As part of the Green Indian Financial System (GIFS) Initiative, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), and the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, has launched ‘GroW – Greening of Finance by Women’, a network for leveraging and promoting women’s participation, leadership, and knowledge for greening of financial system.
Mumbai, April 5, 2023 – Comprehensive climate action cannot take place without integration of gender considerations in finance. However, financial systems and instruments across the globe continue to remain inadequate in this aspect. Global evidence suggests that increased participation of women at all levels of the financial sector, the younger and middle managers and leaders alike, holds immense potential for improved and highly effective climate action. This will result in exemplifying their role in greening of financial systems.
In a positive move to achieve this, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), and the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, as part of the Green Indian Financial System (GIFS) Initiative, announce the launch of GroW – Greening of Finance by Women, a professional network seeking to advance and leverage women’s participation, leadership, and knowledge in green and climate finance at an event today in Mumbai.
Diane Jegam, Proparco South Asia Regional Director said, “Women have to play an essential role in greening financial systems. Representation matters and India counts many inspirational, brilliant women in the financial sector. The GroW network will enable the federation and the support of a strong community of women leaders in the space of the financial sector in order to further accelerate the transformation of the climate finance landscape in the future.”
GroW envisions transforming the green and climate finance sector to be more gender equitable. The activities of GroW will be geared towards achieving the following outcomes:
- Increase women’s participation in the green and climate finance sector
- Increase women at leadership roles in organizations undertaking green and climate finance
- Improve gender integration into green and climate finance
- Improve access, usage, and quality of knowledge and resources on green and climate finance for women
Speaking about the role the initiative can play, Shri S Ramann, CMD, SIDBI said “The Greening of Finance by Women (GRoW) Network seeks to advance the role of and integrate women in the green finance landscape as a part of the Green Indian Financial System (GIFS) Initiative. It is expected that the network will facilitate Stand Up India Womenpreneurs to lookup the value chain as also shall provide much needed mentorship to Startups and MSEs. SIDBI has prioritized Women Entrepreneurship Promotion through its developmental initiatives as also by launching “ARJANA” scheme as a direct engagement product. GRoW is poised to add value to the role of women experts in enterprise promotion and will help reinforce and capitalize on the gender axis of the sector.”
“Evidence suggests that increased participation and leadership of women have substantially contributed to better risk management, increased stability, and lower emission intensity among businesses and financial institutions. The Greening of finance by Women (GroW) initiative seeks to promote women experts, knowledge networks and green champions in the financial sector. The initiative will allow for increased scale and pace of a green growth, while attempting to rebalance the current and persistent gender gap.” says Koyel Mandal, Chief of Programmes, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation about the larger impact the network can have in combating climate change.
GroW offers membership to women who share the network’s mission to ‘enhance visibility and expertise of women professionals in green and climate finance and create an ecosystem that reinforces and capitalizes on the gender axis of the sector’. Members can avail the following benefits by joining GroW:
- Attend exclusive networking sessions, masterclasses and knowledge sharing events
- Connect with leading women working across roles in green and climate finance
- Collaborate with our directory of members and the network as a whole
- Access our library of pertinent resources on greening of financial systems
For the first year, Intellecap Advisory Services will support the strategy design and operationalization of the network. For more information on GroW and to join the network, please visit www.grownetwork.in or write to contact@grownetwork.in.
About Agence Française de Développement (AFD):
AFD Group implements France’s policy in the areas of development and international solidarity. The Group includes Agence Française de Développement (AFD), which finances the public sector and NGOs, as well as research and education in sustainable development; its subsidiary Proparco, which is dedicated to private sector financing; and Expertise France, a technical cooperation agency. The Group finances, supports and accelerates transitions towards a fairer, more resilient world.
About Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI):
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) set up on 2nd April 1990 under an Act of Indian Parliament, acts as the Principal Financial Institution for Promotion, Financing and Development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector as well as for co-ordination of functions of institutions engaged in similar activities.
About Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation:
Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation is an enabler for clean energy and climate solutions. The organisation works with policy makers, civil society, industry, think tanks, and academia to identify and scale energy system interventions that will reduce GHG emissions and tackle climate change.
About Intellecap:
Intellecap a part of the Aavishkaar Group, a pioneer in building enabling ecosystems and channeling capital to create and nurture a sustainable and equitable society. Intellecap works across critical sectors like Agriculture, Climate Change & Energy, Financial Services, Gender & Livelihoods, Circularity, and WaSH, and has delivered over 700 global engagements across Asia and Africa, and syndicated investments of over USD 1.1 Billion USD in Capital. For more details please visit, www.intellecap.com