Investing in Women Case Study Series: SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund

This case study is part of a series of case studies detailing IW’s blended finance structures with these partners.  It highlights their achievements and discusses key learnings in mobilising more capital for women’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In particular, this document provides an overview, progress to date and key learnings of IW’s partnership with SEAF.

SEAF is an investment management group that provides growth capital and business assistance to SMEs in emerging and transition markets underserved by traditional sources of capital. Through its network of offices around the world, SEAF invests in entrepreneurs that seek to build successful businesses, aiming to realise both attractive returns for investors and a measurable development impact in local communities.

In partnership with IW, to direct investment towards women’s SMEs, SEAF has established the SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund and developed a proprietary Gender Equality Scorecard to assess women’s economic empowerment and gender equality within an individual investment.

Table of Contents

• • IW – innovative blended finance structure with SEAF
  • SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund
  • Gender Lens Action Plan
  • Investment activity to date
  • SEAF Gender Lens Investing – Key learnings
  • IW’s key insights on gender lens investing
  • EY insights on gender lens investing
  • Investing in Women’s achievements to date
  • EY as Advisor to IW Contacts