Jessica Espinoza audio

Gender lens investing is the focus of the webinar. The guest speaker, Jessica Espinoza, is the CEO of 2xGlobal, an organization that promotes gender lens investing. She talks about her background and how she got involved in private equity and venture capital in emerging markets. She then explains the concept of gender lens investing, which involves incorporating a gender perspective into financial analysis for better outcomes. The 2x Challenge, launched at the G7 Summit, aims to shift more capital with a gender lens. The challenge has been a success, with over $27 billion of gender lens investment raised so far. The 2x Criteria is a framework for gender lens investing, which includes criteria such as entrepreneurship and ownership, leadership, and employment. All right. Thanks for joining everyone today. This is our first webinar in a while and the first webinar of June 2024, titled Gender Lens Investing, Turbocharging Startup Investments with 2xGlobal. Today we have with here our guest speaker, Jessica Espinoza. She is the CEO of 2xGlobal, a global industry body for gender lens investing, supported by United Nations SCAP, convening the entire spectrum of capital providers. She is also chair of the 2xChallenge that has raised more than US$27 billion of gender lens investment since its launch at the G7 Summit in 2018. Jessica has a track record in originating, structuring and executing debt, mezzanine and equity deals in emerging and frontier markets with a strong focus on inclusive innovation. The latest innovation she is spearheading with 2x colleagues is 2xIgnite, a bold facility to unlock capital for gender-centered businesses at scale by backing female lens fund managers. Prior to her current role, Jessica was vice president for private equity and venture capital investments at DEG or KFW. She was also a member of the management board at ProCredit Bank Nicaragua, responsible for the business plans division and managed the Africa Regional Office of Microfinance Transparency. Welcome Jessica, we're so happy to have you here. Thank you so much and very happy to be here. All right, thanks everyone for joining. I'm sure guests will keep trickling in, but let us start and the first question we always like to ask our guest speakers is learning about your background, which all starts with where did you grow up and what did you aspire to be when you were younger? So I grew up in the south of Germany in a small university town called Tübingen. It's relatively small, but because it's a university town, sometimes it's known internationally, so you may have heard of it. And when I grew up, I always, so since I was a little child, I always wanted to travel the world, get to know other cultures and regions and live abroad. And what exactly I wanted to do kind of changed over time. Once I wanted to be an astronaut, then I wanted to be with Doctors Without Borders and travel the world. And I wanted to be a human rights lawyer, so all kinds of different ideas. But I always knew that I wanted to create positive impact in the world and that I wanted to work internationally. All right, all right. Nice. Then how did you get involved with private equity in emerging markets? So I actually started my career in financial inclusion, so starting in microfinance in different regions. So I did an initial internship in Singapore and was in Southeast Asia. Then I had my first roles in microfinance in Latin America, starting in Mexico, then moving to the Andean region, so Ecuador, Bolivia, and then also Nicaragua, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa. So I was for some time leading the office, the Regional Africa Office of Microfinance Transparency and working with microfinance institutions across that region. And what I really liked about microfinance and financial inclusion was that it provided entrepreneurs, and particularly women entrepreneurs, with the tools to grow a business, to start a business, grow a business, become financially independent, and create impact in their communities. But I also, during that time, saw kind of the limitations of microfinance. And that was in particular when women entrepreneurs wanted to grow their businesses beyond micro to become small and growing businesses, and often that's where their access to capital stopped. And so from there, I decided to go more into SME banking. I joined the ProCredit Banking Group, as Zakir just mentioned, and there I was really looking at how can we help small businesses grow to the medium stage. So how can a business grow from micro to small to medium and still have access to capital? But I also realized during that time, again, that there was this other space that was private equity and venture capital that was quite interesting. So beyond debt financing, more kind of risk capital, and that's when I decided to move into that space as well. So I joined the GED, the German Development Finance Institution, initially invested both equity and debt into financial institutions that then created impact for entrepreneurs on the ground, but then also started getting more involved in fund investments and kind of helping funds shape their investment strategy to get to growing businesses across emerging markets. So it's been an interesting journey and kind of seeing the pros and cons as well as different financial instruments and mechanisms. Yeah, it's been quite an interesting ride. Thank you for sharing your story with us. So now let's move on to your current role at 2X Global and let's talk about gender-lens investing. And my first question is, can you define gender-lens investing and explain its significance in the global investment landscape and how it differs from traditional investing approaches? Also, I'm very curious what drove you to be at the forefront of gender-lens investing? Great question. Perhaps let me start with the second question and then kind of also address what it means, because it's been an interesting journey into gender-lens investing. And when I got into the space, there wasn't yet a very clear definition. So let me start with the journey. And I've also prepared a few slides just to kind of illustrate some of the points and give you an impression of the journey. I hope you can see the slides well. So in 2018, I was with DG, the German Development Finance Institution, and together with colleagues from the other DFIs, so the Development Finance Institutions of the G7 countries, we decided to launch the 2X Challenge at the G7 Summit. And that was at a time when most institutions did not yet have any focus on gender. So they thought by being gender-neutral, so just kind of ignoring gender, that they would equally reach women entrepreneurs and men entrepreneurs, as well as businesses that benefit men and women equally. But the more kind of we looked at portfolios, the more we realized that they were quite male-dominated and that we were missing opportunities to reach women. And so the 2X Challenge started as a collective capital commitment with the slogan, invest in women, invest in the world, which also already spoke to the fact that there is a strong business case, but also an impact case for investing in women, because they in turn invest in their communities, they provide for their families. And so there's also positive ripple effects in terms of impact for kind of beyond the household for the wider