Two businesses that benefitted from previous rounds of our grant funding made headlines in the past six months with phenomenal achievements. GoMetro announced the successful completion of £9 million in Series A funding; and Jacobs Jam took home the SMME of the Year Award at the 2023 Shoprite Group Supplier of the Year Awards.
GoMetro was a recipient of CDI funding through one of the early rounds of the CDI Design Innovation Seed Fund (DISF) project when the business was in its very early stages as well as a bridging loan; while Jacobs Jam was recently supported by the CDI Innovation Project which is funded mainly by the National Treasury’s Jobs Fund.
These specific funding projects are managed by CDI Capital , which was incorporated as a subsidiary of the CDI non-profit in 2016 to catalyse funding for SMMEs.
CDI Capital’s most recent funding project, the CDI Innovation Project (of which Jacobs Jam was a beneficiary), from 2018-2023, exceeded all targets. It attracted 1094 applicants (target 120), created 669 new permanent jobs (target 600), and produced 741 trained beneficiaries (target 683).
Ryan Rode, CDI Capital’s manager, said achievements such as these are a credit to the incredible amount of work put in by the owners and their vision.
“It’s really rewarding to see how the businesses we have assisted go on to greater things. We are proud of them and what they are achieving as they continue their journeys. It also provides encouragement to our entire team and instils great confidence in our funding systems and processes which select, support and fast track these businesses when they participate in our programmes.”
GoMetro goes global
GoMetro at the end of 2023 announced the successful completion of a £9 million (approx. R200m) Series A funding round that will allow the business to further explore the digitisation of heavy-duty commercial transport operations and develop its state-of-the-art fleet management platform in its key markets i.e. United Kingdom, EU, USA and South Africa.
Civil engineer and GoMetro founder, Justin Coetzee (image below), who built the first version of GoMetro in 2014 in Cape Town, explains that the bus and truck fleet sector is highly competitive and that owners are at high risk of losing market share to competitors who are rapidly adopting technology solutions.
“This risk can be minimised by simply embracing data-driven decision-making systems that can position operations for growth and allow them to stay competitive in the ever-changing marketing. In doing so, operators will be empowered to better manage fleet utilisation, optimise resources, reduce risk, and enhance customer satisfaction which can give them a real competitive edge over their competitors,” adds Coetzee.
Having expanded into a B2B SaaS fleet management company, GoMetro was born out of Justin’s frustration with his train always being late and no information being made available to passengers. With this new funding, the business aims to strengthen its software platform to provide fleet operators with even more robust tools for managing and optimising all-electric fleets.
Read the DISF Impact Report here for more on how we helped GoMetro take their important first steps.
Sweet success for Jacobs Jam
Powerhouse couple and owners, Nigel and Christynn Jacobs, are excited about the future of the business having recently received the SMME of the Year Award at the 2023 Shoprite Group Supplier of the Year Awards.
Co-founder Nigel Jacobs admits that, while they had big dreams and aspirations for Jacobs Jams when they first took that huge leap of faith in 2018, resigning from their corporate jobs and officially registering the product, they could not have predicted these kinds of successes. Born from humble beginnings, Jacobs Jam was first created in their kitchen at home where Christynn spent her free time developing jam recipes. Today, these jams are produced in a world-class facility with state-of-the-art equipment and machinery, right here in the Ceres Valley in the Western Cape.
“The support from the Shoprite Group has motivated us to think even bigger. We want Jacobs Foods to grow into a national food company and we are using every opportunity to learn about the retail business as we grow,” he said.
In addition to the Shoprite success, Jacobs Jam is now stocked in s elected Pick n Pay stores in the Western Cape, as well as selected Spar stores in the Western Cape and Namibia.
In total at present, they are stocked in 40 independent retail stores.
Watch our interview here with Jacobs Jam on how CDI Capital helped them achieve their goals.
Husband-and-wife-owned enterprise, Jacobs Jam, was one of three small businesses honoured alongside a host of other exceptional suppliers at the Shoprite Group’s annual Supplier of the Year Awards. Nigel (left) and Christynn Jacobs (right) accept their coveted SMME of the Year Award from the Shoprite Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Pieter Engelbrecht (middle).