Catalyzing Impact Through Gender-smart Investing

Aug 13, 2019 | by The SEEP Network

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Questions & Answers - Coming soon!

With the potential for positive social and commercial outcomes, “gender-smart” impact investing has seen growing interest in the international development community and a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders. But is gender-smart impact investing the newest fad or is it a viable model for development financing? And how impactful is it on women’s economic inclusion?

Join the SEEP Women's Economic Empowerment Working Group as our panel of experts explore approaches to gender-smart investing and the potential for women’s economic empowerment. This webinar also provided an overview of Gender-smart Investing 101 for anyone hoping to get a crash course on this emerging topic.

Moderator

Adam Bramm, MEDA

Adam Bramm is the Associate Director for the West Africa, Middle East, and North Africa Region at MEDA, where he also serves as advisor on the Gender and Social Inclusion technical area and on the Impact Investing technical area. He is also a steering committee member for the SEEP Network’s Women’s Economic Empowerment Working Group.

Speakers

Shelley Martin, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)

Shelley Martin is a Project Manager in the Advisory Practice of ICRW. A gender and business specialist with a background in east and southern Africa, her work focuses on gender-smart investing and gender equity at work. Recently she co-developed a Gender-Smart Investing Resource Hub, producing a series of sector-specific company screening tools and educational resources on materiality of gender in different value chains, including agriculture, off-grid energy, and power infrastructure. She conducts social and business impact evaluations, researches and writes technical reports, and designs diagnostics and action plans to help companies and public institutions leverage gender intelligence across workplaces and broader market systems.

Ariane Ryan, World University Service of Canada

Ariane Ryan is the Inclusive Economy Advisor at World University Service of Canada (WUSC), based in Ottawa. She leads the organization’s social finance portfolio, overseeing investments, technical assistance programs and research. Ariane has lived and worked in over twenty countries in Asia, the Middle East, Sub Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. She started her career in business development services in Africa and, following private sector experience in Canada and completing an MBA, has honed her expertise in market system development programs, Women’s Economic Empowerment and social finance including Gender Lens Investing. She oversaw the recent WUSC publication “Mapping gender lens investing in the Global South: Ghana, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Vietnam”. Ariane has degrees from McGill University and the University of Ottawa.

Natasha Garcha, Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and IIX Foundation USA

Natasha Garcha is the Associate Director of Innovative Finance and focuses on IIX’s Women’s Bond series, impact measurement and other gender lens investing initiatives. In Asia, Natasha was a key member of the team that developed the Women’s Livelihood Bond, the world’s first gender lens, impact investing instrument listed on a stock exchange and quoted on Bloomberg. Natasha is also the co-founder of the Shades of Happiness Foundation (SoHF), a non-profit with the mission to empower under-privileged children in India through access to quality education. She has previously worked with with D.E. Shaw & Co., a New York-based hedge fund as part of the Investor Relations team and as the Co-Head of CSR in India.

Natasha holds an M.B.A from the University of Oxford, a Masters in Business Law from National Law School, Bangalore and an undergraduate degree in Finance and Economics from Delhi University. She is an BNY Mellon Achievement Awardee, an active writer for Passle, U.K. and a Steering Committee member of the ‘Principles for Investment in Fisheries’.

Yrenilsa Lopez, Women’s World Banking

Yrenilsa Lopez is a Principal Investment Officer and Portfolio Manager with Women’s World Banking Asset Management (WAM), directing private equity investments into gender-focused inclusive finance institutions. She is a board member for two investment companies in Latin American and also serves on the Advisory Board of the Financial Inclusion Equity Council (FIEC). Yrenilsa was previously with BlueOrchard Finance in Lima, Peru where she executed private debt investments and managed a portfolio of private debt investments to financial institutions serving the bottom of the pyramid. Prior to this, she was the Relationship Manager for Latin America for Developing World Markets based in Stamford, Connecticut. Yrenilsa began her career with the SME Finance department of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). She is has received the CFA designation and speaks fluent Spanish and conversational Portuguese.