National Empowerment Fund (NEF)

The NEF’s role is to support Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BB-BEE). 

As the debate concerning what constitutes meaningful and sustainable BB-BEE evolves, the NEF anticipates future funding and investment requirements to help black individuals, communities and businesses achieve each element of the Codes of Good Practice. These include a focus on preferential procurement, broadening the reach of black equity ownership, transformation in management and staff and preventing the dilution of black shareholding.

The NEF differentiates itself not only with a focused mandate for BB-BEE, but by also assuming a predominantly equity-based risk to maximise the Empowerment Dividend. Reward should balance the risk with the application of sound commercial decisions to support national priorities and government policy such as the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) or targeted investments through the Department of Trade and Industry’s (the dti’s) Industrial Policy Framework (IPF).

The work of the NEF therefore straddles and complements other Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) by allowing the organisations to work in close collaboration in the promotion of BB-BEE. With them, the NEF can enhance other DFIs and their mandates by sharing its specialist sector expertise and knowledge of BB-BEE.

Legislative mandate

Established by the National Empowerment Fund Act No 105 of 1998 (NEF Act), the National Empowerment Fund (the NEF) is a driver and thought-leader in promoting and facilitating black economic participation by providing financial and non-financial support to black empowered businesses, and by promoting a culture of savings and investment among black people. The operations of the NEF are governed by the Public Finance Management Act No 1 of 1991 (PFMA), including the National Treasury Regulations, the King III Report on Governance for South Africa and the Protocol on Corporate Governance in the Public Sector, 2002.

TO KNOW MORE ABOUT NEF GO TO http://www.nefcorp.co.za/HomebrPage.aspx