Social enterprises are organisations that trade in order to fulfil their social mission. Social enterprises come in a variety of legal forms and operate across a range of industries such as hospitality, manufacturing and retail. Social enterprises often provide training and employment opportunities for job-seekers in addition to creating other forms of social or environmental benefit.
The Social Enterprise Development and Investment Fund (SEDIF) is an innovative impact investing approach designed to improve access to finance and support for Australia’s social enterprises to help them grow their business, and by doing so, increase the impact of their work in their communities.
The Australian Government provided $20 million in grant funding to seed the establishment of the SEDIF. Experienced and licensed fund managers have been selected to run the investment funds which are now offering loan finance and support to eligible social enterprises.
As part of the selection process, the fund managers were required to match the Government’s funding on a 1:1 basis thereby increasing the total pool available for loan finance. The fund managers have attracted investment from a range of private and institutional investors including a bank and superannuation fund.
The SEDIF funds are the first of their kind in Australia and represent a turning point in the development of the impact investment market in Australia.
SEDIF Fund Managers
SEDIF Additional Background