Gender Lens Investing, Poverty, and You
Angels of Impact event, article by Karen Hobday
On Wednesday, 10 October, I had the pleasure of attending an event hosted by Angels of Impact entitled, ‘Gender Lens Investing, Poverty, and You.’ This event brought together a diverse range of people including investors, corporates and NGOs. Angels of Impact aims to serve and enable women-led social entrepreneurs who are tackling the challenge of poverty eradication in their local communities. Laina Greene, one of the founders, opened the event and discussed the need to invest in woman as only 4% of business loans are allocated to women. Investors should also try to move past solely investing in micro-finance loans and include investment in female-led medium-sized businesses. Laina highlighted that this investment in the ‘missing middle’ is necessary but takes courageous patience as a 7–9% return would likely be experienced after 10–15 years. Investing in women has the potential for great impact; USAID research has found that for every dollar a women earns, up to 90% goes back to her family and community.
The documentary Poverty Inc. was screened which examines the aid industry, revealing some of the inherent flaws within the system. The film highlighted the importance of providing people with opportunities to achieve gainful employment versus the traditional charity-led approach and handouts. Investing in social enterprises is one way to break this model to develop new forms of funding.
The event also highlighted the work of Nazava Water Filters, a social enterprise established in Aceh, Indonesia and endorsed by Angels for Impact. Nazava’s mission is to get safe drinking water to everyone, everywhere. Their business model is manufacturing water filters locally and selling them through women from local groups. Employment has financial and social benefits, as women are empowered to contribute to their community. Lisa Heederick, Nazava’s co-founder, explained that in addition to the health benefits of having clean drinking water, women can save about US$100 per year as the need to boil water is eliminated. Since inception, Nazava has impacted 500,000 people by providing access to safe drinking water. Nazava’s current goal is to reach US$83,000 in investment loans by the end of 2018. Visit their website if you want to learn more about their work.
The article was written by Karen Hobday, Gender and Hygiene Promotion Advisor of Asia P3 Hub.
Karen is an experienced public health consultant with a demonstrated history of working at the World Health Organization, development sector and higher education industry. She is skilled in maternal health, health promotion, sustainable development, humanitarian work, and research design/analysis. Karen is currently undertaking a PhD focused in global maternal health at the Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Australia.
