Over the years, there has been increasing efforts to achieve women’s economic empowerment in Indonesia.
There is a unanimous appetite among impact and mainstream investors to understand gender lens investing, a relatively new and emerging theme in Indonesia.
Since 2019, there has been a global inflow of gender lens investments in Asia amounting to USD 160 million of commitments (not exclusive to Indonesia) from both impact and mainstream investors. In Indonesia, these deals account for 11% of total investments by impact investors, with a focus on sectors such as Food and Agribusiness (78%), Financial Services (22%), Tech-enabled businesses (22%) and Women-led or -owned businesses (89%).
With women-owned SMEs making up almost half of Indonesia’s SME market, applying gender lens investing presents an untapped opportunity. Being a viable and commercially-sound investment strategy, it has the potential to improve financial performance, reduce risks, and expand impact.
It is with this reason that AVPN is launching a series of Indonesia-focused events. With support from Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian government, this series will explore how gender lens investing can build resilience against the pandemic and support economic recovery.
The first of this series will kick off with a high-powered panel, featuring leaders across the public and private sectors in Indonesia. It will discuss opportunities for gender lens investing and how this investment strategy can drive economic recovery in the wider region. The discussion will be tailored to investors, corporates, and individuals who want to tap into this largely untapped market opportunity.
Key Takeaways
- Understand the current and future landscape of gender lens investing in Indonesia market
- Gain perspectives from different key stakeholders in the Indonesia market and how they play their respective roles to develop gender lens investing
- Explore possible opportunities of collaboration within gender lens investing ecosystem in Indonesia
