Financing growth: How Alpha Secure Networks solved the 'growth trap' with BizFlex
For many SMEs, closing a major contract can quickly shift from excitement to dread when substantial funds are needed to buy licenses and hardware long before any client payments are expected. The good news? Standard Bank’s BizFlex offers a sustainable solution.
The journey of a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) is often a story of passion and persistence, but for businesses operating in the capital-intensive IT sector, managing revenue growth while scaling can be a key challenge.
Companies like Alpha Secure Networks often face a situation where they must provide 100% upfront delivery of expensive items – such as firewall licences or specialised hardware – for new contracts, meanwhile, payments from their clients can take months to arrive.
Traditional financing methods, with their lengthy approval times, complex collateral requirements, and fixed monthly repayment schedules, are often too slow or too rigid to help entrepreneurs seize fast-moving growth opportunities.
These funding constraints can force businesses to turn down valuable work, or, as Alpha Secure Networks CEO Itumeleng Mohlahlo put it, lead to a situation where, after covering costs and taxes, “there’s nothing left for you.”
For SMEs seeking a partner that understands the heartbeat of their business, Standard Bank's unsecured funding solution, BizFlex, is proving to be a game changer.
Alpha Secure Networks: The accelerator effect
For SME business owners like Itumeleng, revenue growth challenges are often the primary barrier to expansion.
In 2005, Itumeleng launched Alpha Secure Networks as a first-year engineering student, driven by the vision that IT is “something that can truly change the world.”
After successfully navigating the early years, the company transitioned into specialised IT infrastructure and cybersecurity, enabling it to secure major government contracts.
However, scaling the business often meant making upfront purchases of hardware and software for large-scale projects.
“The biggest part on any business is cash flow. You get a business all good and well, and they tell you, 'Can you give us 10 computers tomorrow?' and you're thinking, 'Where am I going to start?'” – Itumeleng Mohlahlo
The challenge was finding a solution that was both fast enough to secure the contract to begin work immediately without placing undue stress on payroll and suppliers while waiting for large, delayed client payments.
Smart financing offering speed and stability
As a long-standing Standard Bank client, Itumeleng reached out to his Relationship Manager, who introduced him to BizFlex. The difference was immediate – and transformative.
BizFlex, an innovative, unsecured funding solution, provided the instant pre-approved facility Alpha Secure Networks needed.
“It was so simple,” Itumeleng explains, “within 10 to 12 minutes, you get an email saying, 'Click the button to approve.' And then the money was in the bank account.”
This rapid access to capital enabled Alpha Secure Networks to manage its growth with confidence – and crucially, the pay-as-you-earn flexibility of BizFlex allowed Itumeleng to select a percentage to be deducted from incoming revenue.
This meant repayments matched the business’s cash flow cycle, removing the burden of a fixed monthly debit order. “BizFlex is quite easy. You get to choose how much you want, and you get to choose the percentage you pay – a true repay-as-you-earn solution,” Itumeleng notes.
Since taking up BizFlex in October 2020, Alpha Secure Networks has utilised the top-up feature to continue to meet the demands of profitable growth.
This partnership with Standard Bank and BizFlex has empowered Alpha Secure Networks to achieve extraordinary results in five years:
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Exceptional growth: The business has grown its annual turnover by an incredible 500% in five years.
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High-value deal delivery: The facility enabled the confident delivery of major projects, including a recent contract with a large government agency.
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Operational confidence: With greater certainty around funding and repayments, Itumeleng can now focus on future-proofing the business, including developing proprietary software and building advanced Security Operations Centres (SOCs).
“Standard Bank has been a great partner in the business,” Itumeleng reflects. “It’s almost like an accelerator. From that day, we could actually confidently go to anyone and say, You give the business, we deliver.”
Providing the repayment flexibility SMEs need
BizFlex is a flexible, unsecured funding solution built specifically for the needs of growing SMEs. This innovative product offers several core advantages:
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World-first pay-as-you-earn: Repayments are directly linked to a percentage of all revenue earned in your Standard Bank Business Current Account. This ensures that repayments align with your company’s actual cash flow cycles.
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Lightning-fast access: Qualifying SMEs can complete the entire application process online, with funds typically disbursed in minutes.
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Unsecured financing: BizFlex does not require collateral, making it more accessible to a wider range of businesses.
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Complete cost certainty: Enjoy cost transparency with a fixed ‘all-in’ cost, which is quoted upfront and remains unchanged, regardless of the time taken to repay, with no additional monthly fees.
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Automated top-ups: This feature allows qualifying businesses with an existing BizFlex loan to access additional funds easily, supporting continuous contract fulfilment.
Watch the case study video
Watch this video to see first-hand how BizFlex enabled Alpha Secure Networks to expand its operations and grow its turnover by 500%.
Interested in learning more?
For more information on BizFlex, contact your Relationship Manager, click here , or email us at [email protected].
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