A time for community

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Subject: A time for community

2X Global: Unlocking gender-smart capital at scale

Dear Friend,

You may be reading this, our penultimate newsletter of 2024, on your phone, laptop or iPad. You may be taking this in on your commute enroute home in London, Nairobi or Dubai, opening it first thing in the morning in Toronto or Buenos Aires or reading it last thing at night in Singapore.

Wherever you are in the world, our message to you today is – now is the time.

As 2024 draws to a close and we peer ahead to a shifting geopolitical landscape in 2025, this is our guiding star.

Now is the time for community and to rally around our motivating mission – that economically empowering women and girls makes good business and good sense.

Now is the time to remember the value of diversity in business and in finance - that companies with the most gender diversity in their leadership and those with the most ethnically and culturally diverse leadership are more likely (25% and 36% respectively) to have above-average profitability than those that lag.

Now is the time to invest in the things that matter and make for a better life and more productivity for half of the world’s population, such as women’s health.

We know that now is the time because we have known times like these before.

In 2018, the first 2X Challenge was launched at the G7 Summit in Canada, a seemingly audacious commitment to mobilise US$3 billion in gender lens investments between 2018 to 2020.

We know now that this goal was far surpassed and even the onset of a once-in-a-century global pandemic towards the end of the first 2X Challenge did not stop the determination of investors and entrepreneurs committed to driving gender equity through business and finance.

In 2025, the G7 Summit will return to Canada, marking a full-circle moment for us, $34 billion and two 2X Challenges later.

We are in the midst of the third 2X Challenge and the journey to our bold new target of US$20 billion is already underway, with the first two qualifying investments having taken place.

We’re thrilled to share the news of the first qualifying investments under the 2X Challenge 2024-2027, which are from:

DWM with a US$1.1 million loan to Banco Solidario, a bank in Ecuador focused on meeting the needs of MSMEs and becoming the "preferred bank of women" in Ecuador and;
the European Investment Bank which has provided US$15 million in financing for Kenya-based clean energy company BURN, funding will enable BURN to distribute its ECOA electric induction cooker to 1 million households across East Africa.

With now being a time for community, we are also happy to support our fellow field-builder, Criterion Institute’s Convergence XXI: Reimagining the Future of Gender Lens Investing which is set for February 2025. Criterion Institute’s flagship event will celebrate and dig deep into gender lens investing in all its dynamism and complexity.

Keep reading for a selection of the latest GLI news and insights.

In Community,

2X Global team

News from the field

Mainstreaming gender lens investing. Our CEO Jessica Espinoza has a new article out with Super Return, ‘Alpha with Impact’, highlighting examples and insights from established and emerging fund managers which demonstrate the stronger returns that can be achieved with gender lens investing. Early-stage companies grow faster and achieve greater success when they implement gender-smart practices. This report from Acumen and Value for Women shares stories of investors and social enterprises with first-hand experience. We interviewed locally-led, gender-diverse fund managers on the African continent to get their take on the role of fund managers in driving gender and climate action. Highlights from the 2023 Impact Report of Sarona Asset Management's Global Growth Markets Equity Program - a remarkable 81% of their fund managers met the 2X Challenge criteria. Drawn from over a decade of insights from intentional and focused gender lens investing, the Gender Performance Checklist from Women's World Banking compiles recommendations on attributes, policies, and practices that each company should develop to enhance its gender diversity. New voluntary guidance from the finance-sector-led Impact Disclosure Taskforce could unlock an additional US$200 billion a year for sustainable development. While 2024 has proven a challenging year for venture capital, these female-led funds supported by Pivotal Ventures are showing resilience and innovation.

Gender and Climate Investing. The two latest grant awards from the Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF) will give a boost to women-led climate innovation and entrepreneurship in India and across Latin America and the Caribbean. Our brief summarising our proposed policy options for making the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) more gender-responsive. A new report from the Asian Development Bank looks at the gender dimensions of water insecurity in Asia-Pacific, how women are more likely to suffer from water insecurity and the underrepresentation of women in water management and delivery. The Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action has a new series of case studies out, looking at gender-just climate solutions - women-led ecological restoration in Nepal and in Cameroon and sustainable agriculture led by indigenous women in Honduras. At least 1.2 billion people face life-changing risks due to exposure to critical climate hazards such as heatwaves, flooding, hurricanes or drought. The new World Bank Report on adaptation and resilience is filled with stories of and strategies on what can be done. A call to incorporate and strengthen gender data so governments can properly assess the impacts of climate change.

Leadership, Culture and Policy, JEDI. Insight into how current high profile corporate rollbacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes risk damaging customer experience and customer loyalty. A disturbing report on global mining company Rio Tinto has revealed that instances of sexual assault and bullying against women has actually risen in the last two years, in part a “retaliation” to the mining giant’s efforts to promote gender diversity in the wake of a damning 2021 report. While American workers’ views on DEI have grown more negative in the past year, new research from the Pew Centre shows that a slight majority (52%) still view such initiatives as a good thing.

Data and Tools. Cambridge University has published a comprehensive study of the landscape for open banking and open finance, looking at 95 different jurisdictions. The ADB has published a new guide outlining why integrating gender equality in key sectors of agriculture, energy, and transport is key to the carbon transition. New from UN Women - a brief outlining practical strategies for gender responsive climate action across the Rio conventions. Check out the refreshed Impact Garden, filled with knowledge and resources on sustainability, social impact and more. This brief brings insights from the existing Gender Equality and Climate Policy Scorecards, which policymakers can use to enhance gender responsiveness in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Care Economy. Tackling ‘time poverty’ for working mothers should be a collective effort between employers, fathers and the mothers themselves. Blessing Adesiyan of Mother Honestly shares insights on what needs to be done. While only 24% of employers report that caregiving responsibilities affect productivity, 80% of employees report that it actually does - this piece from the Harvard Business Review looks at how employers can bridge that gap and implement solution, starting with collecting realistic data. UNESCAP and the Institute of Development Studies in the United Kingdom have published A Policymaker's Toolkit for Valuing Unpaid Care and Domestic Work and Investing in the Care Economy, aimed at policymakers who want to know how to implement better strategies to support caregiving employees.

Resilience (GBVH, Financial Inclusion, Security). The start of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence started this week with a harrowing reminder - that every day, 140 women around the world lose their lives at the hands of their own family members, a statistic that underscores the urgency of this year’s 16 Days theme - ‘No Excuse’. Excellent news out of Colombia which has completely outlawed child marriage after a 17-year campaign, closing a longstanding legal loophole and banning marriage for minors entirely. What role can fintechs play in closing the finance gap for women-led MSMEs in Latin America? This new report from ALIVE and ProMujer examines how. An inspiring story from Bolivia where an association for women in the construction industry is fighting back against the sexism and unequal pay still rife.

Community Calendar

29 November

Join us at the Asia Philanthropy Congress 2024 where our 2X Global Japan Ambassador Tatjana Gerling will be a part of a panel discussion exploring innovative partnerships that promote DE&I and sustainable solutions.

3-5 December

SuperReturn Africa, the largest and most senior private equity conference in Africa, will take place in Cape Town. The 2X Global team will be in attendance and participating in panels and sessions. Learn more and register.

5 December

We’re partnering with the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BCCJ) for an engaging discussion looking at GLI in Japan - the landscape, benefits and opportunities. Register for your opportunity to be part of a transformative conversation.

Thank you to our partners and supporters

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Subject: A time for community