Remgro chair Johann Rupert says the preferred route for the disbursement of his family’s R1bn donation to assist small businesses will be through Business Partners, a company he founded and co-owns.
He expects to finalise plans in the coming days.
"Business Partners have the institutional capacity to do this, as they have been financing and mentoring small businesses for almost 40 years. So it’s the perfect delivery mechanism in which to give the money and get cash into the pockets of employees," said Rupert. "The primary purpose of the money will be to pay workers’ salaries."
Remgro owns 43% of Business Partners, a specialist lender to small and medium-sized business owners that Rupert started in 1981.
The R1bn contribution from the Rupert family will be separately earmarked for use as donations to small businesses using the company’s infrastructure, and will run separately from the donation made by the Oppenheimer family.
Rupert’s donation is part of efforts to cushion the economic effects of the 21-day lockdown announced on Monday by President Cyril Ramaphosa to contain the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic and make sure that the country’s weak health-care infrastructure is not overwhelmed.
"I think the president has been incredibly bold to order the lockdown, and the next three to six weeks are going to be critical in stopping the spread of the infection," he said.
Rupert expects a plan to disburse the money to land on his desk in coming days. It could become operational as soon as next week. There are no restrictions on who can apply for money so long as they are SA-owned businesses.
The idea for the donation came about during a call with Ramaphosa nine days ago, during which Rupert shared his experience of what had happened to businesses in the Far East.
The Rupert-controlled Richemont luxury group is active in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
"I told the president that the most important thing to keep small businesses afloat during this crisis would be cash flow. So I offered to make a contribution that would help tide them over for a few weeks," Rupert said.
This would be vital to avert a jobs bloodbath as has already started in places such as the US.
"The restaurant industry and related supply chains employ 18-million to 20-million people by one estimate, a $1-trillion industry. That’s shut. They are laying off staff," he said.
The billionaire encouraged every citizen to obey the lockdown and exercise maximum caution to stop the spread of
the coronavirus before the onset of winter.
The Oppenheimers, who will also donate R1bn to help small businesses, told Business Day that they were busy finalising the structure, operation and governance of the fund.
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