community. And when we started with the 2X Challenge, we knew that our goal was to shift more capital with a gender lens. So we wanted more capital to flow to businesses that are led by women, as well as businesses that benefit women across emerging markets. But also at the time, there wasn't yet a clear definition of what we actually mean by gender lens investing. It was still relatively new. What was there at the time was the definition that said gender lens investing means that you incorporate gender analysis into financial analysis for better outcomes. So that kind of already gave you an indication, okay, instead of just focusing on financial analysis, we're also including a gender perspective, and we hope to get better outcomes. But it wasn't really clear what exactly we mean by that, and how exactly in practice it would differ from our traditional approaches. And so with the 2X Challenge, we gave ourselves, so the DFIs, a collective target of $3 billion that we wanted to collectively invest. And we also committed to creating a shared framework of what we mean by gender lens investing. Fast forward, this is the figure you just heard in the introduction. We have significantly overachieved that initial target, and that's been a huge success globally. Because at the beginning, there was quite some skepticism, you know, $3 billion, would we really be able to achieve that? And as of today, we're at over $27 billion. So it's been a real success story and has also illustrated the opportunity of investing in businesses that benefit women. Here you can see a bit more detail. So this is from the last round of the 2X Challenge. So from 2021 to 2022, we've done several rounds. And in that round alone, our participating investors supported almost 500 businesses across emerging markets. And you can see here kind of the region. So for example, in South Asia, it's $2.5 billion that went there. It's relatively equal across all regions. And you can also, I think you can see it so clearly here, it's the red one is what the DFIs have invested. And the yellow and blue is what other investors contributed as well. So we were able to crowd in private sector investors, other types of investors who joined these investment opportunities. Now to the question what it actually means, we also developed the 2X Criteria. And let me zoom in a little bit so it's not too overwhelming. So the 2X Criteria is actually quite a simple framework that has now been widely adopted by investors around the world. And there are five criteria plus a sixth one, which is for financial intermediaries. But for the purpose of the types of businesses here today, we can focus on the first five. And so the criteria look at entrepreneurship and ownership. So companies owned by women and founded by women. So at least 51% ownership or at least 50-50 founded by a woman. Then leadership, looking at the share of women in senior management and the share of women on the board of directors. The third one is employment, where we look at the share of women in the workforce as well as a quality employment indicator that goes beyond the legal minimum. So what this means is, for example, say you have a company that employs 80% women. That's great, of course, but we want to make sure that that employment is quality employment. So if they are in terrible working conditions, that wouldn't count. The quality employment indicator is, for example, that beyond basic labor rights, etc., which are required in a compliance framework, that the company has policies and practices that really proactively promote gender equality and women's career advancement. That could be, for example, that they're doing a really great job on equal pay or that they have, for example, promote equal care. So say, for example, they have child care support or that they have, for example, a promotion policy that makes sure that women get promoted equally to men. Or they might have internal targets to progress women to leadership roles. Maybe they have mentoring programs. So it's quite a diverse spectrum, but the idea is that there's more than just employing women, that they actually provide an enabling environment as well. The fourth one, supply chain. So this doesn't necessarily apply to all businesses, but some we've seen in recent years are really committed to women in the supply chain as well. So that could be, say, for example, if you as a business are sourcing from, say, from small farmers and maybe you focus on sourcing from women farmers. Or it could also be a company in any other sector and maybe that company has made a public commitment to, in terms of their procurement of goods and services, that they want to procure more from women-led businesses. It could also be a commitment, for example, to focus on women workers in the supply chain and ensuring that they have a good job. So it really depends on the context and the sector. But in the supply chain, that's another criteria where businesses can have a focus on women. And then finally, a really great one as well, products and services that enhance the well-being of women and girls or that drive gender equity. So what this means is that it's, for example, a product or service that's specifically designed for the needs of women or girls. And it shouldn't be like the joke kind of example is often lipstick. That wouldn't necessarily count because that wouldn't be strong enough to say that this enhances women's economic participation or their well-being. So what we're looking here is more something like, for example, financial independence or women's health. Or I know that several of you I spoke to already also have a focus on products and services. So for example, if you consider women's safety when traveling, for example, in a product or service, that would be a gender-lens product or service. Or when you provide any other services or goods that are really targeted at improving the quality of life of women and girls in meaningful ways. So those are the criteria. What is expected to be considered aligned with the two X criteria? You don't have to meet all of them. It's great if you do or if you try to improve over time. But at the minimum, the expectation is that a business meets one of them and then makes a time-bound commitment to a second one. So say, for example, let's assume you're a women-owned business and you, as a second one, maybe you also meet employment. Or if you don't meet it yet, you could make a time-bound commitment. So you could say, within the next five years, I want to also reach the employment criteria. What it means when it says here varies is we have developed a new, more context-specific tool. So, for example, leadership, it used to be minimum 30%. But now we've made it more context-specific. In your case, you would look at this tool that we've linked here. I can show it to you in a moment. You would insert Bangladesh and say, for example, transport sector or agribusiness sector. And then the tool gives you the threshold. So it's at least 30%. But in some local contexts and some sectors, it's slightly higher because we see that already the country sector average is higher than 30%. So it's always aiming to be a little bit higher than what's already kind of the norm. So those are the criteria. And I'm happy to share a bit more later on how investors use the criteria. But when, for example, an investor asks you, are you