Kzn Growth Fund
Loan in Durban

The Fund will consider financing options on a project by project basis, to enable the each project to be financed appropriately and cost-effectively. The KZN Growth Fund is a public sector facilitator of investment in infrastructure, aiming to crowd-in private sector investment in the Province.

Since its establishment, the KGFT has morphed from a single closed debt fund investing R362m of its own capital to an entity that today offers not only debt but also equity with funds under managementof more than R1bn. The KZN Growth Fund Trust (KGFT) was set up in 2008 as an initiative of the KZN Government’s Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) to administer a unique public-private partnership that would unlock funding gaps in transitions that would create jobs, enable and promote BEE participation in businesses and growth the economy. This growth is attributable to its continuing innovation in the sphere of finance and pushing its own boundaries. The leadership has great ambition for the Fund to make a significant difference to its stakeholders and building an entity that delivers on its promise with a unique quality. The vision mission and goals of the organisation are aimed at its core competence of being a developmental financing institution and being innovative. Solutions are always born out of customers needs and being a leader requires innovation. The KGFT prides itself finding solution to problems in the areas of its core competence. The result of which has manifested itself in a great portfolio of assets with much higher risk taken than traditional private sector financing institutions and yet have a comparable default rate. Firstly, through the sharing of the risk of starting a new business with the KGFT and secondly, they in turn have created a more sustainable socio-economic environment in which to operate in. The KGFT can proudly state its involvement in truly national companies contributing significantly to the GDP of South Africa when those entities were just starting out in need of funding. Whist the KGFT is a public entity, it is financially self-sustaining and does not receive funds from government to cover operations expenses at all. It has created a name for itself in the market place as a Fund that delivers on its mandate and adds value. It is for this reason that the KGFT has also been able to make significant inroads in attracting talent where financial skills traditionally reside outside the province. The attraction of these key niche skills is just the first stepping stone of creating a sustainable financial sector in the province. Understanding the moral and fiduciary duty that goes hand in hand with manging public resources, the value system of the KGFT is captured in the acronym RAISE, Respect, Accountably, Integrity, Stewardship and Enterprising. This is demonstrated by the fact that the KGFT has received and unqualified audit report in the past 4 years and continues to deliver on its mandate of creating jobs, empowerment and assisting economic growth through innovative finance.