WHO WE CHAMPION

Arbour Cafe, Voodoo Lily & Calexico

“All 3 of our restaurants were severely hit by the Covid-19 crisis. Calexico had to close immediately when the new liquor laws were announced whilst Arbour Café & Voodoo Lily experienced a drop of 80 to 90% even 2 weeks prior to the lockdown.” 

“The SA Future Trust loan has had the biggest impact on all my staff. Prior to receiving the funding, they have been stressing about not having any money for food. So absolutely no doubt, it has and will continue to help them through this crisis. It was an easy process applying for the SA Future Trust loan and the FNB team were an incredible help in processing the applications and assisting along the way.”

Els & Co

“Covid-19 has had a massive impact on our business! We are in a very niche market of luxury products and these markets were the first to be affected as clients began to retract their orders. Our large retail orders dried up overnight- our clients stopped placing orders and our production came to an absolute halt.”

“The SA Future Trust loan is a saving grace to keep our doors open and gives us the opportunity to resume operations and generate income once again. It has also assisted us in being able to keep our full work force which we need to keep the dream of building a sustainable and socially responsible business alive. We would like to commend FNB on their integration of the process with their app which makes it very user friendly.”

Jireh Community Project

The Jireh Community Project operates an educational centre for approximately 200 children in the Mitchell’s Plain area. The Covid-19 crisis had a profound impact on the childcare centre.

“I had to close the centre in 24 hours. I did not want to lose any employees and the SA Future Trust helped me to prevent that. It was set up to save people’s livelihoods and it did just that. People could feed their communities and that is what we stand for as an organisation. I was amazed that Absa was able to pay out in 5 working days!”

Urban TREE

UrbanTREE is a 500-seater, stylish Sandton banqueting and awards venue and rooftop garden. With the necessary social distancing regulations and the strict restrictions as to the size of group gatherings, it was forced to close temporarily.

“When Standard Bank called me to confirm details for our SA Future Trust loan to crucially pay each of our team a weekly R750 for the next 15 weeks, a wave of emotion washed over me. Words cannot describe in enough detail what you are doing for literally thousands of small businesses in our country and I am sure for hundreds of thousands of families across our land. From just one such team, we thank you so much, each and every one of us thank you.”

Mila Services

Despite cleaning services being classed as ‘essential services’, Covid-19 has had a negative effect on the business – Mila Services experienced a drop in turnover as many of their customers had to either scale down or close their business or some branches.

“We want to thank the SA Future Trust (via Absa) for granting this loan as we were able to ensure that we could keep our staff and that they had money in their accounts – other cleaning companies were not so fortunate. Many of our staff have phoned to say thank you as they are now able to buy bread for their families.”

Catch 22 Beachside Grille & Bar

Catch 22 Beachside Grille & Bar is a family owned and operated restaurant situated on the beachfront in Table View, Cape Town. Infused with family history and passion, the Katz family and their ‘Catch Crew’ welcome loyal guests like long-lost family on each visit.

“During this most difficult and unprecedented time, our business has been unable to trade at all, and the losses have been immense and often felt irreversible. Qualifying for the SA Future Trust fund has honestly lifted an immense weight off my shoulders. Knowing my staff can take care of and provide for their families during this time, ensures that I can focus on keeping Catch 22 alive for us all to return to. I thank the SA Future Trust and Standard Bank for being a port of calm reassurance during this storm.”


Sun City Waterworld

Sun City Waterworld is located at the Sun City Resort in Northwest and has been operating since 1981. When Covid-19 forced them to close their doors in March, they found themselves in a difficult situation – no income and over 37 employees to pay.
“The ladies at Standard Bank were super-efficient and so helpful – it was an absolute pleasure to deal with them. The SA Future Trust loan has provided much-needed relief for our employees who are truly suffering under these unprecedented conditions. We are so grateful to all who facilitated this process and made it happen.”

Reef Scaffolding

Reef Scaffolding has specialised in the hire & sale of scaffolding equipment for over 40 years. When Covid-19 hit South Africa, the company wanted to ensure they could continue to look after their staff, and through the South African Future’s Trust they have been able to do this, with the help Mercantile Bank.

“On behalf of all our management and staff, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to the SA Future Trust and the efficient and professional team at Mercantile for processing our loan application with great efficiency. During this difficult time, we now have peace of mind that our staffs’ basic needs can be taken care of. This allows our team more time to focus on managing the business and assisting our customers in supplying the most vulnerable of our society with critical infrastructure so badly needed during these uncertain times. Our sincere thanks to all parties for making this possible.”

Alimama Spaces

Covid-19 has been catastrophic to the tourism industry due to the fact that no one has been able to travel globally. This resulted in Alimama Spaces remaining empty.

