ABOUT
Why invest with a focus on girls and young women? How can this toolkit help me?
At a glance
This toolkit aims to inspire investors to invest in companies that deliver positive impact on girls and young women. The main objectives are to:
- Demonstrate the potential, scale and viability girls and young women have as a consumer market and workforce.
- Provide practical tips and tools to ensure that investments positively affect the lives of girls and young women.
- Catalyse wider interest among investors and stakeholders to embrace gender lens investing.
- Disseminate the lessons learned from SPRING’s five years of investing in and accelerating girls and young women impact ventures in East Africa and South Asia.
The toolkit is divided into four sections which correspond to the different steps of a typical investment journey:
Users can follow these sections in sequential order, or choose the section most appropriate to their needs. The content draws upon SPRING’s five years of experience in running its accelerator programme as well as interviews with 12 investors from various countries, workshops with over 20 practitioners, desk research of relevant external publications and other SPRING learning materials.
Who this is for
This toolkit is primarily aimed at investors and may be best suited for those who are earlier in the journey of gender lens investing, impact investing or investing in youth. Development practitioners, multinational companies that run corporate social responsibility programmes and philanthropic funders interested in market-based solutions for adolescent girls and young women may also find the content of interest. The toolkit:
For investors with an existing portfolio who are not looking to make new investments, a good place to start is to map their existing portfolio to understand what impact current investments have on girl and young woman and to address potential gaps. Investors may also be able to influence the trajectory of existing investees to focus more on delivering impact for girls and young women.
This toolkit encourages and guides investors to recognise investment opportunities that either directly or indirectly contribute to the health, education, economic empowerment, personal safety or legal rights of girls and young women. However, it is important to note that investing with a focus on girls and young women does not require an exclusive focus.
Many of the examples used in this toolkit are from SPRING investees (mainly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)) in East Africa and South Asia but the content is broad enough to be relevant for larger businesses in other markets as well.
This toolkit draws on existing research and guidance on investing, complementing these perspectives with the specific focus on girls and young women.
Case for investing in girls and young women
There are robust reasons, both financial and moral, to be investing in girls and young women at this time, particularly in emerging markets in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The moral case is clear – investment can help combat harmful gender norms that systematically exclude girls and young women from opportunities.
There is also a positive financial return case. Globally, one person in eight is a girl or young woman aged 10 to 24 years. They represent a large, growing and relatively untapped market with significant upside potential. Few companies focus on them and few products and services are tailored to their specific needs.
- Anecdotal and emergent evidence from SPRING show that focusing on girls and young women has significant potential benefits to businesses: access to new markets, higher potential profitability if the right approaches are pursued, potentially stronger customer relationships and brand loyalty, and social impact for girls and young women.
- Investment in girls and young women gives them the opportunity to reach their full potential and make vibrant local economies possible – as future customers and decision-makers, as untapped markets, as influencers, as employees and suppliers, and as employers and ambassadors.
- Some investors may think that by focusing on girls and young women, businesses may risk cutting the market in half and limiting revenue potential (why focus on girls/young women and not the whole market?). This is however a misconception – focusing on girls and young women does not necessarily mean an exclusive focus; instead, it allows businesses tap into new opportunities and build a unique model.
Investing in girls and young women – as future customers, decision-makers, consumers, influencers, brand ambassadors, employees or suppliers – enables them reach their full potential and makes vibrant local economies possible.
Looking forward
Girls and young women in emerging markets are a largely untapped market. While there is demonstrable market potential, robust deal-level data on the performance of many companies focusing on girls and young women are currently limited. The exciting combination of investment and philanthropy, and the convergence of impact investing, gender lens investing or investing in youth – yield great potential for investors to explore in the near future.
Follow the conversation from these thought leaders on women’s economic empowerment: Double X Economy and Institute for Gender in the Economy