aligned with the 2x criteria or do you meet the criteria? What they mean is, do you meet at least one of these criteria? Ideally, a second one as well. And are you able to set a target or make a commitment that you will meet another one of these over time? I'm going to pause here and happy to jump deeper. But to continue the conversation, I hope that answers the question. It was a great presentation and there were a lot of details and I enjoyed learning all those. And I want to right now give the floor to our audience here if they have any questions right now. If not, then we can proceed to our next segment and we can always return to our discussion. Okay. I guess then we can move on to our next theme, which is how to navigate the global investment landscape with generalist investing. So I know that there's plenty of opportunities. What I would be curious to know about is what are the future trends in generalist investing that I should be aware of as a founder? And are there any specific countries or sectors where generalist investing is becoming more prevalent or growing rapidly? Great questions as well. So I think it's really a global trend. So I wouldn't say that there's necessarily a specific country or region or sector where we see more momentum. I think traditionally, at least on the Detroit Challenge, it's been focusing a bit more on like either on bigger businesses, so more established businesses, or on businesses, sorry, on financial intermediaries, so either funds or financial institutions that in turn lend, for example, that are microfinance institutions that lend to women entrepreneurs, or that are financial institutions that provide capital to SMEs. So it's a bit more intermediated. And there's a lot of work that's been going on with banks and funds and broader financial institutions, including microfinance institutions. And that's, for example, I would say what we've seen a lot in South Asia, so including Bangladesh, is a lot through financial intermediaries, so either funds, financial institutions, microfinance institutions, et cetera. But more recently, in recent years, we've also seen really a lot of momentum in like more of the early stage finance, and have also seen that, for example, especially VC funds and impact funds have really adopted the two X criteria and have a much more intentional gender lens investing strategy. So I would almost say that most of the funds that I, at least that I meet at conferences and when traveling and so on, they have some kind of a gender lens today. It might not be, you know, the front and center number one criteria yet, but they definitely are familiar with the two X criteria and are increasingly interested in this. And then what's also exciting is, you know, kind of to where we are today, the angel networks as well, increasingly see the business and impact case. And many of them, you know, have a longstanding track record also of supporting women entrepreneurs. And I think that's exciting because there's already so much that has been happening and really phenomenal businesses that have been supported by angel networks, that by adopting the criteria, you can also show, you know, show the world even more what you're already doing and how it fits within this framework of gender lens investing. So I, yeah, so in summary, kind of answering that particular question about a specific, you know, focus areas, I would say that it's really a global trend and it's across all sectors and geographies. When it comes to the specific kind of trends that would be good to be aware of, I'm going to share my screen again to just highlight a few trends. So one is a really important trend is this nexus of gender and climate finance. That's something that's really top of mind for many investors. And we as 2X have developed together with a number of investors a toolkit, a climate finance toolkit that focuses on gender, which we also launched at COP at the Global Climate Summit. And that shows investors the opportunity of investing at this nexus of gender and climate. And so it shows, for example, if you were in agriculture, food and forestry, what does it look like to have both a gender and a climate lens? Or if you are in transport, you know, what does it look like if you're in water supply and sanitation or manufacturing? So it really goes into all of these sector opportunities and shows how can you focus on climate as well as on gender. And it's not either gender or climate, but it's really this nexus. You know, how can we make climate finance more effective, recognizing that women play such an important role in climate action, for example, in addition to being most affected by climate change? So I think this is an interesting tool. It's mostly for investors, but it's helpful, I think, for businesses as well to be aware, you know, of what investors are looking for and that this climate gender nexus is an important trend at the moment. The other thing, jumping ahead a little bit, what we've seen is kind of more thematic lenses. And I know this is a little bit complex, so don't worry too much about the graphics. But what I shared with you on the TREX criteria are these dimensions, right? So it's looking at ownership and entrepreneurship, at leadership, employment, supply chain products and services. So these dimensions is kind of looking at the business value chain and where you can have an impact on women. But in addition to that, we've also seen that there are kind of cross-cutting themes that investors are now really interested in. And one theme is, for example, JEDI, which is justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, that looks at aspects of diversity beyond gender. So it's looking at women, but it's also looking at, you know, maybe women who are internally displaced or who are migrants, or women who have, you know, socioeconomic backgrounds that have been more marginalized, or looking at women who are, you know, perhaps single mothers, or young women or old women. So it's also looking at a broader diversity. And in some regions, there's a lot about, you know, also kind of racial equity or ethnicity and opportunities. So that's an interesting lens. And I think, for example, for those of you who may have more of a focus on women at the bottom of the pyramid, that could also be an interesting lens or, you know, important to be aware that this is a trend among investors as well to look at that intersectionality. The other one I mentioned is climate. We also see gender-based violence and harassment as an important thematic priority for investors. And that's, for example, if you have something, a product or service or a business model that focuses on women's safety, that could be, you know, an important trend to be aware of and to present your business in that way. And health and well-being is an important one, which is quite broad. So it can mean different things in different contexts. But the overall notion of health and well-being is quite important to many investors increasingly as well. And then what I mentioned, equal pay, as well as what's really interesting is kind of this aspect of the care economy. So there's a lot of momentum at the moment in how do you invest in the care economy? How can businesses provide support for, for example, their employees who have care responsibilities? How can we promote more equal care? And it's recognizing that