Financial inclusion non-profit Kiva is announcing a partnership under the White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative with USAID to advance women’s economic empowerment by increasing access to financing for women entrepreneurs and business owners. W-GDP is the first whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment and, as a part of the Initiative, Kiva will use catalytic capital offered through the W-GDP Fund at USAID to design the Kiva Invest in Women Fund (K-IWF), an innovative investing vehicle to positively impact women.
“This partnership with the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative at USAID recognizes Kiva Capital’s potential to deliver a truly innovative fund to the gender lens investment community”
Kiva to scale gender-focused impact investing
Kiva has been awarded $2.5 million from the W-GDP Fund at USAID in an effort to identify innovative approaches to catalyze commercial investment for women’s economic empowerment and equality. The contract will support an 18-month process that will engage major asset owners and gender lens investing experts in developing K-IWF, which aims to provide $100 million in critical capital for women entrepreneurs.
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K-IWF will continue Kiva’s work of institutional impact investing through its Kiva Capital arm, a wholly-owned asset management subsidiary offering impact-first investment vehicles that aim to fill gaps in capital access for underserved communities in the current investment ecosystem.
“This partnership with the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative at USAID recognizes Kiva Capital’s potential to deliver a truly innovative fund to the gender lens investment community,” said Sarah Marchal Murray, Kiva’s Chief Strategic Partnerships Officer. “We are excited to collaborate with and learn from this community of sophisticated global investors. Together, we can expand the pipeline of capital to economically empower women.”
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