The National Empowerment Fund (NEF) has invested R50-million in South African satellite systems manufacturer SunSpace and Information Systems (SunSpace), to allow it to increase its capacity and improve its competitiveness in the aerospace market.

The NEF would invest the funds directly into black economic-empowerment (BEE) consortium Dusty Moon Investments, which owned 25% of the company’s equity, it reported on Tuesday.

The deal, which was in line with the NEF’s mandate of fostering and supporting broad-based black economic-empowerment (BBBEE), was one of a series of recent investments aimed at rapidly increasing black participation in strategic industries and enterprises, it stated.

“The attraction for the NEF in supporting this black empowered business arose out of especially the strategic sector in which it resides, namely the space sector, and the fact that it is supportive of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) Space Programme, which is being implemented as a result of the National Space Policy,” said NEF CFO Andrew Wright.

The DTI in March launched the National Space Policy, which was aimed at enhancing the country’s participation in the global space arena. The policy would be administered by the DTI, while the accompanying National Space Strategy would be managed by the Department of Science and Technology.

“Further to this, in line with the specific mandate of the NEF, SunSpace already has an active black empowerment ownership and management element and the NEF funding allowed an opportunity to structure a more efficient capitalisation structure for the black shareholders and for the company itself,“ he added.

Wright noted that the NEF’s strategic aims included the need to create new industrial capacity through its transactions.

“SunSpace is poised on receiving and delivering upon key government contracts, adding to their existing specialist design, technical and manufacturing capacity, plus SunSpace are training and developing black aeronautical engineers, contributing also to government’s aim to develop skills and human resources.”

“Space technology is no longer the exclusive preserve of the developed economies of the north. South Africa is taking up its rightful place in this and other advanced technology industries, and is proving to be an innovative and energetic player. SunSpace, in particular, aspires to be a role model for empowering and developing people from all backgrounds in the fields of science and technology,” added DTI chief director Nonfuneko Majaja.

SunSpace was spun off by the University of Stellenbosch to exploit the expertise developed in the design, assembly, and operation of the university’s own private-initiative satellite, SunSat, which, in 1999, became the first South African satellite to reach orbit.