The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) was established in 1940 to promote economic growth and industrial development in South Africa and, by extension, the rest of the African continent.

The IDC has offices in all nine provinces in order to provide niche and innovative funding products that are aimed at enhancing and growing the country’s regional economies.

Under the strong leadership of KZN Regional Manager, Pat Moodley the KwaZulu Natal (KZN) office is flying the colours of the IDC really high. The KZN regional office can always be counted amongst the top performing offices within the IDC and once again secured its position as the second best performing province in the last financial year outside head office.

The Corporation’s key sectors in the province include the textile, clothing, and footwear industries which are key drivers of the KZN economy, especially because of the easy access to the Durban port for exports and imports. Other economic sectors supported include agro-processing, chemicals, plastics and medical products; wood and furniture products; automotive and transportation; machinery and equipment; electronics, basic metals, tourism, infrastructure, as well as energy.

The KZN regional office is well networked within the province of KwaZulu-Natal. “We have a stakeholder engagement plan and one of our key focus areas is visiting the eight district municipalities every quarter, outside eThekwini Municipality. Our team meets with each of the local economic development managers to build a pipeline of projects so that we can extend our reach to all corners of the province and stimulate investment in the region,” explains Moodley.

“With industrialisation comes development, which includes job creation and localisation. An additional element, which we actively focus on is the growth and empowerment of black industrialists, youth and women owned businesses,” he added.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, the IDC went through a realignment process to enable the Corporation to better serve its clients. As a result, the Small Business Finance and Regions (SBF) strategic business unit, which houses all regional offices, was established to streamline offerings and better serve the IDC’s diverse clients, especially those outside of Gauteng.

The realignment process brought about a key focus on the SME sector and enhancement of turnaround times for clients. To reduce the number of touch points, the regional offices now handle funding proposals up to R20 million from cradle to grave, while transactions over this amount are immediately referred to the relevant business unit at head office for further processing. This process means that the client deals with the relevant person from day one, significantly reducing the turnaround time for applications.

The KZN regional office has a strong and committed team that is client orientated, focused, and has an open-door policy. They are there to help all clients and have strong relationships with other funding entities in the province. If a project does not meet the IDC’s mandate, the KZN team goes the extra mile to not only refer them to a more suitable institution but walk the journey with the client to ensure that they land in the correct hands. “Our responsibility as a development finance institution is to assist clients. If we can’t assist in line with our mandate, we will pass clients on to other relevant development finance institutes with whom we have very good relationships,” explained Moodley.

A recent beneficiary of IDC funding is ARTsolar, which is South African owned and based in New Germany. The company, one of two local manufacturers specialising in high volume manufacturing of solar panels, has now embarked on a massive upgrade of its production facility. The IDC’s investment has resulted in significant employment opportunities created by the Durban- based company and extends within other companies in the value chain.

Significantly, the KZN regional office played a pivotal role in assisting the province recover from the unrest experienced in July 2021 and the floods in April 2022.

“In response to the unrest and the floods the KZN team worked around the clock to ensure that as many businesses were swiftly put back online and were able to operate again. We really didn’t close the door on anyone and we tried to take away some of the pain and devastation that both businesses and the community were experiencing,” explained Moodley.

The IDC’s post-unrest and flood relief interventions not only provided funding but assisted in ‘building business back better’. “Where necessary, old equipment was replaced, which has resulted in greater efficiencies and more globally competitive operations. In some cases, this intervention allowed not only jobs to be preserved, but more jobs to be created,” explained Moodley.

In response to the hardships that were being faced, the IDC further assisted eligible businesses by extending funds at zero percent interest over 12 months which was followed by a very low interest rate thereafter. Grants which allowed fixed expenses such as salaries to be paid while rebuilding was in progress also largely assisted government’s efforts in the recovery and stabilising of the KZN’s economy.

In addition to the business recovery efforts, the IDC also has a very strong corporate social responsibility programme which also played a huge role in assisting affected communities, especially those in remote and rural areas, to rebuild their lives. Moodley explained, “We have a long history of working among the communities of KZN. During the unrest and the floods, we made sure that the underprivileged communities affected were given the assistance they needed to ease their plight.”

The IDC’s KZN team is committed to working with entrepreneurs and communities alike to grow the province’s economy by providing funding which will enable job creation and improve the lives of its citizens.