IMPACT = Podcast revisiting our Closing the gap: lessons from six years in gender investing event

Worldwide, gender inequality is deeply ingrained in systems and institutions. And women’s economic participation is limited by the discrimination and unequal opportunities they face. Despite progress, the world isn’t on track to achieve gender equality by the end of this decade.

At British International Investment (BII), we are committed to making our investments work for women and, in 2018, we launched our Gender Finance Strategy. Our aim was to support companies in becoming more diverse, with more women leaders, and more high-quality jobs and products that meet women’s needs.

Six years later, we’ve taken stock of our progress and what we’re learning, and we’ve shared these findings in a report, titled ‘Closing the Gap: Lessons from six years of investing in women’, which you can find on our website.

At the end of 2024, we hosted an event to delve deeper into some of the themes in the publication and ask how we can best support businesses in further advancing gender equality.

Joining us on the panel for the event were:

• Roshaneh Zafar, Founder and Managing Director of Kashf Foundation, a
women-focused microfinance business in Pakistan
• Kachi Izukanne, Co-Founder and CEO of TradeDepot, a company connecting
informal traders in Nigeria (most of whom are women) with access to goods
and financial services
• Maria Smith, Chief Impact Office at BII
• Sarah Champion MP (moderator), a leading women’s rights advocate and chair
of the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee

This episode of the Impact= Podcast shares some of the highlights from their discussion.

Listen on the player below or find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.