ASISA ESD Fund

The ASISA ESD Fund provides a structured enterprise and supplier development platform for small and medium businesses in South Africa’s financial services sector. It offers debt and equity investments to current or potential suppliers for insurance and investment industries. This mechanism enables contributing corporations to enhance B-BBEE metrics, fostering economic participation.

Established in 2013 by the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA), the fund originated from the insight that a collective industry effort was essential to drive sustainable development and economic empowerment. This initiative was conceived to integrate and grow historically disadvantaged enterprises within the financial services value chain.

The fund primarily serves South African SMEs, especially those owned by historically disadvantaged individuals, operating or aspiring to join the financial sector supply chain. Its vision is to catalyze significant transformation across the industry by strengthening its supplier base and cultivating a more inclusive economy via targeted enterprise support.