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2X | Empowering Tomorrow: Unleashing Gender-Smart Capital Worldwide

By | Jessica Espinoza
CEO, 2X Global

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, the 2024 theme ‘invest in women, accelerate progress’ has special resonance for 2X Global, the membership and field-building gender finance organization.

With a fully remote, global contingent of 20 staff members spread across the world, the 2X Global team dedicates our energies to building this reality, through a range of ambitious programmes and initiatives.

2X Global’s mission, to unlock gender-smart capital at scale, takes shape in many ways – from our 2X Ignite programme to accelerate women-led fund managers, to advancing standards of gender lens investing through the ongoing development of 2X Certification, to managing the Climate and Gender Equity Fund to direct more climate finance to women-led and women-benefiting organisations.

Our work is focused under three main strategic pillars – to build capacity, advance standards and shift markets.

Capacity building

Under our capacity building pillar, 2X Global has been regularly publishing research, creating tools, and building and engaging thematic communities of practice to facilitate peer learning and knowledge sharing on gender finance.

A key upcoming piece of research will be the report from the Project Catalyst research initiative. Based on a comprehensive, sector-wide survey incorporating nearly 200 investors and nearly 300 funds with a gender lens, the report aims to measure the size and scope of gender lens investing in private markets.

Programme Manager Liebe Jeannot, who is leading on Project Catalyst, explained that the initiative was a successor to Project Sage, created by late 2X Global senior advisor, GLI expert Suzanne Biegel:

This is going to be the first such report in over two years as Project Sage 4.0 would have come out in December 2021. I can tell you that we have already seen more private GLI funds during the data capture process for this report – in fact it’s a record high. This report will go a long way towards giving us a clearer picture of where the market is now and we’re so appreciative of the partnership of Sagana and the support from the Visa Foundation in making this a reality.”

Advancing Standards

2X Global’s advancing standards pillar of work is moving forward in significant ways in 2024, with the publishing of updated 2X Criteria and the launch of 2X Certification.

The 2X Criteria are a set of requirements which have underpinned the 2X Challenge, the organization’s flagship gender finance mobilization project which has seen US$27 billion in gender lens investments raised since 2018. Since then, the 2X Criteria have been widely used and become a respected standard for investors to assess their gender lens investments.

This will be the first major update to the Criteria since 2018, reflecting input from more recent data and critical learnings from previous editions of the 2X Challenge that will strengthen the framework and guard against box-ticking and impact-washing.​​

Meanwhile, the upcoming 2X Certification programme will take to the next level, the standard-setting work of the 2X Criteria.

Espinoza noted that “this [2X Certification] is really part of our commitment to advancing standards of gender lens investing” and provided updates on the process of developing the independent GLI certification mechanism.

In 2023, 2X Certification went through an extensive industry co-creation process and public consultation. We then started the learning lab and pilot programme which is currently ongoing with several companies. This year will see us integrating the lessons of the ongoing pilot, making refinements and launching 2X Certification officially in the summer,” stated the CEO.

2X Certification will create pathways to guide investors as to what ‘good’, ‘advanced’ and ‘best-in-class’ GLI looks like. The mechanism will differentiate levels of rigour, provide critical industry benchmarking and identify concrete areas for improvement.

Shaping and shifting markets

The key strategic pillar of shaping and shifting markets is being driven forward in part under the banner of 2X Ignite, 2X Global’s accelerator for diverse and women-led, gender smart fund managers that focuses on capacity building, mobilizing investment and facilitating LP networking opportunities.

Programme Manager for 2X Ignite, Elena Haba, outlined some of the ongoing work, saying:

We hosted the first two editions of the 2X Ignite GP sprint programme in 2023 – for a cohort of fund managers from Africa and in the second half of the year, for a cohort from the Asia-Pacific Region. And just a few days ago, we launched our second Africa GP Sprint, which we’re really looking forward to!

Director of Community and Innovation, Marijn Wiersma, elaborated on other initiatives happening under 2X Ignite.

In really exciting news, we were able to announce late last year, that Kuramo Capital will be the manager for the 2X Ignite Africa Warehousing Facility! We know all too well, the challenges which women-led funds and businesses experience with access to critical funding sources. So once fully established, this Facility will provide portfolio building capital to eligible fund managers to utilise in warehousing deals and enable them to build a track record while fundraising, thereby improving their chances for a successful first close.”

One of 2X Global’s biggest initiatives to shape and shift financial markets is the 2X Challenge which was first launched at the G7 Summit in 2018 as a commitment by the G7 DFIs to invest US$3 billion in women-owned, women-led and women-benefiting businesses in three years.

Espinoza reflected on the evolution of the programme since then, saying:

The first 2X Challenge significantly surpassed its original target – raising more than US$11 billion in those first three years. The second 2X Challenge, launched at the G7 Summit in 2021, had an even more ambitious target – US$15 billion – and that was surpassed that too, with US$16.3 billion being raised.

She spoke about the upcoming 2X Challenge, saying:

I can definitely say that the third 2X Challenge will take that spirit of ambition forward some more – for one thing, we’re going to benefit from even wider participation as it will be open to the full spectrum of our 2X Global members. This edition will also have a deeper and more nuanced process with targets across different types of asset classes, sectors, regions, and peer groups.”

The Climate and Gender Equity Fund (CGEF), for 2X Global is the fund manager, is another way in which 2X Global is working to help shape and shift markets.

CGEF was established by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with initial funding from Amazon, USAID and other founding partners Visa Foundation, Reckitt and UPS Foundation. The public-private fund aims to mobilise at least US$60 million in financing for women climate leaders in global emerging markets where USAID operates.

The first grantees under the fund were announced in late 2023 at COP 28 in the United Arab Emirates.

2X Global’s Climate Lead, Demetrio Innocenti, spoke about what was coming up for the Fund:

We will be announcing the second set of grantees in a few days’ time at CSW 68 (68th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women) in New York City. This second round of grants is for women-led climate- and gender-smart emerging impact investment funds (and investment vehicles) and will be supporting investment funds and vehicles aligned with the 2X Criteria and that advance climate solutions and increase gender equality by developing, scaling, and investing in climate mitigation and adaptation businesses and solutions.”

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