women often are still, due to social norms, you know, shouldering the largest share of unpaid care work. And in addition to being entrepreneurs and employees and leaders, so how can we also alleviate or provide new solutions that allow women and men to balance, you know, paid work with unpaid care responsibilities? So those are some of the thematic trends that would be, that would be good to be aware of. And I'm just checking. Yeah, I think those are the main trends I would highlight. Any questions from the audience? Okay, I'll ask one on behalf of them. Now that there are so many opportunities, and I can see so many different fields, especially for impact-related, if I'm a founder, now that I know all this, what steps would you recommend? Hello? Hello? Hello, did I miss someone? Hello? I think I heard someone speak. I think she just went offline. Okay. So shall I continue while she comes back? Okay. So my question was, now that I know that these opportunities are there, if you, if I was a founder, a woman entrepreneur, what steps would you recommend me to take to be positioned for these opportunities in this space? So I would recommend that you take a look at the 2x criteria. And I'm just going to show them again. So that was the framework that I shared. I know this slide looks a bit overwhelming, but it's, as I mentioned, it's actually relatively straightforward when you look at the specific criteria. And on this website, and that we're going to share with you as well, it's open access. You can find much more information about the criteria, also further guidance. So take a look at the criteria and assess your business against the criteria. So which ones do you already need? Which ones do you think you could meet in the future? Are you able to make a time-bound commitment? Are you able to say, maybe in two years from now, I want to meet one of them or in five years from now? What's realistic in your context? And which ones are you already meeting? What's been interesting for me in some of these one-on-one sessions, I've already seen that I think everybody I spoke to already met at least one or several of them. So if you're a woman entrepreneur, you will already meet the first one. And that's actually the one that often investors are most interested in because that's where we also see the biggest gaps when it comes to access to finance and entrepreneurship. And so that's the focus for many investors. But then also, on the leadership side, do you already meet that one? Are there opportunities for you to meet it in the future? What about employment? Are there perhaps, maybe you already employ a significant number of women, but are there any other things that you could provide on the quality side? As I mentioned, there's so many things that you could do to enhance the quality of employment or promote women's empowerment among the workforce. And then is there anything you might do on the supply chain and how you purchase products and services that you need? And then on your own products and services, are there opportunities to design more with women and girls in mind and to develop new products for the community? And so I would recommend that you self-assess against the criteria. You can do it using the website. I think it's relatively straightforward just to do it manually, to go through the criteria and see which ones you are able to meet. But we also have a self-assessment tool with our partner Equilobe.io. It's a separate website where you can also take a self-assessment tool and it asks you survey questions and at the end you get the result of how you meet the criteria and what else you could do. And then secondly, once you've done that analysis, I would see how you can highlight in your pitch deck that you are a gender-smart business. So an easy way to appeal to investors is to show very clearly on a slide in your pitch deck how your business meets the 2X criteria so that if they are looking for 2X-aligned businesses, they can easily see that you already meet the criteria and how you meet them. To give you an example, I'm currently at this conference in the U.S. and yesterday I met with an entrepreneur who has a really interesting social housing project in Latin America. When he talks about the business, it's very clear that it's benefiting women. But when he spoke to investors, they all said, well, tell me how you meet the 2X criteria. I need to know exactly how you meet the criteria. And so even when you tell the story and it's quite obvious that you're benefiting women, investors increasingly want to see exactly how it fits within the criteria framework. And so it's just helpful if you have a slide in your pitch deck that makes it easy for them to understand that. Then you could also take a closer look at the thematic lenses. So do you perhaps have a focus on climate or on broader diversity and inclusion? Maybe you're not only focusing on women, but maybe also on other more disadvantaged communities. Or are you doing anything where you have a focus on health and well-being? So thinking also a bit about some of these cost-cutting trends, I think, could also be really interesting to bring that out in your conversations with investors and in your materials. Okay. So if we do run the assessment, what is the next step after? So if you run the assessment and you put it into the pitch deck, the next step would be to connect with investors who are interested in gender-lens investing and who may be looking for these opportunities. And I have a few slides and recommendations as well about how you might find and approach investors. But I think we'll get there a little bit later in the flow. Sakya, I don't know if you want me to share it now or if you just want to continue the other conversation. Just a little bit later, let's talk about, I'm curious to know about who are involved in the 2X Global Network, as well as a bit about the different initiatives you have, including 2X Challenge and 2X Ignite. I know we've spoken a bit, but if there's anything. Great. Yeah. So 2X Global, maybe to provide a bit of a bigger picture, because I spoke a lot about the 2X Challenge, but our work is much broader than that. So we're a global industry body for gender-lens investing, and we have a global network of members, now over 150 member institutions who are the development finance institutions that I mentioned from the 2X Challenge, but it also includes angel networks, as well as VC funds, private equity funds, debt funds, other types of capital providers like private foundations, family offices, financial intermediaries like MFIs, financial institutions, banks. So it's a really broad spectrum, and our members provide everything from capitalistic grant capital to early-stage finance, debt equity mezzanine, all the way to quite commercial capital. So it's the whole capital continuum. And for our members, we engage in peer learning, developing shared toolkits like the climate toolkit that I showed you earlier, and also co-investing and collaborating on opportunities and sharing pipelines, for example. So that's one area. The second area is our standard-setting work. So the 2X criteria are not only used by our own members, but they have quickly become a global industry standard for gender-length investing. So a lot of actors who are not necessarily in our network or direct network, but who are doing gender-length