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

In: Technological Leapfrogging and Innovation in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Michele Ruiters
  • Motshedisi Mathibe

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Ruiters & Motshedisi Mathibe, 2023. "Financial leapfrogging and innovative financing in sub-Saharan Africa: gender-lens investments for gender equality," Chapters, in: Ethné Swartz & Caren B. Scheepers & Adam Lindgreen & Shumaila Yousafzai & Marianne Matthee (ed.), Technological Leapfrogging and Innovation in Africa, chapter 6, pages 112-135, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:19935_6
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    File URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781800370395.00014
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