Recommendation 5

HM Government Accepted

The Government agrees that BII should articulate the work it strives to do to promote gender equality and target under-represented groups. For the Strategy Period 2022–26, BII has committed to focusing on two areas of diversity finance: i) gender finance (using the 2X Criteria) ii) promoting black ownership and leadership in Africa. BII’s proposal for impact across both of these is set out in the organisation’s 2022–26 Strategy document. Details on the specific approach that BII is taking can be found in BII’s Gender & Diversity Position Statement. BII is a champion of gender-smart investing and a founding member of 2X Global which is engaging investors, capital providers and mobilisers to work together to advance gender- smart investments and scale the field of gender finance. The 2X Challenge has raised $16.3 billion to support women’s economic empowerment across developing country markets from 2021 to 2022, with BII having contributed $1.3 billion to this figure. The framework Session 2023–24 has assisted in mainstreaming gender into BII’s investment decision-making processes, allowing BII to systematically assess all investments for gender gaps and opportunities. Under its current strategy period, BII will target at least 25% of all new investments on a cumulative basis over 2022–2026 as being 2X qualified. In 2022, BII invested £640.3 million in 2X-qualified businesses, 50% of its total commitments that year. Recognising that the 2X Framework forms the global standard for gender-lens investing, BII will continue to use 2X as a starting point for reporting on gendered impact. BII already discloses all 2X qualified deals, which are published on BII’s website and form part of BII’s Annual Review. As part of the Transparency Roadmap (see response to Recommendations 13 and 14), BII will also begin disclosing the qualifying criteria for each new 2X investment. In addition, as part of the next phase of the 2X Challenge, BII will also align with the increased disclosure requirements for 2X qualifications being set by 2X Global. In 2024, BII will publish a Gender Impact & Learning Report to set out where BII has made investments which are impactful for women and girls at the point of investment and investments where BII has worked with the investee to deliver impact for women once invested. The report will also cover impact realised within 2X qualified investments, where the remaining challenges for gender-lens investing lie, and analysis of what can be done to address this. BII’s Gender and Diversity Position Statement also highlights the organisation’s BOLD (Black Ownership and Leadership for Development) investing framework. This aims to increase the representation of Black owners and leaders in BII’s sub-Saharan Africa portfolio. For example, in Ghana, BII has invested in Growth Investment Partners, a Black-led SME lending platform, which has targets in place to direct a percentage of its capital to local Black-owned and -led businesses. The Government recognises the importance of the FCDO-BII Evaluation programme (see response to Recommendation 3) considering gender, development impact, and environmental and social outcomes, having integrated these into previous evaluations. The FCDO will ensure these will also be a specified feature of future portfolio and individual investment evaluations.