Many South African businesses and entrepreneurs are limited to expanding their businesses beyond South Africa due to a shortage of exposure and capital. The Portugal Gateway Growth Fund aims to provide resources for expansion into the Eurozone.
“We aspire to find successfully growing South African businesses that can be developed to capitalise and grow their business into bigger and more lucrative markets abroad,” says Gavin Goldblatt, managing partner at the Portugal Gateway Fund. “At the same time, the Fund offers a unique opportunity for individual investors to invest in such an exciting portfolio of proven and fast-growing innovative South African companies.”
Individual investors investing in the Fund automatically qualify for Portugal’s successful Golden Visa program which give investors and their families the security of an EU passport without having to actually having to live in Portugal and continue with their productive lives in South Africa.
Other than providing capital for international expansion, the fund also provides strategic, accounting, tax, and structuring advice on entering the European market. “Our specialists further offer local expertise and support that includes guidance on instituting a company, and the procurement of service providers, staff, and office space,” explains Goldblatt.
Businesses with protectable intellectual property, in addition, qualify for aid relating to staff relocation and residential visa applications for their founders and their families, and key staff. “Ultimately,” says Goldblatt “we are looking for cream-of-the-crop entrepreneurial driven businesses who want to extend their reach beyond SA and at the same time for investors wishing to benefit from the success of growth of these entrepreneurial companies.”
For investors, the fund targets 8% plus returns in euros by investing in a portfolio of high-growth companies with proven products and business models. Goldblatt says that “we use our vast experience, and network of incubators and service providers, to support and build partnerships as a springboard to growth.” The fund is being equally matched by the European IFD which provides insurance against some of the downsides of individual investments, thereby lessening risk for the investor.
According to Goldblatt, Portugal is consistently considered as the best country in which to base European operations because of its attractive tax regime, the economical cost of highly skilled employees, and its high standard of living.