Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund

Advancing Gender Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean

Deetken Impact, a Canadian impact asset manager, and Pro Mujer, a provider of relevant and transformative resources and services for low-income women, manage the Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund, a gender-lens impact fund to empower women and advance gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean.

About the Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund

Deetken Impact and Pro Mujer launched the Ilu Women’s Empowerment fund and collaboratively manage it as a joint venture. The fund is a result of their mutual commitment to supporting women’s empowerment across their business activities and to the implementation of investment management practices that empower women in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Ilu Fund has a 5-year track record of delivering strong returns to investors, with an average annual return since inception of 6% (net of fees).

The target fund size is $35 million, with $28 million already committed. After successfully closing the first fundraising round from catalytic investors, Deetken Impact and Pro Mujer are now completing a final round to raise another $8 million.

Our Investment Strategy

The Ilu Fund’s investment strategy places strong emphasis on women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. Portfolio investments include financial institutions that provide integrated and thoughtfully designed services for low-income women, including access to healthcare, educational loans, financial services, and technical assistance, as well as gender-smart investments in renewable energy, affordable housing and social enterprise.

Some of our recent milestones

DFC Financing

The United States International Development Finance Corporation (formerly OPIC) committed $10 million of senior debt financing to Ilu Fund in May 2020. 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.

Private Sector Financing

There are currently over 70 private sector investors in the Ilu Fund’s including foundations, family offices, credit unions and individuals. Deetken Impact places emphasis on bringing women investors into the fund, as women typically make up a small proportion of investors in private market securities. Among the Fund’s individual investors, over 40% are women.

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 weakness in a company’s business practices, understand and shape gender-smart business objectives, and evaluate progress over time. This process also informs our investment decisions.

Million Already Committed

Private Sector Investors

Investors Are Women

Why We Focus on Latin America and the Caribbean?

1 in 3 people live in poverty and it remains one of the most unequal in the world. Women are disproportionately affected by poverty due to social and cultural barriers

Almost half of the workforce is in the informal sector, 75% of which is female

Economic growth has slowed dramatically in the last 5 years, in sharp contrast to the commodity-driven boom of the previous decade. By investing in women-led businesses, we can accelerate equitable, sustainable growth

Although there have been notable women in political leadership, representation on corporate boards and executive teams remains low

The Covid-19 crisis has set back recent advances in both poverty and gender equality. It is more important than ever to remain intentional, stay the course and invest in a way that supports developing countries and specifically women

We have deep networks and a strong pipeline of opportunities to contribute towards gender-balanced, long-term growth

Why We Focus on Latin America and the Caribbean?

1 in 3 people live in poverty and it remains one of the most unequal in the world. Women are disproportionately affected by poverty due to social and cultural barriers

Almost half of the workforce is in the informal sector, 75% of which is female

Economic growth has slowed dramatically in the last 5 years, in sharp contrast to the commodity-driven boom of the previous decade. By investing in women-led businesses, we can accelerate equitable, sustainable growth

Although there have been notable women in political leadership, representation on corporate boards and executive teams remains low

The Covid-19 crisis has set back recent advances in both poverty and gender equality. It is more important than ever to remain intentional, stay the course and invest in a way that supports developing countries and specifically women

We have deep networks and a strong pipeline of opportunities to contribute towards gender-balanced, long-term growth

Image describing the four gender lenses used to guide investment strategies

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 four gender lenses.

Gender Smart at Every Step

Screening

Clear leadership or commitment to one or more of our four gender lenses

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Due Diligence

Scoring against 35 gender smart criteria aligned with our four lenses

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Investment

CEO-level commitment to continuous progress on gender gaps identified in due diligence

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Monitoring and Reporting

Measurement and evaluation of gender metrics for reporting to stakeholders

Engagement

Tailored acceleration and engagement to advance gender business practices

Our Impact

The Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund supports the Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, we evaluate our investment opportunities and our portfolio companies based on their contribution to these goals. Our current portfolio of holdings have delivered the following impact in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Goal: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

284,831 MSME clients have received health care services in the past 12 months

Goal: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

341,492 MSME clients have received financial or literacy training in the last 12 months

Goal: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

341,492 MSME clients have received financial or literacy training in the last 12 months

Goal: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

458,156 women clients (81% of total)
2,446 full-time jobs for women (52% of total)
40% of individual investors are female

Goal: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Clean renewable energy capacity of 199 MW

Projects will generate 348 GWh per year, enough
to power 111,569 households while displacing
184,524 tons of GHGs, equivalent to taking
39,617 cars off the road

Goal: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Clean renewable energy capacity of 199 MW
Projects will generate 348 GWh per year, enough to power 111,569 households while displacing 184,524 tons of GHGs, equivalent to taking
39,617 cars off the road