Strategic Fundraising as a Catalyst for ESD and 'Sponsor a Black Industrialist'

Decusatio and Uzenzele Holdings invite you to a focused session exploring how strategic funding, aligned with Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) objectives, can drive long-term transformation in South Africa’s industrial economy. The event will unpack how business readiness and targeted support enable businesses to move beyond compliance into measurable empowerment outcomes. It will also highlight the Sponsor a Black Industrialist initiative, which connects corporate sponsors with investment-ready Black Industrialists to unlock capital, reduce risk, and promote inclusive sector-wide growth.

This in-depth conversation is designed to engage DFIs, corporate sponsors, and Black Industrialists in advancing inclusive industrial growth by aligning funding strategies with empowerment goals.

Two key topics will be explored:

1. Strategic Funding as a Catalyst for ESD

Strategic funding, when aligned with Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) objectives, enables long-term transformation by helping businesses move beyond compliance checklists into high-impact outcomes. ESD-focused funding builds resilience in the value chain, promotes Black-owned manufacturing, and empowers historically disadvantaged individuals to access markets and scale. The Uzenzele approach focuses on readiness - ensuring businesses are structurally, financially, and operationally prepared to secure growth capital that delivers measurable empowerment outcomes.

2. Sponsor a Black Industrialist

Sponsoring a Black Industrialist isn’t just a procurement action - it’s a strategic commitment to South Africa’s inclusive growth. Through incentive-backed funding and targeted ESD support, sponsors can enable transformation with measurable economic returns. Uzenzele facilitates these collaborations by identifying investment-ready Black Industrialists and matching them with sponsor partners to unlock capital, reduce risk, and deliver sector-wide impact.

This event aims to establish thought leadership on the role of readiness and structure in enabling access to funding, raise awareness of the Sponsor a Black Industrialist initiative as a key ESD strategy, and strengthen cross-industry collaboration toward building a more sustainable, inclusive, and empowered industrial economy in South Africa.