WDB Investment Holdings

What is WDB Investment Holdings?

WDB Investment Holdings is a South African women-founded, women-led, and operated investment holding company with a robust 25-year track record of socio-economic programs designed to directly improve the lives of people, particularly focusing on disadvantaged and impoverished women.

The company underpins its operations with a dual mandate: driving social transformation and achieving financial sustainability.

With an investment philosophy that emphasizes the Oil & Gas (including Mining) industries, WDB Investment Holdings strives for a significant social impact through its investments, catering to a wide range of enterprises but concentrating on empowering female entrepreneurs. Their investment portfolio boasts total assets under management of R6 billion, and they have distributed over R200 million in cumulative dividends to the WDB Trust.

The Trust itself, established in 1991, is a Public Benefit Organization aimed at eradicating poverty and providing development opportunities for rural women by linking them to finance and an array of development services. In 1996, WDB Investment Holdings was set up to support the Trust's programs and ensure sustainability by reducing donor reliance.

Represented on the boards of its investee companies, WDBIH prioritizes the advancement of women in senior leadership roles. Profits generated are predominantly channeled back to the WDB Trust, furthering the shared vision to alter the business and social landscape for South African women across all echelons.

Additionally, in partnership with Seed Engine and Grovest, WDB established the WDB Growth Fund in 2016 to address funding gaps for small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs), promoting economic growth and job creation through a blend of capital investment, mentorship, and market access support.

With a minimum and maximum investment ceiling of 500 million, WDB Investment Holdings commits not only to the advancement of impactful economic participation but also to affecting real change in the community, especially by targeting poverty and investing in women.