The NEF’s role is to support BB-BEE. As the debate concerning what constitutes meaningful and sustainable BB-BEE evolves, the NEF anticipates future funding and investment requirements to help Black individuals, communities and businesses achieve each element of the Codes of Good Practice. These include a focus on preferential procurement, broadening the reach of Black equity ownership, transformation in management and staff and preventing the dilution of Black shareholding. The NEF differentiates itself not only with a focused mandate for BB-BEE, but by also assuming a predominantly equity-based risk to maximise the Empowerment Dividend. Reward should balance the risk with the application of sound commercial decisions to support national priorities and government policy such as the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA)or targeted investments through the dti’s Industrial Policy Framework. The work of the NEF therefore straddles and complements other Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) by allowing the organisations to work in close collaboration. With them, the NEF can enhance other DFIs and their mandates by sharing its specialist sector expertise and knowledge.