Earlier this week the Deetken Impact team was invited to participate in the launch of FinDev, Canada’s very own development finance institution (DFI), in Montreal. It was an honour to share ideas with some remarkable people including Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director UN Women; Suzanne Gaboury, CIO of FinDev; Kathryn Kaufman, Managing Director of Global Women’s Issues at OPIC; Diana de Castro, Chief Alliance Officer at Pro Mujer, and the very talented FinDev investment team among others.
The event included an “Investment Simulation” in which four organizations, one of which was Deetken Impact, were invited to present their investment opportunity. The conference participants assessed those impact investment opportunities from the perspective of FinDev, based on factors like: viability, financial performance and ability to make a meaningful contribution to advancing women’s economic empowerment. Deetken Impact received excellent feedback, particularly on our strong financial track record, our partnerships with leading women’s development organizations like Pro Mujer and Finca, and our emphasis on making our product available to individual investors. More than a few people wanted to invest in our fund right there!
FinDev Canada will invest in developing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as sub-Saharan Africa. Their goal is to support entrepreneurs with a focus on local development, women’s economic empowerment and climate action. As you can see, there is strong alignment with what Deetken Impact does. We recently published “Beyond the buzzword: can the 2XChallenge empower women for real?”, in which we reflect on how we think organizations like FinDev Canada can effectively empower women. You can read it here.
