Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni launched a R897 million women’s entrepreneurship programme on Friday, pledging cheaper finance and business support for nearly 1,000 women-owned enterprises.

The Imbali For Her programme, launched in Kimberley in the Northern Cape, will be implemented over three years through the Department of Small Business Development and the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency (SEDFA).

It is expected to support about 975 women-owned enterprises and create or sustain about 2,250 jobs.

“Imbali For Her is not simply about launching another programme. It is about advancing the unfinished work of economic inclusion and ensuring that women entrepreneurs are recognised not as peripheral participants in the economy, but as central drivers of growth, innovation and employment creation,” Ndabeni said.

The launch came three days after Statistics South Africa reported that the country lost 345,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2026, pushing the official unemployment rate up from 31.9% to 32.7%. Women remain worse affected, with Stats SA recording female unemployment at 36.4%, compared with 29.6% for men.

Ndabeni said the programme would provide concessional loans at prime less 3%, and prime less 5% for enterprises owned by women with disabilities.

Qualifying businesses may receive funding of up to R5 million, depending on their stage of development and viability assessments, as well as tailored business development support of up to R500,000.

The minister said the scheme followed consultations with more than 4,500 women entrepreneurs through provincial dialogues and online platforms.

“Those consultations reinforced an important reality, that women entrepreneurs do not only require access to finance. They require an enabling ecosystem that allows their businesses to survive, grow and compete sustainably,” she said.

Ndabeni said half of the programme’s beneficiaries would come from rural areas and townships, while 8% would be enterprises owned by women with disabilities.

She said SEDFA had already disbursed R454 million to women-owned businesses in the third quarter of the last financial year and reached 495,804 women beneficiaries over three years.

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