IDF CAPITAL

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  • 33 Fricker Road, 2nd Floor, Illovo
  • +27 11 772 7945
  • info@idf.co.za
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About Us

About Us

Our organisation's mission

IDF Capital is an established financier, investing in high growth SMEs/Entrepreneurial businesses. We invest with a gender lens strategy, backing innovative businesses that yield both commercial and social returns. We provide capital through short and long-term debt, quasi-equity and equity instruments. Since 2008, as the first female-owned and led multi-fund manager, we set out to bridge the gap in access to finance by providing responsive and innovative financial solutions to high growth entrepreneurial businesses in South Africa. Over the years, we have built an impressive track record in deploying intelligent capital that unlocks the economic potential of sub-Saharan Africa. As “Value Catalysts”, our investment philosophy is centred on creation of value at all touchpoints in our investment processes. Through our deepened understanding of the SME sector, IDF Capital has become a thought leader and a trusted partner offering bespoke SME funding and growth solutions. Our diverse and multi-disciplinary team brings on board deep industry expertise in assessing investment opportunities, creating value for both the investees and investors. As a women-owned and led Fund manager in South Africa, with a strong focus on female-owned entrepreneurial business, IDF Capital charted the course and narrative on the credible investment case for investing in women-owned businesses, an important fundamental pillar in Gender Lens Investing (GLI) strategy, that has gained worldwide acclaim.

Our Values

  • Respect,
  • Excellence,
  • Diligence and
  • Integrity
are at the heart of our business, forming the bedrock of our commitment to shared successes. These values are deeply engrained in our culture and guide us in our interactions with all stakeholders.

Vision and Mission

Our vision is to become the pre-eminent value-adding financier and advisor for high growth SMEs/entrepreneurial businesses in Africa. Our mission is to facilitate access to finance for entrepreneurial businesses, propelling them towards success and prosperity. At IDF Capital, we envision a world where financial inclusion acts as a powerful remedy for socio-economic challenges faced in Africa.

Impact

Our story of impact is woven into the very fabric of our existence and purpose. With a relentless pursuit of positive outcomes, we strive to add value and make a meaningful difference in the entrepreneurs and the communities they serve. By adhering to a Gender Lens Investing (GLI) strategy, we empower women and enhance their economic participation, contributing to a more equitable society. We believe financial inclusion is a panacea to socio-economic challenges experienced in Africa, hence our purpose is to facilitate access to finance to entrepreneurial businesses. By pursuing impact outcomes, we see our business’ progression through the same impact lens. 

As a female-led company, we take pride in fostering a diverse and inclusive investment portfolio, with 59% of our portfolio comprising female-owned ventures. This is a result of our entrenched Gender Lens Investing (GLI) strategy that ensures women economic participation. We have to date supported more than 77,000 jobs and invested in more than 280 businesses.

Our fiduciary responsibility to our investors is aligned with our philosophy to invest in businesses and economic activity that considers the most material Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) elements, whilst protecting our investments against ESG risk, and capitalise on dormant ESG returns. Our impact goal is to create a society that thrives on goodness, and in pursuit of that, we align our investment mandates and activities with the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The impact of our investments is measured and monitored throughout the investment life cycle, and we work towards institutionalizing sustainable impact even after exit.

Subsidiary Companies

IDF FINANCE

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IDF VALUE ADDED SERVICES

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Meet The Board of Directors

Craig-Dreyer
Mr Graig Dreyer
Non Executive Director & Chairman
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Setlakalane-Alfred-Molepo
Mr Setlakalane Molepo
Non Executive Director
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Behind The Company

Meet The Team

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POLO LETEKA
Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Polo is an accomplished and experienced entrepreneur and private equity investor. 

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STELLA MPOFU
Chief Financial Officer
Stella is the Chief Financial Officer. Her role provides strategic financial leadership to the group and manages the financial health and governance of the organisation.
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SIMBISAI CHIZHANDE
Chief Operations Officer

Simbisai’s portfolio includes strategy, operations, systems and investor relations.

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THEMBA NTINI
Investment Manager

Themba Ntini is the Investment Manager at IDF Capital and previously was a lead transactor for seven funds under management.

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MPH
MPHETHE TAU
Business Development Executive

Mphethe is the Business Development Executive at IDF Capital. His role involves turning around complex distressed businesses in the portfolios that have good potential to succeed.

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Setebe Maponya
SETEBE MAPONYA
Investment Manager

Setebe serves as an Investment Manager at IDF Capital where his responsibilities encompass deal origination, general portfolio and risk management, value creation, valuations, exits, due diligence, deal structuring, and fund reporting.

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IDF finance

The working capital challenge is widely inherent in SMEs. They require working capital funding for growth, profitability, and sustainability. SMEs are riskier and less profitable than larger enterprises and they usually hit a brick wall when seeking working capital financing. In the past, many SME businesses offered concessions or discounts as incentives to secure immediate payment. However, in today’s competitive business environment most customers expect an extended timeline for payment. However, by extending payment terms, working capital is diminished, negatively impacting the business growth. This necessitated IDF Capital to explore innovative ways to circumvent the challenges and mitigate risks that are associated with funding SMEs for working capital. Invoice discounting and purchase order funding are appropriate and effective solutions to the challenge highlighted above.

It is critical for funders and corporates to collaborate and establish partnerships to support and address the funding gap. IDF’s funding is an efficient and flexible solution to create cashflow and profitability whilst maximising business growth potential. The loan structures can accommodate factoring an entire or portion of a debtor’s book or the discounting of a single invoice. Risk is mitigated through close relationships with the corporates who procure goods and services from the beneficiary SMEs. We require performance scoring data metrics and ranking on delivery, which are used to score the applicant for affordability of the facility. Once risk is known, we can advance short-term loans against purchase orders or invoices based on the SME’s risk profile. We further mitigate credit risk by forming a tripartite relationship between the corporate debtor, the beneficiary SME, and IDF Finance (the funder).

The Value Proposition

  • For the Corporate: Strong supplier relationships are a great source of a company’s sustainable competitive advantage making it an imperative for corporates to support their suppliers, especially SMEs.
  • For the SMEs: Security of working capital to ensure servicing of orders and meeting customer targets, building sustainable SMEs.
  • For the Financier: De-risked finance model, eliminating default & execution risk and generating sustainable returns.

ABout us

IDF Value Added Services

IDF VAS is a 100% black-owned project management and advisory firm specializing in economic development to deliver sustainable and transformative value chains. We collaborate with institutional clients to strategically deploy supplier diversity, small business and socio-economic development investments to catalyze shared value. IDF VAS is a subsidiary of IDF Capital.
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Craig Dreyer

Qualifications:

  • Chartered Accountant (SA)
  • Bachelor of Commerce (BCom)
  • Bachelor of Accounting (BAcc)

 

Craig is currently an independent consultant working and advising in the private equity space. Craig qualified as a CA at BDO, where he worked as a manger and then as Partner for just short of 10 years.

Craig then joined First National Bank in their private equity division as the CFO and Partner. In 1998, the private equity partners executed a buy-out from FNB to form Ethos Private Equity. Craig served as CFO of Ethos for 21 years. Craig was also a founding partner of SAVCA in 1998 and served on SAVCA’s board and sub committees until his retirement as an executive of Ethos.

Setlakalane Alfred Molepo

Qualifications:

  • MBL School of Business Leadership
  • Certificate in Financial Management
  • BSc Engineering
  • National Diploma in Civil Engineering

 

Setlakalane is currently the Executive Director of Nozinyaka Investment Holdings Proprietary Limited. He has more than 20 years’ experience in development finance institutions that provides industrial & SMME finance and facilitation of B-BBEE participation for black people through provision of financial and non-financial finance.

Setlakalane has immense experience in putting together strategies, restructuring of institutions and assessing investment opportunities with the intent to provide either financial and non-financial support of both. Setlakalane has worked as a CEO and Acting CEO for one of South Africa’s leading SMME funding DFI and has been an Executive in the only DFI with an exclusive mandate to facilitate B-BBEE.

