Privacy Policy

IgnitesPlus is a service-led SME readiness business operating within the EcoSol Africa ecosystem. We deliver accounting, compliance, business documentation, and readiness services to South African and formalising small and medium enterprises ("clients", "you"). Because of the nature of this work, we process more than basic enquiry information — we may handle financial records, tax information, payroll data, banking details, company registration documents, and director or representative identity information on an ongoing basis.

This Policy applies to all current and former website visitors, prospects, clients, and authorised representatives of client businesses, and may be updated from time to time. Your continued use of the Platform or our services after an update constitutes acceptance of the then-current version.

Ignites Plus (Pty) Ltd (Reg No. 2025/663106/07) is the responsible party for the processing of personal information described in this Policy. We operate from 30 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg, 2196, South Africa.

IgnitesPlus operates within the EcoSol Africa ecosystem alongside FundingAxis (a division of Economic Solutions Africa (Pty) Ltd) and EcoSol Africa. Each entity in the ecosystem is independently responsible for the personal information it processes. Section 7 below explains when and why information may move between these entities.

What we collect depends on how you interact with us — as a website visitor, a prospect requesting an Ignite Diagnostic, or an onboarded Ignite Control or Ignite Studio client.

POPIA requires that we have a lawful basis for every processing activity. We rely on the following grounds, depending on the activity:

• Performance of a contract — to deliver Ignite Control, Ignite Studio, and Ignite Diagnostic engagements once a scope or proposal is confirmed.
• Compliance with a legal obligation — to meet our obligations under the Tax Administration Act, Companies Act, POPIA, anti-money laundering legislation, and other applicable law, including record-keeping and SARS/CIPC submission requirements.
• Consent — for marketing communications, newsletter subscriptions, and for sharing your information with ecosystem referral partners such as FundingAxis or EcoSol Africa.
• Legitimate interest — to operate, secure, and improve the Platform, to maintain internal records, and for fraud prevention, where this does not override your own rights and interests.

We use your information to:

• Assess enquiries and qualify prospects against our Ideal Client Profile.
• Deliver bookkeeping, compliance, payroll, management accounts, and document production services.
• Prepare, file, and track statutory submissions with SARS, CIPC, and other regulators on your behalf, where instructed.
• Communicate with you about your engagement, invoices, deadlines, and deliverables.
• Refer you, with your consent, to FundingAxis, EcoSol Africa, or an appropriate external partner where your needs fall outside our scope.
• Maintain internal records for billing, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance.
• Send you readiness updates, resources, or marketing communications, where you have opted in.
• Analyse and improve the Platform and our service delivery.

The Platform and our services are directed at business owners, directors, and authorised representatives of South African SMEs. We do not knowingly collect personal information relating to children, and our services are not intended for use by minors without the involvement of a parent or legal guardian acting on behalf of a competent person, as contemplated in POPIA.

We do not sell personal information. We share information only where necessary to deliver our services, meet legal obligations, or with your consent, including with:

• Regulators and authorities — SARS, CIPC, the Department of Employment and Labour, and other relevant South African regulatory bodies, where filings or submissions are made on your behalf.
• Service platforms — cloud accounting and payroll platforms (such as Xero, Sage, or QuickBooks) used to deliver Ignite Control, and document and CRM infrastructure used to manage your engagement.
• Retained professionals — contracted accounting and compliance practitioners engaged by IgnitesPlus to deliver your retainer or project, who are bound by confidentiality obligations.
• Ecosystem referral partners — FundingAxis, for capital access and funding placement enquiries, and EcoSol Africa, for transaction structuring, strategic advisory, or mandates above R50,000 — only where you have requested or consented to such a referral. We are not responsible for how an independent ecosystem partner subsequently processes your information once a referral is made; their own privacy policy will govern that processing.
• External specialist partners — for legal drafting, audit, tax structuring, or specialist compliance work outside our scope, on a referral basis.
• Professional and legal advisors — our own auditors, legal counsel, or insurers, where reasonably required.
• Service providers — IT hosting, email, and software providers who process information on our behalf under appropriate confidentiality and security terms.

Any IgnitesPlus team member or retained practitioner with access to client financial or compliance information is contractually bound to keep that information confidential and to use it only for the purpose for which it was provided.

Some of the cloud platforms we use for accounting, payroll, document storage, and communication may store or process information on servers located outside South Africa. Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure the receiving party is subject to a law, binding corporate rules, or contractual terms that provide an adequate level of protection substantially similar to POPIA, in accordance with section 72 of POPIA.

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, or as required by law. As a guide:

• Financial, accounting, and tax records are generally retained for a minimum of five years, in line with retention requirements under the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011.
• Company and statutory governance records connected to compliance work are generally retained for a minimum of seven years, in line with the Companies Act 71 of 2008.
• Prospect and enquiry information that does not convert into an active engagement is retained for a reasonable period to support follow-up, and is deleted or anonymised thereafter.
• Marketing consent records are retained until you withdraw consent or unsubscribe, and for a reasonable period thereafter as evidence of compliance.

Where retention is no longer required, we securely delete, destroy, or de-identify the information.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure, including access controls restricting client records to assigned team members, use of reputable cloud accounting and document platforms with their own security standards, confidentiality obligations on all staff and retained practitioners, and secure document vault submission in place of unsecured email for sensitive inputs and access credentials.

No system is completely secure. Where we become aware of a security compromise that affects your personal information and where required by POPIA, we will notify the Information Regulator and affected data subjects as required by law.

As a data subject, you have the right to:

• Be notified that personal information about you is being collected.
• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction, updating, or deletion of inaccurate, irrelevant, or unlawfully obtained information.
• Object to the processing of your personal information, including for direct marketing purposes, on reasonable grounds.
• Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator if you believe your information has been processed unlawfully.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer using the details in Section 13. We may need to verify your identity before actioning a request, and certain statutory records (e.g. tax and compliance filings) cannot be deleted where we remain under a legal obligation to retain them.

Where you have opted in — for example, by subscribing for readiness updates and resources — we may send you marketing communications by email or other electronic means, in line with section 69 of POPIA and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002. You may withdraw consent and unsubscribe at any time using the link in any marketing communication or by contacting us directly.

The Platform uses cookies and similar technologies to operate correctly and to understand how it is used. Full detail is set out in our separate Cookie Policy, which forms part of this Privacy Policy by reference.

IgnitesPlus has appointed an Information Officer responsible for POPIA compliance, in accordance with section 55 of POPIA. You can contact our Information Officer at:

• Email: info@ignitesplus.com (marked "Attention: Information Officer")
• Postal address: 30 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg, 2196
• Telephone: +27 (10) 500-1013

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

• Postal address: P.O. Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
• Physical address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
• General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
• POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
• Website: www.inforegulator.org.za

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, technology, or legal obligations. The "Effective Date" at the top of this Policy reflects the date of the current version. Material changes will be communicated through the Platform or directly to active clients where appropriate.

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, including POPIA, and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts in respect of any dispute arising from it.

For any question about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, contact us at info@ignitesplus.com, +27 (10) 500-1013, or 30 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg, 2196.