"Backed by a unique database of over 255 African companies supported by I&P and insights from two decades of experience in impact investing, we highlight the critical role of formal SMEs in driving sustainable and inclusive growth in sub-Saharan Africa, how SMEs face barriers to accessing traditional financing, and how Catalytic capital offers a solution to bridge this gap. I&P shares insights on improving conditions and availability of catalytic capital, fostering collective learning for more impact investments in Africa."

"La inclusión financiera es fundamental para alcanzar la igualdad de género y fomentar el desarrollo económico sostenible. Al abordar las brechas existentes y brindar oportunidades equitativas, podemos fortalecer la autonomía económica de las mujeres y promover una sociedad más justa y próspera en general. El presente estudio tuvo como finalidad abordar (y profundizar) las barreras que enfrentamos las mujeres en el ámbito financiero y cómo pueden afectar nuestro empoderamiento, crecimiento y autonomía económica en España y América Latina."

"Blended finance solutions offer the potential to combine development capital with a variety of financial instruments such as impact bonds, concessional capital, and risk mitigation structures. We consistently see that deployment of these instruments is limited because of the inherent complexity and cost. But more so, due to a lack of awareness and standardization among capital providers. Without addressing these core issues, enterprises are deemed too risky, and the potential for social and financial returns may not be realized. Through this report, we aim to raise awareness about the importance of enabling funding for social enterprises – understanding their unique characteristics and challenges in capital raising – and articulate the key issues involved in applying blended finance to SMEs. We hope to simplify current bespoke solutions to build replicable and scalable financing solutions. We propose solutions that include building capacity of enterprises, embedding sustainability into the design of instruments, simplifying impact management, and creating open databases on blended finance transactions."

"This report is an output of the ANDE Gender Action Lab. Authored by Villgro and LEAD At Krea University, this report publishes insights from a survey of over 800 SMEs on how women entrepreneurs access finance in the country. Combining insights from the desk research, demand-side survey and supply-side key informant interviews, the report suggests recommendations across three verticals: program, process and product, with government initiatives as anchors for scaling up."

"This report is an output of the ANDE Gender Action Lab. Authored by Villgro and LEAD At Krea University, this report publishes insights from a survey of over 800 SMEs on how women entrepreneurs access finance in the country. Combining insights from the desk research, demand-side survey and supply-side key informant interviews, the report suggests recommendations across three verticals: program, process and product, with government initiatives as anchors for scaling up."

"The whitepaper discusses the problem of gender inequity in funding outcomes for women-founded startups, both globally and in India. The research aimed to understand the gender gaps in funding outcomes among investors and identify opportunities for improvement. The study utilized data from the Tracxn database, global benchmarks, and interviews with stakeholders in the investment ecosystem. Key findings include the concentration of funding in a few sectors and cities, the growth of women-founded companies in recent years, and the lack of gender diversity in investment teams. The report also highlights case studies of organizations that practice gender-smart funding and offers recommendations for fostering gender lens investment in India. It emphasizes the need for data tracking, a change in investment processes, and the promotion of gender diversity in firms to improve funding outcomes for women entrepreneurs. The report suggests a targeted approach with a dedicated team and industry-wide engagement to create a sustainable and robust platform for gender lens investment in India."

"Female founders raise less capital from investors than male founders, even if their ventures are similar or identical. However, providing systematic evaluation frameworks could encourage investors to assess all candidates equally, thus reducing gender disparities. In this vein, the authors – Amisha Miller and Saurabh Lall – investigated whether changing systematic evaluation practices could close the gender gap in investment decisions. The authors designed and implemented a two-stage experiment in collaboration with Village Capital across different developing regions across Africa, South Asia (India), the Middle East, and Latin America to reduce gender disparities in investment decisions. The experimental findings confirm that using a systematic evaluation framework – prompting investors to consider both risks and growth, as well as progress – reduces or even reverses gender disparities in investment decisions. This study provides strong causal evidence for an intervention that can be implemented right out the gate at a low cost: providing a systematic evaluation framework to investors."

