SEF – South Africa
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SEF, The Small Enterprise Foundation was founded in 1992 by two South Africans with the desire to create a microfinance organisation in the most disadvantaged region of South Africa, the province of Limpopo.
The foundation is a leader MFI in South Africa and an exception in a country where the percentage of inequality as measured by the GINI index is over 60%, ranking it amongst one of the most unequal countries in the world. SEF has 79 branches spread across five of the country’s nine provinces and serves more than 156,000 clients; 100% of whom are women living in rural areas.
SEF exclusively provides group loans which have an average of EUR 206. South African regulations do not allow SEF to offer savings products. However, aware of the high added value of savings, SEF promotes it to its customers by training them on its benefits and the use of a savings account. The funded groups have systematically an open savings account with a local bank. In 2016, approximately 50,000 clients received this training, which is now self-funded by the institution and integrated as core operational costs.
The MFI employs 732 employees across the various agencies. 72% of the employees are female, which is not common within MFIs where the percentage is often much lower or at a broader level in the financial services industry. This is further present at management level, where we find 73% of female directors. 92% of employees have permanent contracts and receive various benefits: health insurance that can be extended to partners and children; insurance; contributions to a pension fund; in case of death of an employee, his family receives a bonus of ZAR 5,000 (EUR 300).
To sum up, SEF is a microfinance institution that fights both poverty, gender inequality and promotes the financial inclusion of rural areas – which are the core values of LMDF.
