A Practical Guide to Purchase Order Funding Solutions
A confirmed order can be a strong sales opportunity while creating an immediate supplier-payment need. Before seeking funding, establish the cost your business needs to cover, the work it has agreed to deliver and the customer’s payment terms.
This guide takes you through the decisions around an enquiry: checking service fit, preparing the documents, assessing a proposed arrangement and keeping track of the work. Use the current service and document pages for the details relevant to an application.
1. Check Whether the Order Fits the Service
Fund The People facilitates access through funding providers to our Purchase Order Funding Solutions for CSD-registered South African companies with qualifying government or municipal opportunities from R250,000. Approved payments are made to suppliers.
The starting point is a confirmed opportunity. Identify the buyer, the company holding the order and the supplier costs that need to be paid before delivery. An anticipated tender win or a general request for business capital does not describe the same stage.
Read our Purchase Order Funding Solutions requirements to check the current pathway. If work has already been completed, tell the team that your enquiry concerns an unpaid invoice.
2. Prepare One Consistent Set of Documents
Compare the order and supplier quotation line by line. The items, quantities and specifications should relate to the same requirement. Make written amendments visible and check whether the supplier quotation is still valid.
- Use the registered company name consistently.
- Keep the buyer’s order number and relevant contract reference visible.
- Include the delivery location and charges in the costing.
- Separate the supplier cost from the customer’s order value.
- Follow the document checklist for the information to submit.
Keep a copy of the application pack and nominate someone who can explain it. A clear set of documents makes it easier to answer a specific question without circulating different versions of the order.
3. Review the Full Cost and Payment Route
A proposed funding amount is only one part of the decision. Check how the arrangement affects the order as a whole and the cash the business still needs for other commitments.
| Question | What the written terms should clarify |
|---|---|
| What is being considered? | The amount and the particular supplier costs covered. |
| Who receives payment? | The approved payment destination and relevant conditions. |
| What does it cost? | All charges, their calculation basis and when they apply. |
| What remains with the business? | Delivery, payment and any security or other obligations in the agreement. |
| What happens if something changes? | The treatment of supplier-price changes, delivery changes or delayed customer payment. |
Use the full proposed cost when reviewing the margin. Ask for an explanation of any term you do not understand before relying on the arrangement for a supplier or customer commitment.
4. Keep the Delivery and Payment Stages Connected
An enquiry, a proposal and an approved payment are different milestones. Confirm the actual status with the team and make the delivery deadline clear. The business should plan around confirmed information about its own opportunity.
Once the work proceeds, keep the delivery records, customer invoice and payment correspondence together. Check any change against both the customer’s requirements and the funding agreement. Accurate records help everyone work from the same facts.
5. Use the Right Route after Delivery
When eligible public-sector work is complete but the invoice remains unpaid, our Invoice Discounting Solutions address that payment gap. Fund The People facilitates access through funding providers, with approved payments made to the applicant.
For an awarded order that still needs supplier funding, explore our Purchase Order Funding Solutions and start your application. Bring the confirmed order and the information that explains your business’s supplier-cost need.