investing or who are interested in this opportunity are using the 2X criteria. And so the 2X criteria, as such, are also a public good that investors and other stakeholders have adopted and that have also been harmonized and integrated into other impact measurement frameworks, for example. I don't know if you're familiar with the Iris Plus standard of the Global Impact Investing Network, but they're kind of other frameworks that focus on impact that have incorporated the 2X criteria as a standard. And so what we've been doing over the last year is to now create a certification mechanism, 2X certification, which kind of takes the 2X criteria to the next level, where we have those thematic areas as well that I mentioned, something like the climate lens or health and well-being, broader diversity. And 2X certification is something that we're currently piloting and will be fully launching later this year as an independent certification mechanism that companies and funds can take advantage of. And then kind of the third area of 2X Global is to shift and shape markets. And that's where we are also raising some of our own catalytic investment vehicles, because we've seen that despite the success of the 2X challenge that has unlocked so many billions, there's still kind of some areas where capital isn't flowing and where we would like to see much more action. And so one area is the Climate Gender Equity Fund, which 2X Global is managing. That could also be interesting for several of you, where we are providing grant capital to innovative businesses at the nexus of gender and climate. Another example here is 2X Ignite, where we are running an accelerator program for emerging women-led fund managers that have gender-smart investing strategies, and where we are also raising an investment facility to support these funds, who then in turn invest in gender-smart businesses. And I can share a bit more about those initiatives when we come to how to find investors, because it's kind of connected. But that kind of overall is what 2X Global does. So we are a membership network of investors. We're also a field-building organization that's creating standards and the broader ecosystem. And then we also have some capital initiatives where we are ourselves providing capital in areas where we see that it's needed to have that demonstration effect for other investors to come in. Thank you, Jessica. And before we move on to the investors part, I just have two questions about the best practices for fostering gender diversity in startups, in case we have missed any or if there are some more details we can benefit from knowing. One is, what steps can I take to ensure my team reflects a genuine commitment to gender diversity and that it's just not for performance? And are there any best practices I should follow to ensure that my embedded business model supports gender equity? Yeah, great question. So I think it's, you know, what's interesting about startups is that you have an opportunity to do things differently than other businesses that have a lot of history and legacy. And so while you may not have everything in place yet that an established business has, you have an opportunity to really focus on this intentionality, so this idea that you intentionally build your company in a way that promotes gender equality and equal opportunity. And for instance, you may not yet have, you know, many written policies or processes because it's a startup, right? So maybe you don't yet have an equal pay policy or like a parental leave policy or an equal opportunity policy or everything that's written down. But what we typically see in startups is that they have really good practices. They may not be incorporated in a policy, but the way they live and act, you know, it's kind of as if there was like a really positive policy. And so I think one aspect, especially as you start talking to investors, is thinking about how you can codify some of these good practices into written policies, which is kind of a low-hanging fruit because often you are already doing it, you just don't have it documented in a policy. And that kind of helps you also institutionalize, you know, your values, your philosophy, and your approach a bit more. The other aspect I think is, and that's kind of what's coming through your question as well, is how can you be really intentional so that you're not just, you know, kind of ticking the boxes, right? It's easy to look at some gender criteria and say tick, tick, tick, you know, kind of done, I'm eating those. But how can you also build like a gender-smart culture? So the way you interact with your team every day, you know, the way you conduct business, like having also that awareness and perhaps having it more anchored in your values as well for the companies, how can you make sure that gender equality and this commitment to women's empowerment is really part of your DNA and that it, you know, that it can't easily be lost when the company scales and further grows. So that's a bit less, you know, tangible because it's a lot about culture and values and living it, by example, every day. But where we've seen the greatest impact is where founders really have this intentionality and work with their teams to, you know, to live those good practices day in, day out, but also make sure that it's not just something that's on top of what you do, but that it's really part of how you do business and how you create your company. I think the other aspect is when you start with the 2x criteria and see how you're already, you know, aligned, maybe think further, like what else could you do in every one of these areas? And where do you see a connection between, you know, promoting gender equality or meeting some of the 2x criteria as well as your business performance and the impact you want to see in your community or in the world? Because there are all of these really interesting, you know, statistics that we even haven't even gone through in this conversation today, but that by having more gender equality in a company, for example, more women in leadership or more gender-balanced teams, that there's also a stronger company performance. And that's a key reason why investors are also looking at gender lens investing. So, you know, can you also make some of these indicators perhaps that you track or some KPIs on gender, can you link them also to your business KPIs so that, you know, you're not just doing this on top, but it's really part of how you do business and if gender becomes a driver of business performance. And similarly, with the impact you want to see in the world, if maybe the impact you want to have is, you know, on I don't know, like say poverty alleviation, right? Like how does this focus on women's empowerment also help you reach those other impact goals? Or if you're focusing on climate, how can the focus on gender equality and women's participation also help you to get to better climate outcomes because you recognize that women play an important role in climate action. So, like really bringing it, you know, to the essence of your business, I think is an opportunity in particular for startups because it's much harder to change when you already have an established business, but when you are still dynamic and growing, there's so much you can do with intentionality. That was super helpful and insightful, Jessica. