Most SMEs cannot justify a full-time CFO — so pricing, expansion and funding decisions get made without senior financial input. We put an experienced finance leader, and a capital-raiser's toolkit, behind your next move.
Banks, development finance institutions and investors do not decline SMEs because the businesses lack potential — they decline them because there is no credible financial model, forecast or investment case behind the application. Capital providers assess risk in a very specific way; most applications never speak that language.
Inside the business, the same gap shows up differently: strategic decisions — pricing, a new branch, a big hire, an acquisition — are made on instinct because no one has modelled them. Growth becomes a gamble instead of a plan.
You get board-level financial leadership at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire — applied exactly where it changes outcomes: strategy, funding and major decisions.
Decisions are stress-tested before they are made. You see what the new branch, hire or contract does to cash and profit — in numbers, not hope.
Your funding application is packaged the way banks, DFIs and investors actually evaluate risk — dramatically improving your odds of raising the capital you need.
This practice is led by Tsepo Duma (CDFA, FMVA, PA(SA), GTP(SA)), who has held CFO-level responsibility in a regulated financial services group and holds master's degrees in development finance and in finance & investments. He has also worked as an investment analyst for an SME-focused impact fund, assessing the same kinds of businesses that lenders assess. Having reviewed funding applications from both sides of the table, he knows what a funder needs to see — and what causes them to decline.
How does a part-time CFO engagement work?
We agree a rhythm — typically monthly reporting, a management meeting and defined focus areas — plus on-call support for big decisions. You scale the involvement up or down as your needs change.
Can you help us decide between debt and equity?
Yes. We model both paths — cost, dilution, covenants, cash flow impact — and match the instrument to your stage and strategy, drawing on banking, DFI and private equity experience.
Our books are not ready for investors. Can you still help?
That is usually where we start. Our accounting team brings the records to standard while the advisory team builds the model and investment case on top of them — one firm, one coherent story.
Tell us what you are planning — a raise, an expansion, a deal — and we will show you what the numbers need to look like to get there.
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