Empowering Underserved Women is not for the Faint of Heart

The world is turning to the new year with a glimmer of hope, but as we count down to a more promising 2021, here at IIX we are celebrating early with the hard-won gains of our Women’s Livelihood Bond Series. This week, IIX made history again by successfully raising an astonishing US$27.7 million from the capital markets during a time when governments, countries, and businesses have turned inward and left behind millions of the world’s poorest during COVID-19.

But what does it mean when we say that the Women’s Livelihood Bond 3 (WLB3) made history? And why is it, that after our third issuance, there are still so few gender lens instruments in the market? And most importantly, how can we change that?

Making history

At IIX, we are making history because we are solving deeply embedded, systemic barriers to women’s empowerment in Asia. And to do so, we had to create something that has never been done before. We had to create an innovative financial instrument that integrates several layers and strategies for mitigating risk and maximizing impact and financial return for investors. The structure is so nuanced, so sophisticated, and so genius, that we had to create an entire new language to describe it.

• The world’s first gender lens and impact investing security to be listed on a stock exchange
• The world’s first multi-country, multi-sector listed gender bond
• The world’s first ICMA certified gender bond 

And these words are hardly adequate. In reality, what we did was to invent an entirely new asset class. One where, despite all odds caused by the pandemic, we screened +300 entities for WLB3 and conducted virtual impact, credit and legal DD on 12 entities before finalizing a portfolio of eight entities in India, Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines. This involved navigating local regulations in six different countries and working with almost 10 law firms, and over 200 individuals to create a robust, deep-impact product that will advance the gender lens movement globally. We interviewed +500 women using a combination of virtual interviews (with translators in the field and us on Zoom calls) and our digital impact assessment tool IIX ValuesTM (borrowers tell us no other investor went to such lengths to give the women a voice and a value as part of the investment process). And, we brought together countries, multilaterals, bankers, law firms, and investors from around the world to bring the WLB Series to different sectors, countries, and markets.

But why go through all the trouble? Why didn’t we just choose the path of least resistance and use an existing financial instrument that was already tried in the market? Because they simply were not getting the job done. 

Supporting underserved women is hard work

The hard truth is, we did all of this because empowering underserved women is hard work. If a regular fund, a social bond, a development impact bond, a conference on gender lens investing, or networking and convenings were sufficient to change the world, there would not be a need for innovators like IIX, and there would not be ongoing injustices that continue to exclude women from financial markets.

And we know that the markets are not functioning correctly. We saw the way that countries, multilaterals, investors, and businesses who have been riding the wave of ESG and sustainability for years were suddenly unable to respond effectively when COVID-19 exacerbated gender and racial inequalities around the world. Factory orders were abandoned by leading brands, leaving millions of women stranded without a livelihood. Supply chains were cut, threatening to cut off the resources to enterprises that provide critical community services.

Less talk, more action

Yet, despite all the odds against women, IIX had the honor to experience first-hand what happens when you give women a voice and a value in the markets. We saw the women who were part of IIX’s Women’s Livelihood Bond Series step up and rebuild their communities as the markets were crashing around them. During the height of the market turbulence this year, IIX’s Women’s Livelihood Bond Series was up in the market – proving that women are the smartest solutions to COVID Resilience.

What we need now are more innovators. More issuers of Women’s Livelihood Bonds. And more histories in the making.