“As a small business that has been heavily impacted negatively by the Covid-19 crisis, I made a vow that my employees would be fully paid for the duration of the lockdown, regardless of how long it takes, as this is a situation that is not of their doing. Assistance with funding from the SA Future Trust will help to make they can look after their families during this difficult time and that l am able to preserve their jobs. Dealing with Standard Bank was an amazing experience and they made my business feel valued especially under the current crisis.”

Chavonnes Battery Museum

“The SA Future Trust scheme administered by Nedbank has been fantastic. The co-ordinating team are to be commended for their easy-to- complete application form and prompt processing. Our application took less than a week until first payouts were received by our staff!”

“We are very pleased that the Chavonnes Battery team are all healthy and receiving funds from the SA Future Trust. This gives us the time to work on our business plans that have been interrupted and need amending. We look forward to welcoming children and other guests back to the Museum, and we are looking at also offering LIVE Virtual Tours of the Museum.”

Toast and Co

“Covid-19 had a massive impact on the beauty and wellness sector as we are dependent on interactions between therapists and clients to do treatments – that’s not something you can do online or remotely. Business pretty much dried up in the second week of March. In the last 2 weeks before lockdown we did as much as we could to keep things going including selling sanitisers and ‘home mani soak off’ packs for some of our regular clients.” 

“Our SA Future Trust loan has been an incredible intervention for our staff. Pretty much all of them are sole breadwinners looking after extended families – without this loan they would be in very difficult circumstances. My staff and l cannot thank the SA Future Trust enough for this support.”

KimZan Travel

“I started my business KimZan Travel 12 years ago. Kim comes from my daughter Kimara’s name and Zan comes from the other daughter Zandalee. A legacy which makes me really proud of how young ladies have been shining in our country. I’m so grateful to the Oppenheimer Generation team and the SA Future Trust their generous offer of this loan. This is not taken for granted! Much appreciated!”

“The Covid-19 lockdown resulted in an absolute halt for my business and caused further difficulties with some passengers still overseas with no return flights available.  The SA Future Trust loan has helped my cashflow directly, allowing me to continue to support my team and meet other expenses. Dealing with Standard Bank as my official business bank has been an amazing experience from the application process to response within 24 hours to finalise the details. They really made my business feel valued especially during the current crisis.”

One Energy

“This is incredibly good news in some pretty dire times. Thanks again and a big up to Nedbank for facilitating this process with the SA Future Trust.”

“I’ll be letting our staff know what to expect and I know for all of them it’s going to be a big sigh of relief – including for us. Our people have been with us for years and we worry as much about their families as we do our own.”

WHO WE CHAMPION

Arbour Cafe, Voodoo Lily & Calexico

“All 3 of our restaurants were severely hit by the Covid-19 crisis. Calexico had to close immediately when the new liquor laws were announced whilst Arbour Café & Voodoo Lily experienced a drop of 80 to 90% even 2 weeks prior to the lockdown.” 

“The SA Future Trust loan has had the biggest impact on all my staff. Prior to receiving the funding, they have been stressing about not having any money for food. So absolutely no doubt, it has and will continue to help them through this crisis. It was an easy process applying for the SA Future Trust loan and the FNB team were an incredible help in processing the applications and assisting along the way.”

Els & Co

“Covid-19 has had a massive impact on our business! We are in a very niche market of luxury products and these markets were the first to be affected as clients began to retract their orders. Our large retail orders dried up overnight- our clients stopped placing orders and our production came to an absolute halt.”

“The SA Future Trust loan is a saving grace to keep our doors open and gives us the opportunity to resume operations and generate income once again. It has also assisted us in being able to keep our full work force which we need to keep the dream of building a sustainable and socially responsible business alive. We would like to commend FNB on their integration of the process with their app which makes it very user friendly.”

Jireh Community Project

The Jireh Community Project operates an educational centre for approximately 200 children in the Mitchell’s Plain area. The Covid-19 crisis had a profound impact on the childcare centre.

“I had to close the centre in 24 hours. I did not want to lose any employees and the SA Future Trust helped me to prevent that. It was set up to save people’s livelihoods and it did just that. People could feed their communities and that is what we stand for as an organisation. I was amazed that Absa was able to pay out in 5 working days!”

Urban TREE

UrbanTREE is a 500-seater, stylish Sandton banqueting and awards venue and rooftop garden. With the necessary social distancing regulations and the strict restrictions as to the size of group gatherings, it was forced to close temporarily.

“When Standard Bank called me to confirm details for our SA Future Trust loan to crucially pay each of our team a weekly R750 for the next 15 weeks, a wave of emotion washed over me. Words cannot describe in enough detail what you are doing for literally thousands of small businesses in our country and I am sure for hundreds of thousands of families across our land. From just one such team, we thank you so much, each and every one of us thank you.”

Mila Services

Despite cleaning services being classed as ‘essential services’, Covid-19 has had a negative effect on the business – Mila Services experienced a drop in turnover as many of their customers had to either scale down or close their business or some branches.

