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Join Waitlist →Partnership & Impact
Mafriq exists to break the link between financial background and educational opportunity in South Africa. We need partners who share this conviction.
Our Mission
South Africa's tertiary system has around 2.5M applicants each year, yet the financing architecture beneath it is fundamentally misaligned with how students actually live, earn, and study. Public funding supports the poorest students. Private credit supports the wealthiest. The majority sit between these two poles, the missing middle, seeing no access and no opportunity.
Mafriq exists to close this gap. We use Income Share Agreements to fund talented, academically capable students who are excluded from both NSFAS and traditional bank funding. We price risk on graduation and employability, not household liquidity or collateral.
Our view: the primary barrier is liquidity, not academic ability. A financing mechanism designed around how education actually converts into economic value, not how credit has historically been extended.
Systemic change
Addressing the root causes of educational exclusion in SA
Student-centred
Every decision optimised for graduate outcomes
Financially sustainable
A self-reinforcing model, not dependent on perpetual donations
Human investment
We invest in the whole person, not just tuition fees
Our Approach
Mafriq's model is built on a simple but powerful belief: if you support the right person, in the right way, through their full journey, the outcomes speak for themselves.
We identify academically capable students who are excluded from higher education purely due to financial barriers, not ability. We look beyond grades to grit, locus of control, and personal drive.
We fund tuition, accommodation, living costs and essentials. But we also invest in the student, through mentorship, tutoring, community, and professional skills development throughout their studies.
Graduation is not the finish line. Mafriq actively supports job placement through employer partnerships, CV development, career counselling and interview preparation, ensuring graduates enter the workforce.
Once employed and earning above a threshold, graduates contribute a small percentage of their income. This flows back to fund the next generation, creating a self-sustaining cycle of opportunity.
As graduates repay, capital returns to fund new students. More partner employers means better placement rates. Better outcomes attract more institutional and investor partners. The model is designed to grow, and grow more powerful, over time.
5,000+
Students to be funded by 2030
12+
Partner institutions
85%
Target graduate employment rate
9
South African provinces
Get Involved
There is a place for every mission-aligned organisation in the Mafriq ecosystem.
Partner with us to ensure your students have access to flexible, income-linked funding. We work with accredited universities, UoTs, and TVET colleges to identify eligible students and integrate seamlessly into your support structures.
Access a pipeline of motivated, high-potential graduates who have been rigorously assessed for grit, employability, and drive. Mafriq graduates are ready, and they carry with them a commitment to give back.
Your capital directly enables a South African student to access education and build a career. Returns are tied to graduate employment outcomes, meaning your investment only succeeds when students do.
Join our ecosystem as a delivery partner. Whether you provide mental health support, tutoring, mentorship, career coaching, or community programming, we want to work with organisations who share our belief in student potential.
Whether you're an institution, employer, funder, or social partner, we'd love to explore how we build this together.