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. And now moving on to the next segment, how to pitch to gender smart investors. So, the first question, what specific criteria do gender lens investors look for in potential investments and how can founders tailor their business plan and due diligence materials as such? Are there any specific metrics or evidence data points that founders should highlight when pitching to gender smart investors? Great question. So, first of all, I think it's really important to, you know, kind of to segment your, the universe of investors and who is a good fit for you. And then also to do some research about what they are looking for and how you can, you know, speak to them and appeal to them. So, the first thing is, even all gender lens investors are quite diverse. So, they have, investors are quite diverse. So, they have, you know, different ticket sizes, they invest at different stages. You know, some are seed or even pre-seed and then, you know, series A, B, C, et cetera. So, kind of at what stage do they invest? What are the ticket sizes? You know, do they have any sector focus? Like having kind of that basic understanding and then also looking at what their approach to gender lens investing. Most of them are probably using the 2X criteria or a 2X member. So, then it's, you know, kind of easy to speak in that way. But some of them may be more interested in women-founded and owned companies. Others may be more interested in jobs for women, you know, so also looking at from their website and the materials that are available or even when we have the first conversation, asking those questions and really understanding what resonates with them and what they are looking for. Let me share a few slides just to get into, you know, how can you find investors and some opportunities and then how can you also think about pitching to them or what they might be most interested in. So, one place to start is, of course, our 2X global membership. And on the website, I've included the link here, you can always see the latest, you know, kind of overview of members. So, you can see, say, for example, the first one is ADB, the Asian Development Bank. They are, of course, like a huge institution in your region. So, you know, regional fit would be there. But as a development finance institution, they are quite big. So, they may be more focused on established businesses and, you know, maybe also have bigger ticket sizes than you may need at this stage. But they do also, when you do a bit more research, you will see that they also have ADB ventures. So, that's much more focused on ventures. So, could there be, you know, could that be potentially a fit? Or you could see ADB invests a lot in financial intermediaries. So, that could be MFIs, other financial institutions or funds. So, could you see who receives ADB funding and then, you know, look at, okay, maybe I can't get it directly from ADB, but ADB is investing into this fund. And this fund, you know, has an impact lens, gender lens, and focuses on countries including Bangladesh. So, could that be an interesting, you know, kind of investor for me? And then, yeah, you see many others, you know, not all of them are in your region. Some of them are quite, doing quite big tickets. But those are also the asset owners. So, they are typically bigger. So, let's take a look at the asset managers. So, here, for example, you see much smaller funds including, you know, for example, the Global Innovations Fund or SWIFT Capital or Symbiotics. So, those are more the financial intermediaries or, for example, AWE funds in India. So, they are typically more in the, like, smaller tickets, more early stage. Some of them are more private equity, but some of them are definitely also more early stage. And you can take a look at what they are interested in, you know, both in terms of what they are able to offer commercially. So, what are their key terms? Like, for example, do they provide grants or debt or equity or mezzanine or what is the instrument? And then, what's the ticket size? Do they have a sector preference and focus? And what are they interested in when it comes to impact? You will probably see that many of them are interested in 2X and in gender, but they may also have additional impact objectives, you know, such as, for example, jobs or maybe bottom of the pyramid or climate or whatever it may be. And is there an opportunity for you to frame your story and your impact in a way that speaks to them? So, it's almost like, you know, thinking about, say, you're taking a different scenario, somebody applying for a job and tailoring the CV according to the specific job description or the type of company that they submit the CV to, you know, like also tailoring your pitch so that it resonates with the kind of investor you're speaking to. You can also ask them questions. So, when you have the first conversation, you know, maybe instead of immediately jumping into pitching, asking them a few questions so you get a better sense of what they are looking for, and then you can also tailor your pitch a bit more to what resonates with them. And we've done more recently research on, like globally, on gender-length investment funds. So, we've done a mapping of all gender-length investment funds we were able to find or who participated in this research. And so, Project Catalyst is a report that's available for free on our website where you can see a full list of gender-length investment funds. It's not, it's probably not all funds that are available in the world. So, you know, it's also those who participated, but it's quite a long list and impressive list of funds across all markets globally that have a gender length. So, that could be another way to look for investors that might be a good fit for you or at least that are aligned when it comes to gender equality. The other thing I mentioned, Twix Ignite, where we have this accelerator for women-led funds. And so, I've also summarized here those funds who went through our accelerator. Again, they're not all necessarily investing in Bangladesh, but I think it's worth taking a look at them, you know, just to see might some of them be a good fit. Maybe also if you're thinking about expanding, I know some of you are thinking about expanding to other markets. So, you may also be, there may be an opportunity to look at other investors in other regions or in other countries of your region. So, taking a look at them could also be interesting, and many of them are much more early stage as well. So, for example, Sheila Tech Asia, you probably know, maybe you also know the Beacon Fund. So, those are some interesting ones to take a look at. Then I mentioned our China Gender Equity Fund. So, that's a fund, a pure grant fund that's managed by Twix Global. This was founded by USAID, Amazon, RECCIT, UPS Foundation, and Visa Foundation. So, it's a fund that was originally started by USAID, and they selected Twix Global as the fund manager. And so, under CJEP, the Climate Gender Equity Fund, we at Twix Global are doing about two funding rounds per year, where we put out a call for proposals, and businesses as well as funds and networks can submit a proposal. And the grants are usually between $300,000 and $1 million, and it's grant funding for impact at the nexus of gender and climate. So, that might also just be an interesting opportunity to be