majority Black owned community – based projects which the Department is already involved in through its Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), where commercial viability and long term sustainability has been proven.
For queries on the Tourism Transformation Fund – Get in touch with DTC today!