Svetlana Doneva    www.fin24.com

Johannesburg – The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) said the majority of the R71bn earmarked for funding investment over the next five years will go to new businesses.

That’s according to IDC CEO Geoffrey Qhena, who addressed media at the presentation of the development funding company’s results for the year to end-March 2009.

This goal is in line with the IDC’s strategy to promote entrepreneurship in South Africa and, if implemented, will reverse a recent declining trend of funding of start-ups.

The funding of start-ups and expansions made up the largest portion – 52% – of funding granted in the 2008/09 financial year. The total amount of funding approvals in this period was R10.8bn.

However, the proportion of funding to this segment declined from 75% in the previous financial year. Qhena said this was partly due to the redirection of funds to companies in distress and a 38% increase in funding approvals for investments in the rest of Africa.

The IDC has already identified new candidates for early stage project development. Most of these are in line with the organisation’s aim to promote green and renewable energy sources.

Examples of these include solar power generation, electric vehicle batteries, bio-ethanol and wind power generation.