Subject: The Journey to $20 Billion Has Begun!

2X Challenge 2024-2027, the new 2X Ignite Africa GP Sprint cohort, looking ahead to the 2X Global Summit 2024

Dear Friend,


The journey to the next $20 billion in investments for women got underway in June as we launched the third edition of the 2X Challenge, together with a coalition of public and private sector investors.


The 2X Challenge 2024-2027 was officially announced at the G7 Summit in Italy, with the summit’s official communique affirming the grouping’s support:

“Recognising the success of the 2X Challenge, we welcome the new commitment by Development and Multilateral Finance Institutions to invest at least USD 20 billion over three years in gender lens investing, encouraging investments at the nexus of gender and climate. We call upon other public and private actors to join the next 2X Challenge, advancing measurable changes and financing directed to women’s empowerment.”


Excitingly, we were able to welcome seven participating private funds and fund managers as for the first time ever, the 2X Challenge is open to the full spectrum of capital.


The new private sector participants in the Challenge are: Deetken Impact, the Global Innovation Fund, I&P Investisseurs & Partenaires, Developing World Markets (DWM), Advance Global Capital, Global Gender-Smart Fund (GGSF), run by Innpact and Sarona Asset Management.


Going beyond the original scope of the 2X Challenge, which originated with the G7 development finance institutions, is an exciting milestone, one which will allow much more capital to be mobilised for gender lens investments across the world. 


To learn more about the new Challenge, go to https://www.2xchallenge.org/.

2X Global Governing Board of Directors Takes Office

In other new beginnings, we were thrilled to welcome our new governing board of directors who officially took office in June.

The new board is as follows:

Chairperson

  • Sukhvir Basran

Executive Director

  • Jessica Espinoza, CEO, 2X Global

Founding Director

  • Jen Braswell, Head of Impact, EQT Group

Member Seats

  • Hoda Abou-Jamra, Founding Partner, TVM Capital Healthcare 

  • Carmen Correa, CEO, Pro Mujer

  • Borja Garcia Fernandez, Head of Structuring and LatAm, Citi Social Finance

  • Sonia Jordan-Kirwan, Head of Gender & Diversity Finance, BII

  • Heather Kipnis, Global Manager, Gender and Economic Inclusion, IFC

  • Jennifer de Nijs, Head of Sustainable Finance, Luxembourg Ministry of Finance

 Independent Seats

  • Kshama Fernandes

  • Andia Chakava

  • Ibukun Awosika

The new board will serve from 2024 until 2026.

2X Ignite Africa GP Sprint

In other 2X Global news, the cohort for the second 2X Ignite Africa GP Sprint gathered for an Investor Meet-Up in Amsterdam over the past week during Super Return. This was the second time of meeting, following their boot camp in April in Cape Town. If you haven’t already, get to know the fund managers in the Africa GP Sprint cohort.  

CGEF application update

Progress continues on the Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF) which closed its second funding round on May 17, receiving 318 applications through the CGEF grants portal. 

Our team is currently in the second stage of review in collaboration with the Grant Selection Committee (GSC). Grantees will be notified at the beginning of August with a public announcement to follow in September 2024. 

CGEF is a public-private partnership led by USAID with founding members Amazon, Reckitt, The UPS Foundation and Visa Foundation to increase access to climate finance for gender-responsive, women-led and women-benefiting organisations. Grant-making under CGEF is managed by 2X Global.

2X Global Summit 2024

And last, we’re thrilled to give you a sneak peek into our upcoming 2X Global Summit. Formerly known as our Annual Member Meeting, this year’s summit will be co-hosted by MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates), and will take place in Nairobi, Kenya between September 16th to 18th. 


The 2024 Summit theme is “Solutions for Systems-Level Change”, and will explore and identify ways for mobilising the power of collective action across various stakeholder groups in order to transform finance and make it more gender-smart and inclusive.


The 2X Global Summit is a member-exclusive event. For more information on the Summit and membership, contact our membership engagement team at membership@2xglobal.org. 


Read on for a selection of GLI news and insights.


In community,

2X Global team

News from the field

Mainstreaming gender lens investing.

