Investing in the Future of
Southern Africa
Shared Interest, with strong anti-apartheid roots, advances economic, racial and gender justice in Southern Africa by empowering Black-owned small and medium-sized enterprises to improve livelihoods, create jobs, and build healthy, sustainable communities.
A New Vision of Change
for Southern Africa
Through our latest strategic plan and new and innovative partnership model, Shared Interest is committed to achieving our guiding star that calls for:
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Working with at least 10 new Southern African financial institutions in seven countries
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Empowering Black-owned businesses capable of benefiting 100,000 low-income Southern Africans in Black communities – 60 percent of them women, and youth.
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Enabling access to capital, markets, and technical training to create sustainable livelihoods for their families and communities.
Our Impact
Together with our partners, donors, and investors, we are creating widespread impact throughout Southern Africa’s communities. Take a look at our impact to date:
2,299,932
Individuals Benefited
1.9M
Jobs Created
1:4:2*
Capital
Leverage Ratio
$125M
Unlocked For
Borrowers
$1.9M
Into Black women-owned businesses
237,000
Microenterprises Assisted
$30M
Guarantees
121,620
Homes Built
65
Cooperatives, Entrepreneurs, & Lenders Supported
*Shown as a ratio of the total value of loans made to borrowers vs. total value of guarantees issued by Shared Interest
Impact Model
Our Innovative 5 Step Approach
Shared Interest’s transformative new partnership model takes an innovative approach to advancing racial and economic justice across Southern Africa by unlocking local capital and strengthening resources that benefit the region’s most promising emerging entrepreneurs and small and growing businesses (SGBs).
Faces of Change
Shared Interest has provided a pathway to help Black Southern African smallholder farmers, women entrepreneurs, and small businesses gain access to credit despite being excluded or marginalized by the mainstream financial system. Meet some of the extraordinary entrepreneurs, partners, and stakeholders we have served across Southern Africa over the past 28 years.
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“Your partnership — as necessary now as it was in 1994 — has helped us develop new strategies and tools to give substance and shape to the vision and energies of our people.”
- Nelson Mandela on Shared Interest
