South Africa is nearing the start of a R100 billion ($6.3 billion) state-linked fund to promote Black-economic empowerment that companies will bankroll. Instead of companies running their own ESD projects, the fund would collect the money and direct it to Black-owned businesses at scale. Economic growth that hasn’t exceeded 1% annually for the past decade, together with high joblessness, have plagued Africa’s most-industrialised nation as corruption deterred investors. ADVERTISEMENT: CONTINUE READING BELOWRead: New transformation fund, foot-and-mouth response council, and can Eskom and Transnet surviveThe National Employers’ Association of South Africa, a lobby group representing 8 000 members, last year called the plan misguided and said it was “extremely concerned” about the government managing the funds. Once the trade ministry has considered public comments, it will review the draft rules and then publish the codes for implementation.