Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF) is a microfinance institution operating primarily in the

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

; however, it also has branches in Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, and Guateang. It was founded by John de Wit in 1992.

GiveWell review

Small Enterprise Foundation has been reviewed by charity evaluator

GiveWell GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percentag ...

. In its review, GiveWell rated SEF as its top microfinance charity and commended SEF's "strong focus on collecting the information necessary to assess its social impact." GiveWell first review of SEF was in 2009, but the review was subsequently updated multiple times with the most recent update being in March 2012. In November 2011, GiveWell listed SEF as one of six standout organizations in its list of organizations recommended for donors, along with

Nyaya Health Possible (also known as Possible Health, and legally registered as Nyaya Health, A Nonprofit Corporation) is a nonprofit that works to achieve the vision of everyone everywhere having access to high-quality healthcare. In pursuit of this vision a ...

Pratham Pratham is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India. It was co-founded by Madhav Chavan anFarida Lambay. It works towards the provision of quality education to the underprivileged children in India. Established in Mumbai in ...

GiveDirectly GiveDirectly is a nonprofit organization operating in East Africa that helps families living in extreme poverty by making unconditional cash transfers to them via mobile phone. GiveDirectly transfers funds primarily to people in Kenya, Uganda, a ...

, Innovations for Poverty Action, and

KIPP The Knowledge is Power Program, commonly known as KIPP, is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory schools in low income communities throughout the United States. KIPP is America's largest network of charter schools. The head o ...

(

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

branch) but below the two top-rated organizations

Against Malaria Foundation The Against Malaria Foundation (AMF) is a United-Kingdom based charity that provides long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) to populations at high risk of malaria, primarily in Africa. As of December 2021, the foundation has raised $425 million ...

and

Schistosomiasis Control Initiative The SCI Foundation (SCI), or the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, is a non-profit initiative that works with governments in sub-Saharan African countries to develop sustainable programmes against parasitic worm infections ( schistosomiasis an ...

.GiveWell's top rated charities
GiveWell website.

Funding

In August 2012,

Good Ventures Good Ventures is a private foundation and philanthropic organization in San Francisco, and the fifth largest foundation in Silicon Valley. It was co-founded by Cari Tuna, a former ''Wall Street Journal'' reporter, and her husband Dustin Moskov ...

announced a grant of $50,000 (USD) to the Small Enterprise Foundation on the strength of charity evaluator

's recommendation.

References

External links

Small Enterprise Foundation official website
Microfinance organizations Foundations based in South Africa Charities based in South Africa Economy of Limpopo {{SouthAfrica-company-stub