Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund
Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund
Advancing Gender Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean
Deetken Impact, an award-winning Canadian impact investing firm, launched the Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund, the first gender lens investing fund that aims to empower women and drive climate resilience in Latin America and the Caribbean.
About the Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund
The Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund reflects a deep commitment to integrating gender equality into every aspect of investment strategy and business operations to drive meaningful progress toward economic, climate, and social equity across Latin America and the Caribbean. With USD $48 million in AUM, the Ilu Fund has invested in 32 companies in 13 countries, and has a record of delivering strong returns to investors.
We advance gender equality with every dollar invested. Deetken Impact partnered with Pro Mujer to design and implement a gender lens investing approach incorporating gender considerations and metrics at every step of the investment process to assess, monitor, and advance companies’ gender business practices while providing technical assistance to advance gender business practices
Our Investment Strategy
The Ilu Fund’s investment strategy places strong emphasis on women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. Recognizing that climate change disproportionately impacts women, the Ilu Fund’s investment strategy prioritizes investments that also mitigate climate change and enhance climate resilience in vulnerable communities. Portfolio investments include financial institutions that provide integrated and thoughtfully designed services for low-income women, including access to healthcare, green credit products, educational loans, financial services, and technical assistance, as well as gender-smart investments in renewable energy, affordable housing and sustainable production.
Some of our recent milestones
The Ilu Women’s Empowerment Program
The Ilu Women’s Empowerment Program was developed to amplify the impact of the Fund’s capital while advancing gender equality in the region through a three-pronged approach of fundraising of blended finance capital, tailored technical assistance projects with portfolio companies, and knowledge dissemination and advocacy for gender lens investing in the region. Learn more here.
DFC Financing
The United States International Development Finance Corporation (formerly OPIC) committed $10 million of senior debt financing to the Ilu Fund. This investment will advance DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative, which has catalyzed more than $1 billion in capital to empower women in developing countries around the world.
Gender Smart Investment Management
Deetken Impact and Pro Mujer are implementing gender smart practices across the Fund’s investment management and governance functions. Through a structured gender data collection process, we aim to identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement in a company’s business practices, understand and shape gender-smart business objectives, and monitor progress over time. This process also informs our investment decisions.
Million Invested
Portfolio Companies
Private Sector Investors
%
Investors Are Women
Why Latin America and the Caribbean?
Why Latin America and the Caribbean?
What Does It Mean to Invest With a Gender Lens?
It means integrating gender-based factors into investment decisions.
We look for businesses that show leadership or commitment to one or more of our five gender lenses.
Gender Smart at Every Step
Screening
Clear leadership or commitment to one or more of our five gender lenses
Due Diligence
Scoring against comprehensive gender smart criteria aligned with our five gender lenses
Investment
Established gender-smart objectives and CEO-level commitment to continuous progress on addressing gender gaps identified in due diligence
Monitoring and Reporting
Measurement and evaluation of gender metrics for reporting to stakeholders
Engagement
Tailored acceleration and engagement to advance gender business practices
Investment Management Team
José Lamyin
Managing Partner Investments & Strategy
Alexa Blain
Managing Partner Operations & Finance
Carl Black
Chief Investment Officer
José Lamyin
Managing Partner Investments & Strategy
Alexa Blain
Managing Partner Operations & Finance
Rachel Murphy
Senior Impact & Gender Officer
Alejandra Revueltas
Senior Portfolio Officer
Betsy Gaborit
Investment Officer
Laura Sanz
Investment Officer