aware of. Yeah, and then there's Twix certification that I mentioned. So, we expect that with the full launch of certification, there will also be more of an appetite among investors to look for Twix certified businesses. We've consciously developed our methodology in a way that is not overwhelming for startups. So, that could also be an opportunity to get an official So, those are some ideas. I hope I answered the questions, but maybe we can open it back up for questions. And also, Zakiya, if you have more questions, because I know the question you asked about what resonates with investors is a huge question. So, there's a lot we could discuss. No, nothing from my end. I think all the questions I had, I got all the information. It was a great session. Thank you so much. for organizing it. Thanks, Jessica. Thanks, Zakiya. Thank you, Sylvia. Thank you. I do have one or two questions, which is, what questions are gender-smart investors likely to ask, and how should founders prepare to answer them? And are there any common mistakes that founders should avoid? So, I think it depends a bit on your business, what exactly they would ask. But they typically ask questions along the criteria. So, they would ask, okay, let's assume you're a woman entrepreneur. So, they will say, okay, great. Founded by a woman. How much ownership do you still have? Especially if you've raised previous rounds, they will probably want to see how diluted you are you already got, or if you're still owning the majority or even everything, like the whole company. Then they will probably ask questions about your leadership, your team, which they would do in any case. But now they want to also know about the gender composition of your team, your leadership team, your broader team. If you have the data on your customer base, the products and services, the impact you want to have. What's also interesting is some investors kind of have an interest at different stages along the value chain. So, some are really interested in supporting women entrepreneurs. So, for them, the main aspect is that this is a woman founded and led business and that they are supporting women entrepreneurs. But other investors are much more interested in the ultimate impact. So, the ultimate impact that your business is having, what's the impact on women at the last mile? That could be as women who are your customers or women you are serving with your products and services, or maybe women in the community who somehow benefit from your business. So, where investors place the emphasis kind of depends on the investor, but typically they will ask kind of questions along the value chain and all of the HREX criteria. Then what we're seeing is that if, for example, the company is male founded and male led, they will ask a lot more questions about how they are thinking about gender diversity going forward. So, if it's very early stage, are they thinking about bringing in a co-founder who might be a woman, or how are they thinking about their leadership team? Are they hiring women? There will be much more scrutiny because the starting point is that it's a male-led company, whereas if it's a female-led company, they may ask more questions like, okay, great, this business is founded by a woman, but are you also committed to promoting impact for other women? What does it look like in terms of employment for women, or how are you thinking, again, about your customer base? So, it kind of depends where you're already strong, and then where they see further opportunities that they will probably dive in and ask questions. Just thinking, what was the other, sorry, what was the second question you asked again? Just on any common mistakes that founders should avoid. Yeah, common mistakes. I think, like, you know, it's not only related to gender, but also more broadly, I think over-promising, you know, an impact that may be hard to measure or prove. But also, I think what we also know, you know, again, in any area of business is that often women entrepreneurs are more modest in how they, you know, present their successes and their impact. So, I also wouldn't undersell what you're doing from, you know, those conversations I've already had and what I've heard that many of you are doing. It's really impressive. Like, you can be really, really proud of what you're doing, not only on gender, but also on impact more broadly, and, you know, what you are achieving with your business. So, I think also just having, you know, like, that confidence and speaking to that, I think, is really important. And so, I think that in terms of mistake, maybe, you know, over-selling and then, like, over-promising, and then it may be hard to actually measure it. So, you know, if you say, for example, we will reach a million women by 2035, you know, can you really, like, is that really realistic? Can you really measure it and not over-promise? But also, not undersell yourself. You know, if you're already doing amazing things, like, don't make yourself too small or, you know, undervalue what you're doing, because I know that from what I've heard, you do amazing things and you have amazing success metrics. So, you know, like, really speak to those as well and just, like, be in a position to back them up in case they ask further questions. And then I think the other, maybe, thing to avoid is not making very clear in your pitch deck all the great things that you are doing and have already achieved. So, like, I hope that also the Twix Criteria Framework helps you to structure your impact and, you know, your metrics so that it's easier to communicate it, because sometimes we're doing so much that it's hard to fit it into a pitch deck. And I think the biggest risk is that investors take a look and they just miss the essential part, you know, to see the key facts on what you're actually doing and how you are aligned to what they are looking for. Great. Thank you so much. And I know we're an hour in. We just have one last segment left. And thanks so much for your time so far. And the last segment is the success stories of startups who did focus on genuineness investing. So, can you provide examples of how companies have benefited from the network of Twix Global? Plus, are there any case studies or testimonials from other founders who have successfully leveraged genuineness investing and any key factors that contributed to their success? So, I think, I mean, you know, a really great example in terms of, like, what gender impact looks like, I think, are you in the room, because you have really amazing businesses. But maybe to highlight some case studies or success stories who've been part of the Twix network already are, if you look at the latest round of Cartier Fellows that were announced, I don't know if you know the Cartier Women's Initiative, but it's quite a prestigious award where they, you know, just announced the latest cohort of fellows. And there was a big event, like an award ceremony in China, a lot of publicity and momentum on social media around the announcement of the winners. And these women entrepreneurs are, you know, also very early stage. Many of them are still raising or haven't even raised yet, like they're just in fundraising. But they have amazing solutions that, you know, that are women-led and that have a positive impact, like, in different areas. And so, one of the winners is the entrepreneur