UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Economic and Management Sciences
⋄
Funding, Customer Relationships and
Product Strategy for a New Venture
Semester 2 Assignment 02 — 2026
⋄
Module Code: MNE3701
Module Name: Management of a New Venture
Assignment No.: Assignment 02
Due Date: 30 September 2026
Semester: Semester 2, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Management of a New Venture
at the University of South Africa.
, UNISA | MNE3701 Funding, Customer Relationships & Product Strategy
Question 1: Funding the Business
The venture used throughout this assignment is Terra Bean Coffee Roastery, a specialty cof-
fee roasting and café business planned for Hatfield, Pretoria, a node with heavy footfall from
the University of Pretoria and the surrounding office population. The start-up budget is esti-
mated at approximately R650,000, covering a commercial roaster, café fit-out in a leased Hat-
field premises, an initial three months of working capital, and green coffee stock. No single
financing option covers this figure comfortably on its own without excessive risk or excessive
dilution, which is why the funding structure below draws on several sources chosen for differ-
ent reasons.
1.1 Owner Equity and Bootstrapping
The first R150,000 would come from personal savings and a contribution from family, used
to cover the deposit on the lease and initial stock. Owner equity carries no interest, no repay-
ment schedule, and no loss of control, which matters most at the point where the business has
no trading history and therefore nothing to offer a lender as proof of viability. South African
start-ups routinely fund themselves this way in the earliest phase because banks in emerging
markets are reluctant to extend credit to untested ventures with limited collateral, pushing
founders toward savings and family capital as the only accessible source before any revenue
exists (Mehta, cited in How We Made It In Africa, 2026). A further reason to bootstrap first
rather than approach a funder immediately is credibility: a founder who has already commit-
ted personal capital signals commitment to external financiers and improves the odds of a later
application succeeding.
1.2 Government-Backed Development Finance
Since October 2024, the Small Enterprise Development Agency, the Small Enterprise Finance
Agency and the Cooperative Banks Development Agency merged into the Small Enterprise
Development and Finance Agency (SEDFA), which now combines non-financial business sup-
port with direct funding under a single application point, with an annual budget allocation ex-
ceeding R2 billion for SMME support (Good Business Journal, 2026). Two SEDFA-linked instru-
ments suit Terra Bean directly. The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) arm offers
non-repayable grants of between R1,000 and R200,000 to entrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 (SME
South Africa, 2026), which is well matched to a youth-owned venture of this scale because it
Page 1 of 10
College of Economic and Management Sciences
⋄
Funding, Customer Relationships and
Product Strategy for a New Venture
Semester 2 Assignment 02 — 2026
⋄
Module Code: MNE3701
Module Name: Management of a New Venture
Assignment No.: Assignment 02
Due Date: 30 September 2026
Semester: Semester 2, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Management of a New Venture
at the University of South Africa.
, UNISA | MNE3701 Funding, Customer Relationships & Product Strategy
Question 1: Funding the Business
The venture used throughout this assignment is Terra Bean Coffee Roastery, a specialty cof-
fee roasting and café business planned for Hatfield, Pretoria, a node with heavy footfall from
the University of Pretoria and the surrounding office population. The start-up budget is esti-
mated at approximately R650,000, covering a commercial roaster, café fit-out in a leased Hat-
field premises, an initial three months of working capital, and green coffee stock. No single
financing option covers this figure comfortably on its own without excessive risk or excessive
dilution, which is why the funding structure below draws on several sources chosen for differ-
ent reasons.
1.1 Owner Equity and Bootstrapping
The first R150,000 would come from personal savings and a contribution from family, used
to cover the deposit on the lease and initial stock. Owner equity carries no interest, no repay-
ment schedule, and no loss of control, which matters most at the point where the business has
no trading history and therefore nothing to offer a lender as proof of viability. South African
start-ups routinely fund themselves this way in the earliest phase because banks in emerging
markets are reluctant to extend credit to untested ventures with limited collateral, pushing
founders toward savings and family capital as the only accessible source before any revenue
exists (Mehta, cited in How We Made It In Africa, 2026). A further reason to bootstrap first
rather than approach a funder immediately is credibility: a founder who has already commit-
ted personal capital signals commitment to external financiers and improves the odds of a later
application succeeding.
1.2 Government-Backed Development Finance
Since October 2024, the Small Enterprise Development Agency, the Small Enterprise Finance
Agency and the Cooperative Banks Development Agency merged into the Small Enterprise
Development and Finance Agency (SEDFA), which now combines non-financial business sup-
port with direct funding under a single application point, with an annual budget allocation ex-
ceeding R2 billion for SMME support (Good Business Journal, 2026). Two SEDFA-linked instru-
ments suit Terra Bean directly. The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) arm offers
non-repayable grants of between R1,000 and R200,000 to entrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 (SME
South Africa, 2026), which is well matched to a youth-owned venture of this scale because it
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