According to experts, a VC (venture capital) culture is gaining traction in South Africa. This is good news for dynamic entrepreneurial entities, as it provides opportunities for them to not only secure investment but also to create much needed jobs and thereby contribute significantly towards improving our economy. With this in mind, Grovest, South Africa’s first Section 12 J Venture Capital Company, announced today that the organisation has made a sizeable investment in SMEasy, a locally-based company, headed by serial entrepreneur Darlene Menzies.

SMEasy provides a unique online accounting and business management tool that is specifically geared for start-ups and small businesses. The South African product has already made an impressive impact, gaining the attention and backing of investors such as 4Di Capital and the ASISA Enterprise Development Fund managed by Edge Growth. SMEasy has taken on the ‘big guns’, winning international awards, securing impressive endorsements and registering many small business customers since the official launch mid-2014.

Grovest invests in high growth, scalable, disruptive private companies, partnering with them to provide both growth capital and management support to gain traction and scale. Alongside their capital investment, SMEasy is happy to announce that Grovest’s non-executive director, Clive Butkow, will take on the position of Chairman of the Board at SMEasy, adding huge value with his years of business expertise and experience. Butkow, the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Accenture South Africa, has 28 years management consulting experience.

During his time at Accenture and subsequent entrepreneurial career, Butkow modelled and studied hundreds of successful businesses, both corporate and entrepreneurial, to discover the skills and tools that differentiate successful people and businesses from the rest. He has spent time with many entrepreneurial and venture backed businesses across the globe and has learnt many of his teachings from his exposure to some of the top entrepreneurs and business coaches across the globe.

According to Menzies, ‘Clive and the Grovest team bring a wealth of experience and expertise as well as a vast network. We have already benefitted significantly from their partnership in the short time we have been engaged.’

In line with the company’s objective to provide start-ups and small businesses with an easy-to-use, highly effective and affordable business tool, Menzies explains that ‘one of the great benefits of this investment is the ability to grow our development team allowing us to develop exciting additional features and functions that will provide further value to our customers’.

3 June 2015