Financial leapfrogging and innovative financing in sub-Saharan Africa: gender-lens investments for gender equality

Michele Ruiters and Motshedisi Mathibe

Chapter 6 in Technological Leapfrogging and Innovation in Africa, 2023, pp 112-135 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The lack of gender equality has been a systemic issue in the business and investment community throughout its existence, but there is growing evidence that investing in gender equality will produce positive benefits. Conventional financial institutions are path dependent in the way they service their clients, while the newcomers - impact-investing firms - can leapfrog conventional investment practices and act as catalysts for shifting informal norms and customs that negatively affect women as entrepreneurs, employees and suppliers. A term coined in 2009 by investment specialists Jackie Van der Brug and Joy Anderson, gender-lens investing plays a critical role in guiding investments with the objective of women’s empowerment and more equitable workplaces and communities. This chapter conveys new stories about how entrepreneurial companies are transforming African businesses through financial leapfrogging, and how investments promoting women-owned businesses will advance local and regional economies. While research on gender-lens investing remains scant, this chapter explores the practical strategies for profitable gender-lens investing, unpacking some of the investment opportunities within the infrastructure sector.

Keywords: Business and Management; Development Studies; Economics and Finance; Innovations and Technology; Politics and Public Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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