Mar082019
Posted by:Mohit
Here’s what IWD 2019 means for Caspian
We have all heard the famous quote “money makes the world go around.” It is also a known fact that money can change the world for the better. Impact investing firms follow the theory of generating measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact along with a beneficial return. Our focus sectors include food & agriculture, healthcare, education, affordable housing, water & sanitation, clean energy, financial inclusion. We at Caspian also feel that impact investing has the potential to propel gender equality, which is a key enabler for many of the sustainable development goals of UN.
We track each investment for its impact on women, before and after the loan. Several of our clients have a high positive impact for women. Some of the specific targets our portfolio contributes towards are:
Ensure Women’s full participation at all levels of economic and public life.
Use enabling technology to promote the empowerment of Women.
We use qualitative and quantitative factors to understand how our portfolio companies impact their women employees and clients. We also seek to understand whether they create a safe and equitable workplace, by adopting measures against sexual harassment. We track metrics such as the number of women clients, employees and directors.
30 of our portfolio companies have a strong focus on women as clients, employees or beneficiaries. Women make up 90% of the underlying borrowers of some of our portfolio companies. Another client manufactures efficient biomass cook-stoves, which improves women’s health outcomes. In our housing finance portfolio, women are co-borrowers and co-owners, making up at least 50% of clients.
Women represent 46% of financial services employees, according to a study by Mercer. The theme for International Women’s Day 2019 is #BalanceforBetter, and it serves as a good reminder that while the financial services industry has made strides, until we achieve gender balance in our team, the mission is not complete.
Currently, women make up one-third of the Caspian team. Two-thirds of supervisory roles are held by women. We have women present at every rung in the organization and our highest paid employee is a woman.
By next International Women’s day, we would like to set standards by going above and beyond the global percentage of 46% of women in financial services. As a growing organization, we are always eager to welcome experienced professionals with a diverse skills-set to make our vision a reality. Look up one of the current vacancies, or share your resume with us and let’s get talking!