Value for Women Newsletter

Stay in the know with Value for Women’s LinkedIn newsletter. We are moving to a bi-monthly publishing schedule and will ensure that every newsletter is packed with relevant and timely content. We feature insights, updates, opportunities, and more from our work, and that of our partners working towards gender inclusion in businesses across emerging markets. Hit subscribe to stay up to date!

If you know us, you know how firmly we believe that practical actions are what drive systemic change. Which is why we’re delighted to showcase the impact our engagement with Husk Power and d.light India has had in driving gender inclusion in their work in the clean energy sector. Dive in for updates from our work scaling and sustaining gender inclusion initiatives with partners across the globe, job vacancies and more.

In our work, we’ve often found that organizational leadership has a strong desire to adopt gender-inclusive practices and design gender-inclusive solutions; however, they aren’t sure where to start. (Only 10% of respondents in our Gender Smart Nexus Benchmark Report of 184 SMEs reported having long-term technical support to guide them!). Enterprise-level support, such as technical assistance and training, can close the gaps in knowledge and help enterprises turn gender goals into reality.

Value For Women Ltd. and FMO - Dutch entrepreneurial development bank partnered to provide gender inclusive technical assistance to Husk Power and d.light India , enterprises operating in the clean energy space.? The findings and recommendations are relevant for any mid- to large-sized enterprise, and we hope that the case studies will offer some real-world insights, and satiate the curiosity of businesses who want to know how gender inclusive business practices are really implemented, and what kind of returns they yield.

Investing in a priority target market: Combining sales, marketing and business support to attract and retain women customers?

Husk Power (Husk) is a trailblazer in the mini-grid industry, and a signatory to the Gender and Energy Compact. Despite being motivated to achieve social impact and build community linkages, they hadn't intentionally implemented many gender-inclusive market strategies. Husk realized that their market reach among women customers was lagging.

Husk collaborated with Value For Women Ltd. to increase micro-grid connections and energy usage by women-led businesses in their network. Through a pilot project, our teams worked together to identify and prioritize a number of gender-focused strategies, including targeted market research and a subsequent sales, marketing and training campaign to better serve women-led businesses (WLBs).

What changed in Husk’s work?

• Over the course of 1 year, a targeted and multipronged sales and marketing campaign increased Husk's women customer base from 2% to 8%, with retention of new customers increasing to 94% overall.?
• A 94% customer retention rate (up from 80%) within 2 months of the pilot implementation

Husk's experience shows the tangible business benefits that can result from understanding one's women customers. Ultimately, it shows that it pays off to invest in understanding and serving this priority target market.

Change management coaching: Transforming attitudes and practices for gender inclusion

There is a business case for increasing women’s representation in traditionally male-dominated sectors like energy. However, businesses often lack the necessary skills and practical know-how to take action to redress gender imbalances within their workforces.?

d.light is a global solar energy manufacturer and distributor, and a signatory to the Women's Empowerment Principles. In the face of?challenges attracting and retaining women staff, d.light India had set itself a clear goal: reduce gender gaps in its team composition.?

Value For Women Ltd. and d.light India jointly worked on a programme of activities for six months. This included change management coaching and the strengthening and reconstitution of a Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) policy and committee.?

Here’s a glimpse of the results:

• In less than a year, d.light India changed its practices in a number of areas, contributing to a more inclusive and gender-balanced work environment.?
• The gender balance has already increased significantly, more than tripling from 3.5% to 11%.??
• The changes seen in the pre-post survey, data, and observation, speak to additional business impacts and cost savings d.light can expect over a longer period of time.?

Find out how d.light India went from having pressing gender gaps to offering a model for the other d.light country offices.

Help us get the word out! We’re looking for critical thinkers and doers to join our global, multidisciplinary team.?

Check out all our open opportunities here, and apply now if you share our passion for building practical, innovative pathways for inclusion in business and investment across the globe, or share this with someone who might be interested!

Our global team brings a powerful blend of expertise on gender, social inclusion, business, investment and finance to everything we do. We'll be at the following events soon, do reach out to us if you'll be there!

Find us at:

• Feminist Finance Forum | May 7-8, 2024, Bangkok, Thailand
• Impact Harvest Forum: Investing in Inclusive Businesses | May 22-23 2024, Bangkok, Thailand

Value for Women is a global pioneer catalyzing women’s participation and leadership in business, finance and investment in emerging markets. We are a woman-led social enterprise with a mission to equip leaders and institutions to make tangible changes for women’s equality and toward social inclusion. We design and deploy practical ways for investment, finance and business to advance gender inclusion while creating value, mitigating risk and driving innovation. We would love to hear from you and help you in your journey toward gender inclusion. You can write to us on [email protected] or visit us on www.v4w.org.