The Nedbank ReNEW programme has reached a significant milestone: as of June 2026, grant funding begins flowing to the eight prioritised businesses of its first cohort, just as the group acceleration programme concludes.
Following a rigorous national selection process that assessed over 200 applications, more than 100 businesses were contracted for group acceleration, delivered through structured modules on the Impact-OS platform — alongside eight prioritised businesses receiving intensive one-on-one acceleration support.
Collectively, the current cohort already supports over 1 400 jobs and more than 17 000 direct beneficiaries, with approximately 950 000 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill.
From acceleration to investment
Funding up to R1,000,000 per venture is deployed in milestone-driven tranches, overseen by Impact Amplifier's Investment Committee process. Beyond capital, ventures continue to receive practical business support from Nedbank, including banking services, insurance and SME tools.
What comes next
The programme now enters its grant deployment and showcase phase — highlighting waste-related innovations and their contribution to youth employment and climate resilience across South Africa's circular economy ecosystem.