Pretoria - The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) had approved a loan of R15 million to Butterfield Investment Holdings, the franchise bakery group, to expand Butterfield's franchise capacity to emerging entrepreneurs, Andile Reve, the IDC sectors vice-president, said yesterday.
Kobus Oosthuizen, Butterfield's managing director, said the loan would be used for the roll-out of about 45 bakeries to emerging entrepreneurs, largely in rural areas, in the next few months.
Reve said one of the objectives of the loan facility, which was likely to create 672 new jobs, was to enable emerging entrepreneurs, especially those from disadvantaged communities, to become part of the mainstream economy.
Reve said empowerment often involved people buying shares and playing a passive role in the business. By contrast, this plan would assist people to own and manage their own businesses; it involved the transfer of skills and the creation of jobs.
Reve said the IDC had established its empowerment scheme about four years ago.
It had advanced a total of R1,4 billion, and assisted in the creation of an estimated 2 000 to 3 000 jobs.
Oosthuizen said a container bakery would cost between R117 000 and R130 000 plus VAT, of which about 80 percent could be financed.
This meant an applicant must have R25 000 available to qualify for finance to become one of the container bakery franchisees.