Mainstreaming gender lens investing. This new technical brief out from Sagana and Chemonics maps the ecosystem for female fund managers, exploring support, constraints, opportunities and levers for change to make finance more gender smart. This profile from Time Magazine delves into the past and more critically, the future for Melinda French Gates as she forges a new path in philanthropy, focused on one key issue - helping women thrive. Get to know the businesses and people behind the big numbers of the 2X Challenge, in this new blog from the United States' DFC, sharing the stories of some of their 2X Challenge qualifying investees.

 
Gender and Climate Investing. 

Gender and Climate Investing. In the United States, the antitrust subcommittee of the Republican-dominated US House Judiciary Committee, has called reps of a dozen major financial institutions before the house for a hearing on alleged "collusion" to force American companies to decarbonise and reach net zero. Is sustainable business enough? This article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review argues that regenerative business is the next step in what is needed. IFC is putting $150 million into the first blue bond in Viet Nam and the first green bond by a private commercial bank in the country.

 
Leadership, Culture and Policy

Leadership, Culture and Policy, JEDI. How do we better incorporate frontline workers into corporate DEI efforts - especially those who are hourly workers and those who are BIPOC? This guide offers a step-by-step approach for tailoring your communications strategy to better engage this critical segment. After an in depth consultative process, the World Bank's eagerly anticipated new gender strategy is out, charting the path for the Bank's engagement over the next six years. Dig in here. It's Jong V. Apple but the claims being made in the lawsuit against the tech giant underscore a pervasive issue going beyond the company or even industry - how the practice of asking potential employees for their compensation history or salary expectations perpetuate the gender wage gap.

 
Data and tools

Data and Tools. IFC has put out a new toolkit focused on the infrastructure and mining industries, outlining how businesses in these sectors can be more gender inclusive while producing measurable results. As we close in on 2030, what progress is being made on the Sustainable Development Goals? According to the SDG Report 2024, the world is on track to meet only 16% of the SDG targets. Read the report to find out how close or far the world is to meeting the other targets. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2024 is out and the topline news is that at the current rate, it will take 134 years to reach gender parity. Spark ideas on what we can collectively do to close this gap by digging into the data.

Development

Resilience (GBV, Financial Inclusion, Security). Some reflections on the recent Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2024) from Lenna Koszarny, Founding Partner & CEO of Horizon Capital. Horizon's fourth fund achieved 2X Flagship Fund status in 2023, becoming the first fund in Central and Eastern Europe to do so. This media maven's intimidating maternity experience inspired her to create BirthFund, a new initiative dedicated to improving the stark maternal mortality outcomes, particularly for women of colour, by funding midwifery services. Widowed at 31 and a mother of five, agriculture entrepreneur Jovia Kagezi faced many obstacles on her way to success in the dairy industry in her native Uganda - get to know her in Advance Global Capital’s latest impact story.

 
Care Economy

Care Economy. From contraception to cucumbers: learn about how Thai activist Mechai Viravaidya, known as the 'Condom King' in the 70s and 80s for his pioneering family planning work, is now turning his attention to innovative new models for elder care. In the wake of the recent federal government announcement of its plans to launch consultations on a first ever National Caregiving strategy, a look at what this will mean for Canadians.

 
 

Community Calendar

17-19 July, 2024

The Africa Impact Summit, the forum to drive networking, deal making and impact investing thought leadership in Africa, will be held in Nairobi, Kenya. Click for more information and to register.

16-18 September, 2024

The 2X Global Summit 2024 will be held in Nairobi, Kenya this yer, co-hosted by MEDA. For more information and to register, visit 2xglobal.org/membership.

Welcoming new 2X Global members

We are pleased to welcome IDB Invest, AfriLabs, DAI, Shortlist, IBIS Consulting, the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF), Matanataki, ABinBEV, CGIAR, Waterbridge Ventures, Acumen, Almavest and Sahel Capital as new 2X Global members this quarter.

Thank you to our partners and supporters

 
2X Global supporters and partners

2X Global Limited, 55 Ludgate Hill, EC4M 7JW, London, United Kingdom

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