SME South Africa has a thoughtfully curated lineup of speakers who will take the stage at the annual SME Funding Summit. Among the topics addressed will be compliance, different types of funding and how to improve your chances of getting funded.
Darlene Menzies, CEO of Finfind and keynote speaker at the 2026 SME Funding Summit.
“We are delighted to share the news that the speakers for the 2026 instalment of the SME Funding Summit have been confirmed,” says Lungile Msomi, digital content specialist for SME South Africa, who has helped hand-select the lineup of speakers for the upcoming event
“Our keynote speaker is Darlene Menzies, founder and CEO of Finfind, and an expert in all things SME and SME funding. As founder and CEO of FinFind, she brings a great deal of data insights and solutions to the problems facing SMEs when it comes to funding. She will be a great keynote!” Msomi shares.
Sneak peek for SME Funding Summit
Attendees can expect Menzies to elaborate on ‘the missing middle’. “There is a lot of talk about the ‘missing middle’ – those businesses that are too big for micro-loans but still too small for corporate investment,” she shared in a recent interview with SME South Africa. “They are too large for micro-finance but too small or risky for mainstream bank loans, leaving them underserved by traditional funding channels.”
Put into numbers, this ‘missing middle’ is the established, growth-oriented small businesses with annual turnovers between R1m and R100m that are too large for microfinance, yet too small or risky for traditional bank loans and venture capital.
The 2026 SME Funding Summit Speaker line-up
Joining the SME Funding Summit this year are Lornelle Jonas, CEO and Founder of Elique Advisory, and Lilah Clark, SME development manager at Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Included in the lineup are Kgomotso Ndungane, COO at Finfin, and Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, CEO and Founder of Avatar Agency Group.
Returning to the stage are Jameel Khan and Hiten Keshave, co-founders from Unconventional CA, as well as Mokgome Mogoba, founder and managing partner at Kholo Capital.
Darlene Menzies also shared valuable information about the funding landscape at the 2025 edition of the SME Funding Summit, hosted by SME South Africa.
Value at The Centre of The Annual Summit
“The speakers were hand-picked for various reasons,” she shares. “The most important reason is that their expertise aligns with the purpose of the event, which is to provide valuable insights into the funding journey and the perspective of the funders.
“The second reason is that we take our mission as SME South Africa extremely seriously; to bring impactful content that helps small businesses grow. That’s why we curated this list to ensure that the content provided to our audience pre-, during, and post-event provides long-term value for our audience.”
She points out that this content includes articles, podcast interviews, and post-event coverage about the insight shared on the day of the summit.
Providing a glance at the selection process, Msomi tells that she sat down with Velly Bosega, CEO of SME South Africa, to identify accomplished speakers. “We looked at what our speakers brought to the event last year and how that can be elevated for the next summit. Taking the audience feedback into account, we selected a few speakers to return and then sought out new speakers to cover new topics and fresh insights.”
Entrepreneurs who are ready to grow their businesses can buy their tickets on the SME Funding Summit website. It will take place on 11 June at the Empire, Conference and Events Venue from 8am.
