IIX receives US$887K grant from Australian government for gender lens investing
Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), an organisation that aims to provide an innovative approach to finance and enterprise-support for a more inclusive world, announced that it has received US$887,000 (S$1.2 million) from the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The company said that the fund will be used to develop the ecosystem for gender lens investing in Asia, as well as leveraging it to support the growth of 500 impact enterprises across Asia.
IIX’s program is called Equity@Scale, is funded under DFAT’s Frontier Brokers initiative—which focusses on addressing key weaknesses in the current entrepreneurial ecosystem and moving the capital to enterprises.
The program will also provide impact investing ecosystem players (including investors, foundations, banks, financial service providers, lawyers, corporate partners, and mentors) with the tools and resources to apply a gender-lens to their business approaches, processes, and strategies of engagement.
With the main mission of shifting gendered power dynamics in favor of women entrepreneurs and accelerating the growth of gender-lens investing, Equity@Scale will incentivise enterprises to integrate women throughout their value chain.
Gender lens investing refers to the use of finance to create gender equity by incorporating a gender analysis into investment decisions, with the intention to improve outcomes for women.