Kamala Harris's candidacy to become the first female U.S. president has highlighted organizations such as Women’s World Banking Asset Management, which makes equity investments in inclusive financial institutions in emerging markets.
Women's World Banking Asset Management also seeks to help portfolio companies reach financially underserved women as well as attract female talent.
WAM was formed by Women's World Banking, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to women's economic empowerment., in 2012.
Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking, noted that in the mid-2000s, microfinance institutions that started as charitable organizations began reconstituting as full-fledged, regulated banks and financial service providers — either in response to new regulatory requirements or to offer a broader range of products, including savings deposits, to their clients.
As microfinance institutions "began to raise capital from external shareholders, Women’s World Banking noted a disturbing trend — the percentage of women served by these regulated MFIs dropped precipitously and women’s leadership within these organizations all but disappeared,” she said.
In response, Women’s World Banking launched WAM alongside its first $50 million gender lens investment fund, WWB Capital Partners, in 2012.
“In 2020, we further developed this investment thesis with the $103 million WWB Capital Partners Fund II,” she added. As an example of how WAM’s investments have benefited women in foreign countries, she cited one portfolio company that provides housing loans to low-income households in India; almost all the loans designate a woman as the primary borrower.
“They seek to protect the legal rights of women by formalizing property titles and ensuring they are named on the title,” she said. “Not only are women clients empowered by gaining ownership of a significant asset, but they found that loan repayment behavior improved as well.”
Institutional investors who support diversity and inclusion, specifically around gender and/or financial inclusion, Iskenderian explained, have “found a great deal of alignment and results” from investing with WAM’s funds.
For example, one of WAM’s anchor investors is a leader in fiduciary and asset management for pension funds. Among its services is selection and monitoring of external managers for socially responsible and impact investments and various fund and mandate strategies.
“In this context, they found WAM to be an ideal partner for its investments,” she added.
On the whole, WAM has raised more than $150 million in capital around the world since 2012 and has reached more than 20 million customers, of which half are women.
Iskenderian added that approximately $105 million has been deployed in 21 portfolio company investments across Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, MENA and Latin America.
