// Who We Are

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An Inspired Initiative.
Established in 2008 by the KZN Department of Economic Development , Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) as a key strategic initiative to accelerate Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), job creation, and economic growth in the KZN Province.
KZN Growth Fund (KGFA) was structured as a unique public-private partnership venture to finance medium to large private sector projects. The main stimulus being to co-fund and or fund catalytic investments within impact industries as governed by KGFA’s mandate and investment policy.
In the past decade, KGFA has committed and disbursed almost R1 billion to ten projects in the KZN province in the healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunication and logistics sectors in doing so has accomplished its primary objectives by job opportunities.

The KGFA is further currently appraising various potential investment leads that has the potential to create a further 20,000 job opportunities.

Inspired Growth.
In line with its strategy to further grow its asset base and increase its positive impact on job creation and B-BBEE as well as reduce social and economic inequalities, KGFA is setting up a limited liability Equity Fund Partnership to manage third-party funds. This is the first provincial governmentled initiative, through one of its entities, to establish a fund of this nature that uniquely possesses a developmental impact. KGFA embarked on an extensive fund-raising exercise during the financial year, to raise an additional R700m that will see its equity fund capitalised to the tune of R1 billion (currently R300 million).
Inspired Investing.
KGFA Equity Fund has the potential to unlock more than R3 billion of investments with commercial banks providing the required debt financing. The organisation is constantly striving to forge a better future in which businesses are more profitable, people are employed and the economy grows. KGFA has revised its investment policy to better align and deliver on the national imperative of radical economic transformation that seeks to fundamentally change the structure of the South African economy. Going forward, as an entity of government, we have placed reindustrialisation at the apex of our list of priorities to grow the economy and create employment. This, in our view, entails a robust shift to an economy that will benefit all including the marginalised groups of the society such as youth, women, and people with disabilities.
The key features of the KGFA current portfolio of projects evidences the Funds commitment to addressing the challenges of industrialisation, increasing local content, value addition or beneficiation, infrastructure development, skills development and entrepreneurship development. Currently, the organisation boasts a very attractive pipeline of projects throughout the Province that are undergoing initial appraisal and detailed due diligence, some of which will be disbursed soon.
The recipients of the KGFA’s lending and investing practices benefit two-fold. Firstly, through the sharing of the risk of starting a new business with the KGFA and secondly, they in turn have created a more sustainable socio-economic environment in which to operate in. This is done by the inclusion of designated groups, job creation and stimulating economic activity. The KGFA can proudly state its involvement in truly national companies contributed significantly to the GDP of South Africa when those entities were just starting out in need of funding.
Inspired Successes.
The KGFA has played a pivotal role in the participation of the national initiative of the promotion of black industrialists led by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti). The dti has formulated a national policy in respect of the Black Industrialist Scheme (BIS). The policy and framework was approved by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) in consultation with the dti, which led to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between EDTEA and the dti. KGFA is a key stakeholder in the implementation of BIS. The KGFA fully supports the initiative, whose principles are deeply aligned with the mandate of the KGFA.

KGFA continues to finance projects from the following priority sectors: