At a recent summit of Australia’s wealthiest, the secret sauce identifies was: The power of a family office is that you don’t need to follow institutional playbooks. You can move faster, be more flexible, and back things that others can’t. Sefa can do exactly that, with impact added on top. When Sefa was set up in 2011, it was so in response to a capital gap, a failure in the finance market. The Commonwealth provided a first loss piece of $10m that was matched with 10m of private capital to kickstart an evergreen loan fund that was building a bridge between philanthropy and mainstream finance, by building a bridge between financial and social returns- our secret sauce.
We are working at the forefront of market failure a lot, addressing structural challenges and supporting vulnerable community members that have fallen through the cracks. Some of these social problems and big and wicked such as the Australian housing conundrum or the meaningful employment of people with a disability.
Family offices have noticed that the local economy is falling behind in entrepreneurship and future preparedness. They are deliberately pushing to build innovation ecosystems as anchor of economic power. Sefa is translating that to the whole of community. We are striving for a wellbeing economy that provides equity and opportunities for everyone, including those facing disadvantage. How do we do that? By helping organisations that a looking to solve social issues run a viable impact business model. One that is financially sustainable yet never compromises on the outcomes it wants to achieve and the long-term impact. When ready, we back these organisations with capital. With over $160m to date and counting. That is a 16x return on the government’s original outlay and shows what can be achieved when finance is impact led.
What many family offices now want to see change in the Australian economy is deeply rooted in shifting mindsets and creating a different value culture. Cultural change is as important as capital. Sefa learned that capital alone is not enough. That’s why we added capability before, alongside and after the right capital mix – a one stop shop for impact. Our advisory services build commercial acumen in not-for-profits, charities and social enterprises across the country so they can confidently take steps towards unlocking their full impact potential. We have helped close to 200 organisations so far. Over 75 have successfully taken on investment and paid back their loans faster than expected.
Family offices could take bold and patient bets. We want to see that, impact-led. During the past 15 years, we have built expertise, skills – and always continued to learn and evolve. If you can’t accept the status quo, you cannot be afraid of failure. Sefa was lender number 35 who said yes to Nightingale Housing after 34 other lenders had said no. We backed Tender Funerals a community-led funeral service that took on an oligopolistic market. And are now supporting them expand through Australia’s first social franchise model.
We need people who think big from day one. Be bold. Let’s paint a vision that inspires thousands to join us. We can unlock the next hundreds of millions of dollars that could help reshape the economy. Do more good with Sefa.
Sefa CEO - Hanna Ebeling