Funding from Anglo American's enterprise development arm, Zimele has helped a business from Lephalale in Limpopo to create 107 jobs in the community as part of its support and commitment to historically disadvantaged South Africans through enterprise development.
Lephalale XXX, a security, cleaning, landscaping and house renovations company was founded by Johannes Ngobeni in 2008 to create jobs for unemployed community members. After approaching Zimele for assistance to grow his business, he was granted R200,000 from Zimele in 2011 where he used a portion of the funds to buy new equipment and employ more staff.
Ngobeni dreams of owning property as well as growing his business to operate nationally. "I believe I can do everything with the help of Zimele," says Ngobeni.
Zimele plays a major role in enterprise development by assisting small businesses. Its six funds has successfully provided R921m in funding, supported 1,619 companies and completed 2,358 loan transactions. In addition, the funded businesses have employed 30,092 people and achieved a collective annual turnover of R4,5b.
Zimele's main focus is on developing enterprises in South Africa and this has undertaken to create and preserve 25,000 jobs within 1,500 companies by 2015.
"Zimele has contributed positively to the lives of many people by helping to create sustainable jobs and successful companies nationally. Johannes Ngobeni is a success story of how your business dreams can come true for yourself and your community," says Hlonela Lupuwana, Managing Director of Zimele. "Anglo American will continue supporting entrepreneurs to create or uplift small to medium business to ensure long term benefits in our host communities."
