Client-Facing

EEF III is a women-led and -managed private equity fund offering tailored growth capital and strategic advisory support to innovative sustainable businesses in Latin America to scale and optimize their impact. To further advance the overall business performance of the Fund Manager and its portfolio companies, the TA project is aimed at:

1. Enhancing the Fund Manager’s Environmental and Social (E&S) risk management capabilities, and
2. Supporting the portfolio companies’ capabilities on gender equality, E&S risk management, and climate change adaptation.

Market Development

Invest2Impact is a 2X Challenge initiative spearheaded by FinDev Canada and supported by peer institutions and funders. The initiative launched a business competition in 2019 which identified 100 high-potential women-owned and -operated businesses from five East African countries, representing diverse industries. In 2020, to support the businesses as they adapted to the challenges and opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic, FinDev Canada’s TA Facility managed a capacity building program which:

1. Provided access to business tools for strategic information management, coaching webinars on topics such as access to finance, social media, and digitization of operations, and mentorship sessions where participants could discuss their specific challenges and develop creative solutions with peers, and
2. Created a virtual network for women to share resources and opportunities, especially critical as the COVID-19 pandemic affected businesses across the board.

The next phase of this initiative, focused on additional tailored support to the participating businesses, continues through 2022 under FinDev Canada’s leadership and with funding from the Agence Française de Développement (via its subsidiary Proparco).

Market Development

The Joint Impact Model (JIM) was established in 2019 to develop a harmonized measurement model which would enable impact investors to assess and report on indirect impacts of their investments. With direct impacts being only a fraction of total outcomes, identifying indirect impacts is a key aspect of understanding the full impact of investments and tracking progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Several DFIs, including FinDev Canada through its TA Facility, contributed towards:

1. Building and improving an initial model by harmonizing various measurement approaches and indicators, and developing an interface to take the model to scale,
2. Validating the model through rigorous testing with a range of users, and
3. Publicly launching the model for wider use and testing with over 40 new users.

Since its launch, the JIM has gained significant traction due to the practical and simple implementation approaches of the tool. With additional support from founding DFIs and new investors, the model is undergoing further technical upgrades. Thematic and sector specific modules are also being developed to increase the use case of the JIM.

Client-Facing

JCM is a Canadian independent power producer dedicated to accelerating social, economic, and environmental sustainability in developing countries through the development, construction, and operation of renewable energy projects. As part of JCM’s broader mandate, the company developed a gender action plan to deepen policies at three levels of the company: governance, staff, and project companies. That action plan is now under implementation, with funding from JCM and its investors, including FinDev Canada, as a collaborative TA project. The objectives of the project are to:

1. Strengthen the integration of gender equality and inclusion across the company through training and review of relevant policies and procedures, and
2. Conduct gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) assessments and training for companies in Malawi and Pakistan.

Market Development

In 2020, FinDev Canada, together with UN Women and Lelapa, hosted a workshop with DFIs and women-led and -managed fund managers to brainstorm solutions for the challenges faced by gender lens investors, especially as they raise capital. These challenges remain despite an increasing number of gender lens investment funds and initiatives like the 2X Challenge which are encouraging DFIs to make ambitious commitments towards women’s economic empowerment. The workshop offered an open and equalizing approach of exchange between fund managers and investors to generate important insights on why traditional fund structures are a hindrance to the flow of capital to WSMEs. These insights have been summarized in a publication and shared with the broader DFI and impact investing community.

Market Development

FinDev Canada has learned that many fund managers require support to apply a gender lens to their investment strategy and in turn, support their portfolio companies become more gender inclusive. In response, FinDev Canada’s TA Facility led the development of a training toolkit to guide fund managers in incorporating a gender lens into their investment processes using the 2X Challenge criteria. The toolkit includes concrete examples, case studies and practical exercises that encourage fund managers to take actionable steps to building their internal gender lens investing action plans and was piloted with FinDev Canada fund investees. The training toolkit will be uploaded to an online learning platform for use with clients and the wider gender lens investing industry.