What does 'gender-smart' mean to you?
posted 10th August 2023
We hosted an event on the untapped opportunity of investing to close gender gaps. Over the course of the evening, we asked founders, CEOs and investors what gender smart means to them. Watch the video below or read on to find out their responses.
This video was originally shared on our LinkedIn page - follow us here.
Adele Aitchison (pictured above), Founder, GrandNanny
"I think gender-smart means looking at opportunities that speak to women and to women's needs and wants.
So, that could be anything from the medical side of things all the way to the social or economic side of things, but specifically how it speaks to, 50% of the population, which is women."
Borja García Fernandez, Head of Structuring and LATAM, Citi Social Finance
"The definition of gender-smart that I normally use is the use of capital to have a financial impact and also to advance gender equality.
It has to be intentional and we have to be able to also measure the impact that we have."
Hannah Samano, Founder, Unfabled
"Gender smart for me means seeing the opportunities that are being crafted out of spaces that are not seen as male as default.
So, when we think about women's health, for example, until 1993, women weren't legally required to be part of clinical trials. And so I think now there's this new wave, very exciting wave of women's health solutions coming up, but the market is still nascent.
And I believe gender-smart investing means taking that bet, investing in the spaces that have been unrepresented historically from a gender perspective, but knowing that it's going to benefit society and probably your pocket, based on the returns women founders have been proven to create in comparison with male founders. I think that is gender-smart."
Greg Smith, CEO, IP Group
"Well, I've learned a lot from the event this evening and gender-smart investing is an even bigger investment opportunity than I had realised.
One of the panellists during the discussion made the point that if you're not backing businesses or not creating businesses that address opportunities and issues that are faced by 50% of the population, then what on earth are you doing?
So, it's a it's a huge opportunity and it's about generating societal good, alongside financial returns, which is very aligned with the IP Group model."
