The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) together with Investing in Women, recently staged a thought leadership event titled “Gender lens investing in practice: Driving value for investors in Vietnam.” Supported by the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam and the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AusCham Vietnam), the discussion focused on how gender can drive value for the investment community in Vietnam, from the perspectives of private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investors.
Julianne Cowley, Australian Consul-General in Ho Chi Minh City, where the event was held, opened the discussion by emphasising the strong business case for building back the economy better, post-COVID19, through gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
Amy Luinstra, EAP Lead for Gender and Economic Inclusion at the International Finance Corporation, gave a presentation on the report, “Moving Toward Gender Balance in Private Equity and Venture Capital,” which also underscored the business case for a more balanced investment landscape. Among other insights, she pointed out that gender balanced funds generally perform better than male- or female-dominated funds—approximately 20% higher when normalised for the median net internal rate of return of emerging market funds—whereas “gender balanced leadership teams are correlated with approximately 25% greater increases in valuation than unbalanced teams.”
The panel discussion was led by Shuyin Tang, Partner at Patamar Capital, and included Tu Ngo, General Partner at Touchstone Partners, Nguyen Thi Minh Giang, Partner at Mekong Capital, and Eddie Thai, General Partner at 500 Startups Vietnam. The panellists shared their motivations and best practices in incorporating gender considerations into their investment processes, portfolios and teams, and how this has impacted their funds’ performance—be it through increased returns, fundraising and risk profile.
Also present at the event were Mary Tarnowka, Executive Director of AmCham Vietnam, and Allison Hollowell, Chief Product Officer at AVPN, who each gave welcoming remarks and participated in the Q&A, as well as Simon Fraser, Executive Director at AusCham Vietnam, who provided the concluding remarks. Overall, the speakers highlighted that investing in women-led and gender-balanced businesses is not just a good thing to do; its good business.
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Gender lens investing in Southeast Asia: A snapshot of progress in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, which was jointly published by Investing in Women and Value for Women, provides additional information on how gender lens investing is being practiced and continues to provide opportunities for investors in the region.
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