Zvilo Group, a UK company that lends working capital to small firms, plans to provide R10 billion in funding to South African small businesses within three to five years.
The company has set a first target of R2 billion, or about $120 million. It said the plan is aimed at the funding gap faced by small and medium-sized enterprises in the country.
“We want South Africa to be Zvilo’s biggest market by 2030,” Zvilo Africa Chief Executive Officer Peter Maila said in an interview.
Zvilo opened offices in South Africa in July. Maila said the company is raising the first R2 billion and has already secured half of it.
“We are now in the business mode of deploying the capital,” he said.
The company plans to work with the 20 biggest listed companies in South Africa. These include mines, banks, insurers and supermarket groups. Zvilo wants to use them as anchor buyers to reach the smaller firms that supply them.
According to Zvilo, each of these big firms owes its suppliers between R5 billion and R20 billion for goods and services bought on credit. These amounts are usually paid after 30 to 60 days.
Zvilo said up to 20% of that money is owed to small businesses. Many of them buy stock with expensive loans and must pay their own suppliers before their customers pay them.
“We would like to unlock that capital,” Maila said.
Under the model, Zvilo takes between 1% and 2% of the invoice value. It then gets its money back from the big buyer once that buyer pays the invoice.
Late payment is a common problem for small firms. Accounting software company Xero said in its State of Small Business Report 2026 that more than two in five small businesses struggle with late payments.
Small and medium-sized businesses make up more than 90% of all businesses in Africa. They provide almost 60% of jobs in South Africa.
Zvilo was founded in 2018 to offer trade finance and working capital services. It has paid out more than $501 million to 3,900 businesses in 41 countries, including firms in Kosovo, Serbia, North Macedonia and Turkey.
The company said its yearly payouts more than tripled in the two years to 2025.
“We have ambitions to grow our sub-Saharan Africa business to 60% of our loan book by 2030,” Maila said. He said the company aims to reach yearly payouts of 950 million euros by 2028 and 2 billion euros by 2030.
South Africa is one of nine African countries in Zvilo’s growth plan. The company plans to open an office in Sierra Leone by the end of the year.
Offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Tanzania are planned by 2028. Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo will follow in 2029.
“The expansion will help us grow the businesses we’ve supported to 15,000 by 2030, from nearly 4,000 now,” Maila said.
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.