Jessica Menon, who's the CEO and founder of Equolo. And Equolo is a tech startup that uses kind of gender data and analysis to help investors and other organizations make sense of data and, you know, make more data-informed decisions. And what's been really interesting about their story is they've been very close to Twix from the beginning. They've been using the Twix criteria and applied them to their business. And so, you know, they're already women-owned, women-founded, women-led. But they've also been really thinking about, in hiring, you know, making hiring decisions and bringing their team on board, whether it's their developers or, you know, other employees. How are they thinking about the gender composition of their team and the diversity more broadly of the team? And then they don't have yet a lot of written policies because they are a startup. But, you know, what are some of the, like, what are their core values? What's the culture they want to create? And how do they link that to, you know, to gender equality and concrete, like, workplace policies and practices? Even if perhaps they're not always documented, you know, but, like, what's their philosophy? What's their approach to business? And then also their product and services have a gender lens because they focus on gender data and, you know, helping gender lens investors becoming more tech-savvy and exploring digital solutions to some of their challenges. And they received this award, you know, because of all the amazing things they've been doing, but I think also because of how they have positioned themselves, you know, under the 2x criteria framework. And they also got a strong recommendation from the 2x network. So when the team who's providing this award, they do diligence to see, you know, if they should be a winner or not. They reached out to the 2x network for references, and they got really strong references because people knew them, you know, they were using the criteria and the framework, they were quite known to everybody, and people saw the value of their business. And I think that's because, on the one hand, they do amazing work, but on the second hand as well, you know, on the other hand, because they are so visible, like, they clearly position themselves and always, like, emphasize their impact on gender equality and the 2x criteria. So I think that also really helps. And then we've also put them in contact with a number of investors from our network, and they're currently, you know, exploring, do they want to take investment capital? Do they prefer to continue to be bootstrapped? Is there maybe a better opportunity to get revenue? So we're also trying to get them more business so that they, like, they're currently thinking, you know, is it better for me to take an equity investment, for example, and give up part of my ownership, or because they're already generating revenue, it's an opportunity to collaborate with the 2x network to generate more revenue. So they may not necessarily need investment, you know, not get diluted, but just grow through a revenue boost. So I think that's an interesting example of, you know, how the entrepreneur has approached it, but also how they have benefited from the network and how their journey has progressed. All right. So that's the end of all the questions I had. Thank you for your time, Jessica. And I'm leaving the floor open to our audience once again, if you have any questions. Or if you would like to share anything. Oh, thank you very much, Akira, for asking so many. Jessica, are you there? Thanks, Ariana. I think Jasmina was having network issues. Farida? No, no questions. I think you covered all the questions. I was curious about, like, an example of a company who did well on the 2x criteria. But yeah, other than that, nothing. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Jasmina, can you hear us? I can see her. She is being connected to audio. In the meanwhile, so he is our board member here at that. Can you hear us? Very unfortunate. Very, very unfortunate. I just mean, of course, I'm so sorry. Sorry, I have some network issues. Yeah, my question was, like, actually, I was trying to say thank you, convey my thanks to you, Zakia, especially for asking so many questions on behalf of us, because those were so relevant, and you just spoke our minds. And there are many things that needed to be cleared out. And through your discussion, I got to know about this. One thing I would like to ask Jessica, if she can answer that, how much, though I know that this is actually really not very, it's a relative thing. How much, what is the highest amount of investment someone got from the network to gender lens perspective? And why? So the highest amount is quite a huge amount. So it's, let's see, it's probably, yeah, I'm trying to think if it's like, because sometimes it's like a club deal. But so if we're, you know, depends if we take like the whole, what all of them put in together or individually. But I would, I would say if we just take the individual, it's, it's probably like 100 million, but that's gone into like a financial institution who then, you know, unlens this. But under the 2x challenge, we've seen like, like really big ticket sizes of up to around 100 million that either go into financial institutions, who then unlanded to SMEs, or in, for example, infrastructure projects. But, you know, on the smaller side, like it's, it starts with 1 million. So it's a really huge, like range of, depending on the, on the instrument and, and the type of investment. Okay. Was there any such case where they were preparing for offering any kind of equity, and then it became, it came like a grant from your end or investors? So typically, it's like grants, there's been fewer grants in like, under the 2x challenge, it's been mostly investment and capital. But what we have seen is, for example, that there are grants coming in as technical assistance on top. So there is, for example, you know, an equity round, that's kind of a general equity round. But then many of the 2x investors also have technical assistance pots of money. And so in addition to putting in equity, they may put in a grant for technical assistance. Okay, thank you. Those are my questions. Thank you very much, Jessica. You answered so many questions and so elaborately that we came to know about the 2x criteria. And what should we do? What should we avoid while presenting and making the pitch? Thank you very much for letting us know. Thank you so much, Jasmine. And Sabira, do you have any other questions? No, Zakia. Thank you so much. Thanks for asking so many questions on behalf of us. Thanks. All right. Thank you, Jessica. I know we're past one hour. Thank you so much for your time. I did ask a lot of questions, but thank you so much. I'm very grateful for the insightful responses, and I learned a lot myself. And thank you to our audience. Thank you for giving us your time. We're grateful to have you here, and I would love to explore and see how we can continue our collaboration with 2x Global and the different initiatives, and as for our women entrepreneurs as well. That's why we help women. We want gender-less investing and the ecosystem to grow. Thank you so much, everybody. It's been really great meeting you all. Thank you. Thank you for hosting us, Zakia and team. Thank you for coming, Jessica. All right. Thank you.