Roadmap towards Developing a
Gender Lens Investing Strategy

Over the course of seven weeks, NESsT will email you a step-by-step process that you can use you to help guide your organization to develop a gender lens investing (GLI) strategy with your portfolio companies.

The companies that participated in the NESsT pilot vary by business model and awareness of gender-inclusive practices.

We hope that you enjoy the tools, examples and templates that we share along the way so that you are able to develop your own gender inclusive strategies. 

The Five Elements of our Gender Inclusive Strategy

1. DEVELOP quantitative and qualitative metrics that can be easily adopted by enterprises that capture gender dynamics and gender intersectionality.

2. ENSURE that gender equality and inclusion is assessed and supported both at the due diligence and investment stages.

3. UTILIZE the collected metrics to inform enterprise on ways to improve their business practices in order to support gender diversity, wellbeing and close gender disparities for employees and suppliers.

4. INCREASE the representation of women employees and entrepreneurs in leadership positions, reflecting the intersectionality of the communities where your portfolio operates.

5. INFORM the fund investors on key gender outcomes of their investments.

The “How-To” Email Series

NESsT’s current portfolio companies are 51% women-owned yet only 44% of senior management teams are comprised of women. NESsT was challenged to develop gender equtiy and inclusion metrics and practices that could be adapted to a portfolio diverse in terms of sector and business model.

NESsT designed this step-by-step email series to help you to build a pilot that will capture your gender lens impact to date and design a strategy for improving and investing

Why investors can accelerate the adoption of gender equitable practices for SGBs:

1. Most SGBs are interested in learning more about gender inclusive business practices.

2. Given their smaller size and limited resources, SGBs can easily be overwhelmed by too many expectations or obligations for collecting gender metrics or reporting on gender inclusion.

3. A step-by-step approach to gender inclusion is essential for SGBs.

4. One size does not fit all –SGBs that operate in diverse sectors, under different business models and espouse various levels of awareness and commitment to gender equality need tailor-made interventions that include realistic targets specific to their business.

5. Often, policies and practices preventing sexual harassment, anti-discrimination and increasing workplace safety are either not formally adopted or clearly understood by, or communicated to SGBs employees, beneficiaries and suppliers.

6. Convening SGBs and allowing them to learn from one another is an effective strategy for facilitating both introducing gender metrics and adopting gender-friendly and inclusive policies.

7. Testing approaches, piloting tools and providing feedback are all important strategies in supporting the process of gender inclusion.

8. ‘Walk the Talk’ is critical for impact investment funds in applying the same standards to their own internal operations.

In order for the impact investing sector at large, and mainstream investing players to adopt these practices, we have the following challenges to overcome.

1. Lack of robust evidence for the business case for supporting gender equality in SGBs.

2. Tools for addressing implicit gender bias in portfolio companies and in impact investing organizations.

3. Resistance or a lack of understanding among entrepreneurs for the need to adopt formal workplace sexual harassment policies and practices.

4. Social justice enterprises targeting vulnerable groups such as individuals with disabilities overlooking the need to ensure gender inclusive practices.

5. Limited internal resources and capacity by non-profit impact investing funds to provide training and support for SGBs to integrate gender inclusive practices.

What is Gender Lens Investing (GLI)?

For NESsT, this means directing investments to enterprises working to eliminate gender biases in their hiring practices, pay equitable income and provide the same professional development opportunities and level of job security to women as men.

In addition, these enterprises seek to increase the number of women managers in their companies and women owners in their supply chains.

In return, NESsT will support these companies to become equitable and gender inclusive and will move beyond simply quantifying the inclusion of women, toward measuring progress brought about through qualitative and transformative change.

This change will focus on shifting gender norms so that they are no longer reinforcing existing gender stereotypes and labor segregation patterns. These activities will also contribute to making the business case for bringing a gender lens to impact investing. NESsT will capture and assess the intersectionality of gender (such as ethnicity and sexual identity) to help its portfolio companies to understand the interconnected nature of these dynamics and address implicit and explicit biases or inequitable practices that might exist.

Know any entrepreneurs running a social business in South America and raising financing?

This project was supported by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), a program of the Aspen Institute with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ANDE nor IDRC or its Board of Governors.

About NESsT

NESsT is an impact investing fund that is embarking on the process of increasing gender quality within its portfolio company. This guidebook documents the steps NESsT has taken in integrating gender inclusive practices in its portfolio companies. Half of the jobs created by portfolio companies funded by NESsT have employed women and 70% of NESsT’s portfolio SGBs have targeted women as employees, suppliers or as clients.