Agriligna, wood plastic composite (WPC) manufacturers, approached The Vumela ESD Fund in 2010 to seek growth funding for their business. An SME without much track record, they had tried without success to access finance through the typical sources. Trained in identifying growth potential and unlocking growth in SMEs, Edge Growth saw great potential in this business and presented the business to the Vumela Fund for funding.
An estimated 22 jobs are likely to be created throughout the lifetime of the investment, aligning with the mandate of the Vumela ESD Fund, which is to create sustainable, long term job creation.
Agriligna manufactures Wood Plastic Composite (WPC) compound (a raw material, used in manufacturing WPC products as substitutes for primarily wood products), as well as products that are made from WPC (such as decking and garage doors). Tjaart is passionate about WPC, and spent years creating and refining a recipe for WPC that is suited to the extreme temperatures in SA. Agriligna are the only local producers of this product, hence growing their production would reduce SA’s reliance on imports and boost our economy.
Over the last three years Edge Growth, through the Vumela Fund have provided:
- Access to finance: funding working capital requirements and machine purchasing through debt and equity investment
- Growth strategy development: Through an intensive, collaborative process, we identified core areas the business needed to invest resources in in order to improve distribution, access to market etc. The process also identified new profitable markets which to target in order to generate growth as well as building extra capacity in the business to meet the increased market demand
- Process streamlining; Edge Growth investment in improving the efficiency of the manufacturing process and internal procedures; improving productivity and freeing up Tjaart’s time to sell more business
