The former Live presenter graced the cover of the soon to be extinct Destiny Magazine, where she spoke candidly about her new business venture.
Fast forward to 2019, Minnie has come out to address the issue by simply stating that she made an error regarding a R10 million funding from the Industrial Development Corporation(IDC) to kick start her business.
In the magazine interview, Minnie said:
“Our engagements with the IDC were pretty painless because my partner’s been dealing with them for a long time. So it was just a case of creating a new joint company for the deal.”
In my Destiny cover I was quoted saying I received a grant from the IDC for my new business. I in fact applied for a loan payable with interest which is still pending due to the error. My apologies for any confusion caused.
— Minnie Dlamini Jones (@MinnieDlamini) January 28, 2019
Minnie has made it clear that she received a loan and not a grant like most of her followers have come to believe.
For the record the mistake was entirely mine and I apologize further.
— Minnie Dlamini Jones (@MinnieDlamini) January 30, 2019
These reports were not met with warm hands as some Tweeps were disgruntled about the fact that most entrepreneurs struggle to secure state funds and that Minnie got lucky because of her public stature.
Is it the social media storm that is making you ‘apologize for the error’
— 🇿🇦 (@nthabs5) January 28, 2019
And in an earlier exchange you were quoted saying getting the grant from the IDC was “easy”, thereby raising the ire of many frustrated entrepreneurs without your clout who have had their applications turned down several times or sent from pillar to post for years on end.
— Munyai Mukalanga. (@matphosha) January 28, 2019
1. If you had only applied at the time of the interview, why give the impression you had already secured the funds?
2. What error are you referring to?
3. You said you had distribution deals with Shoprite & Clicks and stock would be in stores in December 2018. Was/is this true?— Army Of One (@Ricky4point0) January 28, 2019
This is a big scandal for Minnie. We are yet to watch how she gets herself out of this one.
Main image credit: Instagram/@minniedlamini
