To have fun Ladies’s World Banking’s forty fifth anniversary, we’re showcasing the voices of people from around the globe who’ve formed and touched Ladies’s World Banking journey since its inception in 1979 to at present!
These are tales from throughout Ladies’s World Banking’s attain from the ladies we serve and our clients, to allies and ladies in management who’ve contributed to ladies’s financial empowerment and monetary inclusion.
On the earth of finance, the place revenue typically takes middle stage, Sanjay sehgal stands out as a frontrunner who believes within the energy of capital to drive each monetary returns and social affect. As the brand new Managing Director of Ladies’s World Banking Asset Administration (WAM)he embodies a transformative strategy that challenges standard knowledge about investing. With a powerful observe report of twenty-two investments and seven profitable exits throughout rising marketsWAM demonstrates how gender lens investing can concurrently ship aggressive monetary returns and create significant social affect.
Sanjay’s journey displays the altering priorities of contemporary finance. His three-decade profession spans conventional funding banking, personal fairness, and now affect investing – a transition he describes as each pure and crucial. “Monetary returns with affect are a lot simpler, rather more snug for me,” he explains, articulating a philosophy that guides WAM’s mission to shut the monetary inclusion hole for almost 1 billion ladies at the moment excluded from formal monetary methods.
The Energy of Gender Lens Investing
The case for gender lens investing has by no means been stronger. Over simply two years, this strategy has grown by 30% in personal marketsbut persistent myths proceed to restrict its adoption. Sanjay confronts these misconceptions head-on: “Individuals have this notion that for those who’re investing behind gender, you might be most likely sacrificing returns. I fully disagree with that proposition.” The info overwhelmingly helps his place – corporations that prioritize serving ladies clients constantly reveal larger retention charges and stronger monetary efficiency.
WAM’s portfolio throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America (and shortly to be United States) offers compelling proof that addressing gender disparities makes sound enterprise sense. The twin-market technique acknowledges the distinct challenges in numerous financial contexts. In rising economies, the main focus is on increasing entry to rural ladies by way of progressive monetary services. In developed markets, the battle shifts to combating systemic biases – the place women-led startups obtain simply 2% of enterprise funding regardless of equal potential for achievement.
Transformative Impression: Sarah Mwanthi’s Entrepreneurial Journey
The true energy of WAM’s gender lens investing involves life in tales like Sarah Mwanthi’s. In 2020, on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic, this brave Kenyan instructor made a daring profession shift to open Kikwetu Basic Store in Thika. At the moment, almost 4 years later, her mini-mart thrives at a busy roadside location – however her success story highlights the systemic limitations ladies entrepreneurs nonetheless face throughout Kenya.
Sarah’s journey displays the stark realities of ladies’s entrepreneurship in Kenya, the place solely 31% of companies are formally owned by ladies. Like many feminine enterprise homeowners, she confronted a number of challenges together with the near-impossible requirement of land collateral and Money circulation gaps that threatened her operations.
That is the place WAM’s funding in Pezesha – a woman-founded Kenyan fintech – made all of the distinction. As a part of WAM’s Fund II portfolio, Pezesha offered Sarah with 5 collateral-free digital loans, a credit score line that grew from $65 to $98, and fast disbursement with minimal paperwork
The outcomes communicate for themselves: “Pezesha imeniwezesha” (“Pezesha has enabled me”), Sarah says with pleasure. Inside 4 months of receiving financing, her gross sales skyrocketed by 50%, permitting her to diversify merchandise and serve extra clients.
Sarah’s story embodies why WAM particularly invests in options like Pezesha – the place 45% of shoppers are ladies entrepreneurs. It demonstrates how eradicating systemic limitations whereas addressing ladies’s distinctive challenges can unlock extraordinary financial potential.
A Blueprint for the Way forward for Finance
Six months into his function, Sanjay is energized by the street forward. His ardour for gender lens investing stems from a easy but highly effective perception: “Finance is the nice enabler. If we will harness its energy to uplift ladies, we will remodel communities and economies on a worldwide scale.” In an period of rising inequality and local weather uncertainty, his work proves that capital might be each sensible and transformative when channeled towards empowering ladies entrepreneurs worldwide.
As gender lens investing continues to develop, Sanjay Sehgal and WAM are poised to steer the cost—proving that doing good and doing effectively will not be mutually unique however intrinsically linked.
Ladies’s World Banking is devoted to financial empowerment by way of monetary inclusion for the almost one billion ladies on the earth with no or restricted entry to formal monetary providers. Utilizing our refined market and shopper analysis, we flip insights into actual motion to design and advocate for coverage engagement, digital monetary options, office management packages, and gender lens investing.
As a part of our present technique, we’ve helped present over 86 million ladies in rising markets – concentrating on 100 million by 2027 – entry and use of monetary services which might be reworking ladies’s lives, households, companies and communities, and driving inclusive development globally.
Assist us attain the almost billion ladies nonetheless excluded from the formal monetary system. Donate now.
