Press release
DWM Joins 2X Global
Pioneering impact investor joins industry leaders to codify long-standing commitment to gender equity
Hannah Schiff
Managing Director, Impact
New York & Stamford, Conn.
May 8, 2023
Developing World Markets (“DWM”), a U.S.-based private equity and debt manager with more than two decades of experience and a pioneer of modern impact investing, is pleased to announce it has joined 2X Global, a membership and field-building organization focused on unlocking gender-smart capital at scale.
“Since creating the Pro Mujer Loan Fund in 1999, DWM has invested in inclusive financial institutions that primarily serve women clients,” said Peter Johnson, the firm’s Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner. “Joining this impressive group of forward-thinking leaders to raise the bar for gender lens investing reinforces DWM’s long-standing commitment to making investments supporting women in emerging and frontier markets.”
“As we collaborate to unlock gender-smart capital across global markets, DWM’s notable history and hands-on experience in gender lens investing in emerging and frontier markets will be a valuable asset to our 2X Global community. We’re excited to officially welcome DWM as our latest 2X member!” said Jessica Espinoza, CEO of 2X Global.
DWM’s approach to gender lens investing includes gender analysis and targeted action to improve inclusiveness at three levels: end clients, portfolio companies, and DWM itself. In DWM’s 2022 portfolio, 64% of end clients served were women, and 55% of portfolio companies meet the 2X Employment criteria of having at least 40% women staff and policies in place to support women’s careers. DWM has also developed an assessment methodology to analyze gender-inclusiveness of core business processes at inclusive financial institutions, together with Criterion Institute. Last year, DWM released a report based on this work called “Gender, Power, and Process in Financial Inclusion.”
“We are excited to collaborate with other members of 2X Global to share knowledge and develop best practices to promote women’s economic opportunity in a holistic way,” said Hannah Schiff, DWM’s Managing Director of Impact.
About DWM
Founded in 1994, Developing World Markets (DWM) seeks investible solutions that sustainably address the social, environmental, and economic needs of the developing world. DWM began impact investing in 1999 and shifted exclusively to impact in 2007. DWM has over two decades of experience in emerging and frontier markets. Through DWM Asset Management, LLC, the firm’s SEC-registered investment adviser, DWM has originated and managed over $2.5 billion of private debt and private equity in impact-oriented enterprises, including over 1,000 loan disbursements and 25 private equity stakes in more than 70 emerging and frontier countries.
About 2X Global
2X Global is a global membership and field-building organization for investors, capital providers, and intermediaries working in public and private markets, across both developed and emerging economies. We engage our global network through a series of activities that advance intersectional investment agendas, scale the field, shift mindsets, and facilitate capital deployment. These include a series of Communities of Practice, educational forums, shared resources, certification and standards, and deal-sharing platforms. By working together with the full spectrum of investors, capital providers, mobilisers, and influencers, we will help shape the market on a whole new level, ultimately transforming systems of finance through the gender-smart deployment of capital across asset classes and markets.