POLO LETEKA

Qualifications:

  • Master of Science in International business with law (University of Salford)
  • Bcompt. Honours (Accounting & Auditing) (UNISA)
  • Bcom. (Accounting) (University of the Western Cape)
  • PG Diploma (Auditing) (UNISA)

 

Polo is an accomplished and experienced entrepreneur and private equity investor. Through IDF Capital, Polo has contributed towards channeling investments into women-owned SMEs across South Africa. In 2015, she co-founded Alitheia IDF to continue investing in high growth businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa that are women-owned and led.

Polo is an accountant by training and has varied experience in both the Public and Private sectors of South Africa which includes accounting and auditing, corporate finance, investment banking, public policy formulation, venture capital and private equity in the SME sector. She was tasked with leading the process of developing South Africa’s first ever Codes of Good Practice on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment which is a Government policy seeking to transform the South African economic landscape to be more reflective of its population demographics. As a result of this work which has changed how Corporate South Africa interacts with the rest of the economy, she is considered a thought leader in areas of economic transformation and development.

Polo is an accomplished public speaker and contributor to thought leadership articles on transformation and entrepreneurship. She was also part of South Africa’s version of the Dragons Den show and is also a co-author of a book called “…..and for all these reasons, I’M IN…..”, which seeks to assist entrepreneurs to become investor-ready.

STELLA MPOFU

Qualifications:

  • Chartered Accountant (SA)
  • Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Accounting (UZ)
  • Bachelor of Accounting Science (UNISA)

 

Stella is the Chief Financial Officer. Her role provides strategic financial leadership to the group and manages the financial health and governance of the organisation. As a member of the Executive Committee, her role has a direct influence on the organisational strategy and value creation/preservation.

SIMBISAI CHIZHANDE

Qualifications:

  • MPhil Developmental Finance – MPHilDevFin (Stellenbosch Business School)
  • Master of Business Leadership – MBL (UNISA)
  • BBA Marketing Management

 

Simbisai’s portfolio includes strategy, operations, systems and investor relations. Working closely with all functional areas, she is the custodian of the organisational key performance indicators and monitors the activities and results of each department. Simbisai monitors actual Fund Performance KPIs against set targets. In her role, she has successfully set up enhanced operational models and SOPs to ensure organisational efficiencies. Simbisai is a versatile professional and her multi-skills are an asset to the business as she offers strategic guidance to all business functional areas. She has led the capital raise and advisory mandates for the IDF Group.

Themba Ntini

Qualifications:

  • BBA: Temple University (USA)
  • FAIS Representative – RE 1, 3, 5
  • Executive Management Development Course -Current

 

Themba Ntini is the Investment Manager at IDF Capital and previously was a lead transactor for seven funds under management. His contribution to the total Portfolio includes deal execution and exits, and Value Creation (supporting the Post Investment Team) in various sectors. His roles and responsibilities include deal sourcing, due diligence, structuring, and portfolio management


Themba has 14 years experience in Due diligence, debt structuring, financial risk assessment and transaction implementation.

 

MPHETHE TAU

Qualifications:

  • Cost & Management Accounting
  • Securities Investments Analysis 
  • Management Advancement Program – Wits Business school
  • Investment management – UCT

Mphethe is the Stakeholder Relations Executive at IDF Capital. His role involves turning around complex distressed businesses in the portfolios that have good potential to succeed; conducting effective portfolio management to reduce the portfolio risk of the company; and maintaining relationships with stakeholders introducing clients to networks.

Setebe maponya

Qualifications:

  • Chartered Accountant (SA)

  • Bcompt. Honours  (UNISA)

  • Bcom Accounting Sciences (University of Pretoria)

  • FAIS Representative – RE 5

Setebe serves as an Investment Manager at IDF Capital where his responsibilities encompass deal origination, general portfolio and risk management, value creation, valuations, exits, due diligence, deal structuring, and fund reporting.