UNIDO ITPO Tokyo will organize the online seminar “Raising Awareness on Gender Lens Investing” on 1 March 2023. We started organizing a gender-themed event series in 2021 in order to promote industrial development in developing countries based on gender inclusive business models, and with a view to contribute towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 5 “Gender Equality” and Goal 9” Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure”. This is the fourth event in the series.
Background and Objective
The World Bank estimates that 33% of SMEs worldwide are owned by women, yet 69% of them are underfunded or unserved by financial institutions, creating a finance gap of $1.7 trillion for women-owned SMEs (SME Finance Forum, 2019). Overall, companies founded by women receive less than half as much funding as those founded by men, although they deliver twice as much revenue per dollar invested (BCG & Mass Challenge, 2018).
The World Bank data also suggests removing barriers to women’s employment could increase productivity by 25%. Moreover, the gender gap has widened in the past two years due to Covid-19. Women lost their jobs at greater rates than men (ILO 2021) and women-owned businesses closed at greater rates than men-owned ones (Goldstein et al. 2020), causing a contraction of around $1T in the world’s GDP in 2020.
Drawing on these experiences one topic that has gained a lot of traction in recent years is that of Gender Lens Investing (GLI), defined as the deliberate integration of gender analysis, investment analysis, and decision making, where investments are made in more women-owned or led enterprises and/or investments are made in enterprises that promote gender equality at the workplace, as well as in products or services that substantially improve the lives of women and girls, building strong, resilient economies of the future.
In order to spread the concept and applications of GLI to a wider audience, especially in Japan, UNIDO ITPO Tokyo will hold this event aiming at raising participants’ awareness on this topic and encouraging them to integrate a gender perspective into their business strategies.
Outline
Date/Time: 17:00 – 18:30, March 1st, 2023 (JST)
Language: English/Japanese (Simultaneous interpretation)
Format: Online
Programme (JST)
17:00 Opening
Mr. Ryota Nishiyama, Media Advisor, UNIDO ITPO Tokyo
17:05 – 17:25 Introduction of Gender Lens Investing
Ms. Jessica Neumann, ITPO Expert, UNIDO HQ
17:25 – 18:25 Panel discussion “How GLI can benefit and impact gender inclusive business and development”
Moderator:
Mr. Hideki Murakami, Deputy Head, UNIDO ITPO Tokyo
Panelists:
Ms. Adenike Adeyemi, Executive Director, FATE Foundation, Nigeria
Ms. Mari Kogiso, Co-CEO, SDGs Impact Japan
Mr. Tadesse Dadi Segni, Africa Advisor, UNIDO ITPO Tokyo
18:25 Closing
Contact for inquiries
Mr. Nishiyama, UNIDO ITPO Tokyo
Email: itpo.tokyo@unido.org