Social Innovation Program

Online session: Counting women to valuing women

How public market applies a gender lens to increase the flow of capital to gender equality


September 24, 2021
7 Min. Read
The Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) has included women’s empowerment as one of its five priority goals and is implementing various projects to tackle related issues from a mid- to long-term perspective based on domestic and overseas research. In an effort to advance women's economic empowerment and gender equality in Asia, the Asia Women Impact Fund was established in 2017 and we invest with a gender lens to empower women to perform at their full potential, and to help create an equitable and sustainable world for us all. 
Gender Lens Investing (GLI) is an intentional approach to look at gender factors in investing strategies in order to identify better business, social, environmental, and investment opportunities. Gender Lens Investing is not only a means of directing funds toward gender equality and women's empowerment and recognizing potential value (e.g. female entrepreneurs with high growth potential who are not able to raise funds), but also mitigating risks. It can also be an effective way for investors to make better investment decisions.

The concept of gender lens investing is spreading worldwide. GLI is an approach that cuts across all asset classes —including private equity and debt, as well as public equity and fixed incomes. It is a lens or approach that can be applied across sectors as well. We see an increasing trend in funds with a focus on crosscutting feature of gender lens. While some funds essentially focus on advancing gender equality, some intend to solve other social challenges such as climate change, public health, or access to quality education while applying a gender lens to the social challenge.

While North America continues to be the leader in GLI with the largest number of both public market and private market investment vehicles, GLI has gained traction in Asia and now Asia has the second-largest number of public market and third-largest number of private market GLI investment vehicles. Out of the ten public market investment vehicles in East and Southeast Asia, eight are based in Japan according to our GLI landscape report in 2019.

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation will organize a breakout session titled “Counting women to valuing women – How public market applies a gender lens to increase the flow of capital to gender equality." This will be held within the Impact Investing Forum 2021, “Global Standardization of ESG Investing and Awakening of Impact Investing." We will bring together gender investing champions from different sectors to learn about the current trends and discussions on applying a gender lens in the public market. As the concept of gender lens investing is within ESG investing and impact investing, we plan to pursue a collaborative dialogue at this opportunity for identifying the means that will best unlock capital at scale to achieve women’s empowerment in Japan. We look forward to your participation.

[Pre-registration is required at the designated registration site. The event will be held in Japanese with simultaneous interpretation in English]
Ms. Julia Enyart
Panelist

Ms. Julia Enyart

Glenmede, Vice President on the Sustainable & Impact Investing team

Profile

An impact investor and strategist with over 12 years of experience, Julia Enyart is a Vice President on the Sustainable & Impact Investing team at Glenmede, an investment and wealth management firm with $40 billion assets under management. She is responsible for providing strategic oversight of Glenmede’s Sustainable & Impact Investing program, with a focus on ESG integration, portfolio construction, shareholder engagement, and investing in products with a thematic focus, including climate change, gender diversity, and racial equity.

Prior to joining Glenmede, Julia also worked with the Pallaidum Group’s impact investing team following a career in international development and management consulting. An emerging markets specialist, she brings experience conducting in-market due diligence in over 15 developing countries. Julia holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a Master’s of International Studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Patience Marime-Ball
Panelist

Ms. Patience Marime-Ball

Women of the World Endowment, CEO

Profile

Patience Marime-Ball has more than two decades of investment experience across capital markets – including debt and equity financing, large scale infrastructure, distressed assets, as well as venture stage opportunities. Previously, Patience was Principal Investment Officer and Global Head of Banking on Women at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where she developed the Banking on Women platform; was responsible for the design of IFC’s Global Trade Liquidity Program; and co-developed the first-ever gender bond issued on the Uridashi market. Patience serves on the Board of MIO Partners and is Vice Chair of the Board of the International Center for Research on Women. She is a member of Apollo Global Management, Inc.’s Impact Advisory Committee; serves on the Investment Committee of Align Impact; is an investor in Purple Arch Ventures; and an early stage investor with Golden Seeds LLC. She serves on several advisory committees including As You Sow’s Prison Free Funds and Racial Justice Initiative as well as Emerging Sun LLC, a company she co-founded in 2005. Patience holds a JD from the Pritzker School of Law and an MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University.

Mr. Seiichiro Uchi
Panelist

Mr. Seiichiro Uchi

Invesco Asset Management (Japan) Limited / Head of Self-Index and ESG Business Development Investment Solutions

Profile

Seiichiro Uchi joined Invesco Asset Management (Japan) Limited in February 2020. He has been in his current position since February 2021. Prior to joining Invesco, he was the Managing Director of Index and ESG Business in Japan at MSCI. Prior to MSCI, he worked at Standard & Poor's and the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He has a master's degree from Waseda University Graduate School of Finance.

Mr. Itsu Adachi
Panelist

Mr. Itsu Adachi

Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Executive Director

Profile

Itsu Adachi is an Executive Director at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF). He joined SPF in June 2020 to oversee departments and its projects related to conflict resolution and peacebuilding in Asia, labor migration, social integration, Japan-China relations, and advancing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment by supporting development of ecosystems for impact investing and inclusive entrepreneurship.

Prior to joining SPF, he spent 35 years leading international cooperation programs in developing countries at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). His portfolio covered a wide range of official development assistance projects in Southeast Asia, including post-conflict peace building and reconstruction projects in Cambodia as Chief Representative of JICA, Cambodia office. He also led cross-sectoral initiatives leveraging technological innovation and digital transformation in development projects. Mr. Adachi graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Sofia University, Japan.

Date & Time Tuesday, September 28, 2021 11:10-11:55 (JST)
Format Online (Zoom)
Organizers This online session will be hosted by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation's Gender Investment and Innovation Department.
The Impact Investing Forum is organized by The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) and Social Innovation and Investment Foundation (SIIF)
Program Counting women to valuing women – How public market applies a gender lens to increase the flow of capital to gender equality
11:10 (JST) Presentation by the panelists
11:30 (JST) Panel Discussion
11:55 (JST) End of session
Language Japanese (with simultaneous interpretation in English)
Reservation * This online session will be held as part of the Impact Investing Forum 2021 hosted by the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) National Advisory Board. Please register for participation from the event registration site
* The event registration site is only available in Japanese  
* A participation fee of 5,000 yen is required to purchase tickets for the event
After registration is complete, you will receive an email with your Zoom URL, Meeting ID and password.

Click here to apply for the session.
Inquiries about Event Applications
Impact Investment Forum 2021 Office
E-mail: iif2021@siif.or.jp

Sasakawa Peace Foundation
Public Relations Division, Communication Department
The Sasakawa Peace Foundation Building
1-15-16 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8524

Inquiries 

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