“We want to thank the SA Future Trust (via Absa) for granting this loan as we were able to ensure that we could keep our staff and that they had money in their accounts – other cleaning companies were not so fortunate. Many of our staff have phoned to say thank you as they are now able to buy bread for their families.”

Catch 22 Beachside Grille & Bar

Catch 22 Beachside Grille & Bar is a family owned and operated restaurant situated on the beachfront in Table View, Cape Town. Infused with family history and passion, the Katz family and their ‘Catch Crew’ welcome loyal guests like long-lost family on each visit.

“During this most difficult and unprecedented time, our business has been unable to trade at all, and the losses have been immense and often felt irreversible. Qualifying for the SA Future Trust fund has honestly lifted an immense weight off my shoulders. Knowing my staff can take care of and provide for their families during this time, ensures that I can focus on keeping Catch 22 alive for us all to return to. I thank the SA Future Trust and Standard Bank for being a port of calm reassurance during this storm.”


Sun City Waterworld

Sun City Waterworld is located at the Sun City Resort in Northwest and has been operating since 1981. When Covid-19 forced them to close their doors in March, they found themselves in a difficult situation – no income and over 37 employees to pay.
“The ladies at Standard Bank were super-efficient and so helpful – it was an absolute pleasure to deal with them. The SA Future Trust loan has provided much-needed relief for our employees who are truly suffering under these unprecedented conditions. We are so grateful to all who facilitated this process and made it happen.”

Reef Scaffolding

Reef Scaffolding has specialised in the hire & sale of scaffolding equipment for over 40 years. When Covid-19 hit South Africa, the company wanted to ensure they could continue to look after their staff, and through the South African Future’s Trust they have been able to do this, with the help Mercantile Bank.

“On behalf of all our management and staff, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to the SA Future Trust and the efficient and professional team at Mercantile for processing our loan application with great efficiency. During this difficult time, we now have peace of mind that our staffs’ basic needs can be taken care of. This allows our team more time to focus on managing the business and assisting our customers in supplying the most vulnerable of our society with critical infrastructure so badly needed during these uncertain times. Our sincere thanks to all parties for making this possible.”

Alimama Spaces

Covid-19 has been catastrophic to the tourism industry due to the fact that no one has been able to travel globally. This resulted in Alimama Spaces remaining empty.

“As a small business that has been heavily impacted negatively by the Covid-19 crisis, I made a vow that my employees would be fully paid for the duration of the lockdown, regardless of how long it takes, as this is a situation that is not of their doing. Assistance with funding from the SA Future Trust will help to make they can look after their families during this difficult time and that l am able to preserve their jobs. Dealing with Standard Bank was an amazing experience and they made my business feel valued especially under the current crisis.”

Chavonnes Battery Museum

“The SA Future Trust scheme administered by Nedbank has been fantastic. The co-ordinating team are to be commended for their easy-to- complete application form and prompt processing. Our application took less than a week until first payouts were received by our staff!”

“We are very pleased that the Chavonnes Battery team are all healthy and receiving funds from the SA Future Trust. This gives us the time to work on our business plans that have been interrupted and need amending. We look forward to welcoming children and other guests back to the Museum, and we are looking at also offering LIVE Virtual Tours of the Museum.”

Toast and Co

“Covid-19 had a massive impact on the beauty and wellness sector as we are dependent on interactions between therapists and clients to do treatments – that’s not something you can do online or remotely. Business pretty much dried up in the second week of March. In the last 2 weeks before lockdown we did as much as we could to keep things going including selling sanitisers and ‘home mani soak off’ packs for some of our regular clients.”

“Our SA Future Trust loan has been an incredible intervention for our staff. Pretty much all of them are sole breadwinners looking after extended families – without this loan they would be in very difficult circumstances. My staff and l cannot thank the SA Future Trust enough for this support.”

KimZan Travel

“I started my business KimZan Travel 12 years ago. Kim comes from my daughter Kimara’s name and Zan comes from the other daughter Zandalee. A legacy which makes me really proud of how young ladies have been shining in our country. I’m so grateful to the Oppenheimer Generation team and the SA Future Trust their generous offer of this loan. This is not taken for granted! Much appreciated!”

“The Covid-19 lockdown resulted in an absolute halt for my business and caused further difficulties with some passengers still overseas with no return flights available.  The SA Future Trust loan has helped my cashflow directly, allowing me to continue to support my team and meet other expenses. Dealing with Standard Bank as my official business bank has been an amazing experience from the application process to response within 24 hours to finalise the details. They really made my business feel valued especially during the current crisis.”

One Energy

“This is incredibly good news in some pretty dire times. Thanks again and a big up to Nedbank for facilitating this process with the SA Future Trust.”

“I’ll be letting our staff know what to expect and I know for all of them it’s going to be a big sigh of relief – including for us. Our people have been with us for years and we worry as much about their families as we do our own.”