“Our business probably wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for CCS.”
Lukas and Leon van der Westhuizen saw an opportunity in empty shipping containers during the first Covid lockdown. CCS helped finance the productive assets that turned their idea into Grit Space.
Lukas van der Westhuizen works in finance. He understands investment structures from the inside.
During the first Covid lockdown, he and his brother Leon saw empty shipping containers at The Village in Hazelwood, Pretoria, and saw an opportunity.
“ We saw these containers standing empty in the village. We said, let’s just open something in here, let’s get in, and we’ll see how the path goes from there.”
Leon van der Westhuizen • Co-Founder • Grit Space
“ We opened between the first and second wave of Covid. It’s been an interesting journey.”
Lukas van der Westhuizen • Co-Founder • Grit Space
Opening any business between two pandemic waves requires conviction. But turning an empty space into a functioning co-working business also requires capital.
Watch Leon and Lukas’s story here
The funding gap behind a new workspace
A co-working space needs infrastructure before the first member walks through the door. Furniture. IT infrastructure. AV equipment. Fibre. Backup power. Kitchen equipment.
The investment comes first. The income follows.
“ Being in the finance space myself and as an entrepreneur, you realise over time how difficult it is for smaller businesses to raise funding. Institutional banks really don’t take any risk. If you don’t have a track record, three years of bank statements, and you’re not very profitable, it’s really difficult.”
Lukas van der Westhuizen • Co-Founder • Grit Space
Lukas understood what traditional lenders were looking for. The challenge was that a new co-working concept did not yet have the financial history that those lenders typically required.
CCS took a different approach.
What CCS made possible
“ With CCS, the process could be a week to four weeks and everything’s done, settled, and the money is available. Willie tried to understand the business, understand the need, get a feel for the individuals. It’s not the typical bank-client relationship. They almost form part of your business and your future. ”
Lukas van der Westhuizen • Co-Founder • Grit Space
CCS helped finance the productive assets and infrastructure Grit Space needed to get started.
“ His funding ignited the start of our business and put us in a position where other people also wanted to get involved from an equity point of view to grow this with us. Our business probably would not have been here today if it wasn’t for CCS. It’s as simple as that. ”
Lukas van der Westhuizen • Co-Founder • Grit Space
For Grit Space, the initial funding did more than help equip a workspace. According to Lukas, it helped the business get started and positioned it to attract additional investment for growth.
“ We’re aiming for another space in 2026, then yearly at least one to two spaces. We want to tackle Pretoria as a node, grow out from there, eventually Cape Town.”
Leon van der Westhuizen • Co-Founder • Grit Space
A view from both sides
Grit Space is the fourth business in the CCS client series.
A coffee franchise. Pet grooming trailers. A ride-hailing fleet. A co-working space.
Different industries. Different productive assets. The same underlying approach: finance assets that businesses can put to work.
Lukas also brings a different perspective to the series. As someone who works in finance, he offered his own view of the CCS Income Notes:
“ There’s a slot in the middle, it’s a rental product. It gives returns between cash and equity. But it’s asset-backed, so the risk is almost like cash, and the return is closer to equities. For most investors out there, there’s a big opportunity to add something like this to their portfolio. ”
Lukas van der Westhuizen • Co-Founder • Grit Space
That observation comes from someone who has been a borrower from this platform and now understands it from the investor side.
The risk profile of cash. Returns that tend toward equity.
Asset-backed. Visible. Operational.
The same asset-backed finance approach seen across Grit Space, Plato Coffee, Ultimate Pet Care and Wanatu forms part of the broader CCS portfolio.
The CCS Income Note offers Prime + 3% per annum, paid monthly, with a minimum investment of R5,000.
This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. For investors considering the CCS Income Notes, the registered prospectus contains the complete terms, risks and disclosures and should be read before investing.
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For more press information, please contact:
Connie Bloem, Product owner of Mesh:
hello@meshtrade.co / +1 604 671 4515