This research paper focuses on sewing manufacturing co-operatives and the role of supplier development funding on their performance. This paper presents a model of supplier development used by a South African government department which has contracted over 83 sewing manufacturing co-operatives to provide school uniform packs annually for identified schools in a province. The model proves to be valuable to the knowledge area on funding of manufacturing enterprises with an aim of developing them into reliable suppliers of quality goods. The results of this study show that the model of funding applied in developing the sewing co-operatives as suppliers has enabled them to acquire new manufacturing equipment, fund their business plans and as a result they regard themselves as successful. The practical implications indicated on this paper include improving funding models directed to small business manufacturers to reduce the failure rate of small manufacturing businesses.