Sefa chosen as lender in Federal Government’s Coronavirus Guarantee Scheme

Sefa has been selected as a lender as part of the Coronavirus Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Guarantee Scheme. The Scheme is being run by the Federal Government to support SMEs through the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

The Government has approved 44 lenders to participate in the Scheme, with Sefa currently the only lender to focus wholly on lending to purpose-driven organisations. 

Under the Scheme, the Government will guarantee 50 per cent of new loans issued by eligible lenders to SMEs. Businesses and not-for-profits with annual turnovers up to $50 million are eligible to apply for loans of up to three years, with an initial six-month repayment holiday. The unsecured loans are for a maximum of $250,000 per borrower.  

Hanna Ebeling, CEO of Sefa, said: “We are delighted to be selected to participate in the Federal Government’s Guarantee Scheme. Purpose driven organisations have been showing incredible resilience during the COVID-19 crisis and Sefa is perfectly placed to help them through these challenging times. We invite potential partners to contact us about contributing capital to the pool available to purpose-driven organisations, leveraging Sefa’s status as a participating lender in the Scheme.”

The Scheme is currently available for new loans and will run until 30  September  2020, unless extended by the Federal Government.   

UPDATE Monday 19 October: The Scheme has been extended with Phase Two, which will run from October 2020 - June 2021. The maximum loan size is now $1 million per borrower and loans can be up to 5 years. Loan funds can be used for new and existing business activities such as working capital, equipment purchase, the purchase of commercial property and lease commitments.

More information on the Scheme

To contact Hanna Ebeling, CEO Sefa: hanna.ebeling@socialenterprisefinance.com,  0475 084 855

Media enquiries: Mia Lumb, Communications Manager, mia.lumb@socialenterprisefinance.com, 0404 557 509