About DBSA

The DBSA is a government-owned development finance institution, established in 1983, with the mandate to promote economic growth as well as regional integration for sustainable development projects and programmes across the African continent.

Our purpose

Our purpose is to ‘Build Africa’s Prosperity’ by driving inclusive growth and securing innovative solutions that drive socio-economic development in emerging economies across the African continent. We do this by mobilising funding resources, which are channelled into projects aimed at building sustainable infrastructure planning and development across the continent.

Our vision

A prosperous and integrated resource efficient region, progressively free of poverty and dependency.

Our mission

To advance the development impact on the African continent by expanding access to development finance and effectively integrating and implementing sustainable development solutions to:

  • Improve the quality of life of people through the development of social infrastructure.
  • Support economic growth through investment in economic infrastructure.
  • Support regional integration.
  • Promote sustainable use of scarce resources.

Strategic objectives

DBSA has collected over three decades’ worth of experience in driving transformational change through multi-faceted investments for different types of infrastructure development. Our experience has resulted in us creating sound strategic objectives to lead us towards reaching our key mandates.

  • Sustained growth in developmental impact – aggressively growing businesses to maximise developmental impact.
  • Integrated infrastructure solutions provider – partner of choice for infrastructure development solutions.
  • Financial sustainability – maintain profitability and operational efficiency to enable growth in equity and fund developmental activities.
  • Sustainability innovations – instigate the formation of a new generation of special purpose vehicles and structured financial instruments that will facilitate and catalyse the mobilisation of investments in infrastructure development projects.

Sectors of operations

Our diversified portfolio focuses on specific sectors, which are critical in the development and growth of the regional and national economy. Our aim is to support the government in its goal to reach a healthy economic standing which places South Africa, and other African countries, in a favourable condition to compete in the global market. These sectors include;

Economic infrastructure

  • Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
  • Transport
  • Water and Sanitation
  • Energy

Social infrastructure

  • Health
  • Education
  • Human Settlements

Our values

  • Shared vision – we share and keep the sustainability, strategic intent and mandate of the DBSA top of mind in all our decisions.
  • Service orientation – we deliver responsive and quality services that speak to the need of our clients and continuously build relationships that result in mutually beneficial outcomes.
  • Integrity – our deals, interactions and conduct are proof of transparent and ethical behaviour that shows respect and care for all our people (employees, stakeholders, the shareholder, clients and communities).
  • High performance – we are enabled, empowered and inspired to deliver consistent quality, effective and efficient results for which we are accountable and rewarded.
  • Innovation – we consistently challenge ourselves to improve what we do, how we do it and how well we work together.