The Imvaba Cooperative Fund is an an incentive and institutional building support offered to co-operatives. The Imvaba Cooperative Fund, through the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, aims to promote the viability of primary co-operatives located and operating in the Eastern Cape, including enterprising individuals or business enterprises who are members of a primary co-operative. The individual or business enterprise must have business activities that are aligned with the core business of the parent co-operative, whether or not the co-operative is funded by ECDC. Through the ECDC, the Imvaba Cooperative Fund will show potential for sustainability, provide a positive contribution to the local economy, retain potential and promote job creation, empower women, youth, people living with disabilities and military veterans, establishing individuals largely based in rural areas, and promote community development. The Fund supports sectors namely; Agriculture and Agro-processing, Retail, Services, Tourism, the Creative industry, ICT and Film Production, Green Economy, Business Process Outsourcing, Textiles and Craft, and Oceans Economy.
To access support offered by the Fund… Get in touch with Dream Team Capital to assist you with your application!
Qualifying Criteria for the Imvaba Cooperative Fund
- The co-operative must be registered at Companies Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) under the Co-operatives Act No.14 of 2005 (as amended with Act 6 of 2013);
- The Registration Certificate of the co-operative must be signed by the Registrar of co-operatives or any other Official of the Office of the Registrar officially delegated to doing so;
- The co-operative must have a signed resolution by all the members that they should apply for the Fund. The resolution must also provide names of designated members to conclude all the relevant documentation in respect of Imvaba Co-operative Fund;
- The co-operative must have in place a Constitution, in line with the provisions of the Co-operatives Act (as amended);
- A completed application form, a business plan where necessary, or a funding request must be submitted with other ECDC prescribed documents;
- The co-operative should have secured a market for their product or service, this should be shown through letters of intent or off-take agreements;
- The co-operative should have secured quotations from different suppliers in relation to the equipment and material it requires;
- The co-operative should have secured a lease, or other legal binding documentation from the owner or a letter signed by the owner of the building and/or land from which the business of the co-operative will be operating from;
- The establishment of the co-operative must comply with the requirements of The Co-operatives Amendment Act 6 of 2013 in all respects;
- Members of the co-operative must be willing to make themselves available to workshops and training to be provided through the Institutional and Capacity Building Programme of the fund;
- The co-operative must have basic financial records in place (bank account, cash book); and
- The Co-operative must comply with any other applicable requirements in the
environment of operations e.g. water rights, General Agriculture Practices (GAP) certification, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).
Required Documentation
• Written evidence of membership in a primary co-operative whose core business is aligned with business activities of the applicant or co-operative registration certificate or CSD report;
• Lease agreement or relevant document where it is applicable or a simple letter signed by the owner of the building and/or land from which the business of the co-operative will be operating from;
• Certified ID in the case of an individual and/or registration certificate in case of a juristic person;
• Proof of address;
• Proof of bank account;
• A completed application form, a business plan if necessary, or simple a funding request must be submitted with other ECDC prescribed documents; and
• Evidence that the parent co-operative is active and operational at the time of the application.
Non-Qualifying Criteria
- Activities involving gambling, drugs or alcohol sale;
- Costs associated with preparing and submitting tender documents;
- Any development investment which may be offensive to the community directly affected by such co-operatives and/or participating enterprises/individual business activity;
- Any co-operative and/or participating enterprises/individuals whose activities might be offensive to the community at large;
- Any co-operative and/or participating enterprises/individuals which may seek finance in the form of a loan to finance an acquisition of shares from another company;
- Co-operative and/or participating enterprises/individuals which might seek finance with the purpose to acquire property (land and buildings), of which the property will be receiving its income from lease rentals only and the loan proceeds will be used for the acquisition of the property only;
- A co-operative and/or participating enterprises/individuals whose members are not going to be directly involved in the daily activities of the co-operative and also not be able to create jobs for either members or non-members; or
- The member(s) of the Co-operative and/or participating enterprises/individuals who holds existing accounts with ECDC (including rental accounts) must not be in default.
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