"The Climate Capital Network’s (CCN) first annual India Climate Finance Report explores the direction of climate finance in India, uncovers funding opportunities and gaps, and showcases organisations that are using innovative approaches. This report consolidates survey findings, interviews, and articles from leading climate finance organisations allocating in India. The universe of funders in India has grown significantly to encompass everyone from the Climate Committed (core mandate and/ or deploying in these sectors for a number of years) to the Climate Crossover (newly part of the mandate and starting to actively deploy/ refine thesis) to the Climate Curious (will opportunistically deploy, but no specific mandate at this point). We reached out to funders who are actively and strategically looking at climate right now. The focus of this report is on the data as a way to provide context and background, but equally importantly on the insights and areas of emergence."

"This Guide was developed for impact and mission-driven investors (“Investors”) operating in emerging markets to provide concrete, practical pathways for investing with a gender lens. The adoption of Gender Lens Investing strategies amongst investors in emerging markets in turn increases the amount of capital deployed towards women-led and gender inclusive businesses. Specifically, this Guide offers pathways for investment professionals, limited partners (LPs) and general partners (GPs) at impact and mission-driven Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity (PE) firms that are investing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Other actors that may also find the Guide useful are limited partners (LPs), asset managers, foundations, family offices and development finance institutions (DFI) that are providing capital to SMEs in emerging markets (Please see Figure 1: Who is this Guide for?). While the investor examples and data presented in the Guide originate from Investing in Women partners and countries of focus, the lessons learned apply broadly to investors operating in emerging markets.

There is no singular or linear path to investing with a gender lens, and there is no single ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to meet the needs and theses of all investors. With that in mind, the Guide outlines various options for investing with a gender lens. We know that gender lens investing is not an “all-or-nothing” scenario. There are multiple ways to integrate progressive practices, including ways that are not resource-intensive. This Guide outlines entry points for investors at any point in their gender lens investing journey and provides various options for decisive actions that can be taken at any stage of the investment process.

There is no single prescribed starting point. Investors can customize their approach to getting started and/or to deepen their involvement. The Guide builds on – and contributes to – a rapidly growing body of knowledge shared within the fields of gender lens investing and development, and is intended to spur action and learning. Recognizing that new resources are continually emerging, this Guide delves into the “how” of gender lens investing and is designed to complement the work of our partners and colleagues cited throughout this paper."

"This Guide was developed for impact and mission-driven investors (“Investors”) operating in emerging markets to provide concrete, practical pathways for investing with a gender lens. The adoption of Gender Lens Investing strategies amongst investors in emerging markets in turn increases the amount of capital deployed towards women-led and gender inclusive businesses. Specifically, this Guide offers pathways for investment professionals, limited partners (LPs) and general partners (GPs) at impact and mission-driven Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity (PE) firms that are investing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Other actors that may also find the Guide useful are limited partners (LPs), asset managers, foundations, family offices and development finance institutions (DFI) that are providing capital to SMEs in emerging markets (Please see Figure 1: Who is this Guide for?). While the investor examples and data presented in the Guide originate from Investing in Women partners and countries of focus, the lessons learned apply broadly to investors operating in emerging markets.

There is no singular or linear path to investing with a gender lens, and there is no single ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to meet the needs and theses of all investors. With that in mind, the Guide outlines various options for investing with a gender lens. We know that gender lens investing is not an “all-or-nothing” scenario. There are multiple ways to integrate progressive practices, including ways that are not resource-intensive. This Guide outlines entry points for investors at any point in their gender lens investing journey and provides various options for decisive actions that can be taken at any stage of the investment process.

There is no single prescribed starting point. Investors can customize their approach to getting started and/or to deepen their involvement. The Guide builds on – and contributes to – a rapidly growing body of knowledge shared within the fields of gender lens investing and development, and is intended to spur action and learning. Recognizing that new resources are continually emerging, this Guide delves into the “how” of gender lens investing and is designed to complement the work of our partners and colleagues cited throughout this paper."