As questions on the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion arise around the world, we maintain our commitment to advancing gender equity by injecting financing and business opportunities into social enterprises impacting excluded communities in South America and Central & Eastern Europe.
Since 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) has been honoring the achievements of women across all aspects of life – social, economic, cultural, and political – while also advocating for gender equality. Over 100 years later, we have made great strides in accelerating gender equality, but we recognize there is still much more progress to be made.
This International Women’s Day, NESsT is celebrating our portfolio of enterprises that are making a real impact in advancing gender equity in South America and Central & Eastern Europe, as well as NESsT’s commitment to Gender Lens Investing and gender equity within our organization.
Gender equity is at the center of NESsT’s business and investment strategy. For NESsT, Gender Lens Investing (GLI) means bringing gender considerations as a cross-cutting lens into our investment strategies and discussions about climate, poverty, racial, equity, and diversity – rather than treating them as isolated topics. We work to further women’s social and financial inclusion by bringing gender-smart funding directly to enterprises working to eliminate gender biases in their hiring practices, pay equitable income, and provide the same professional development opportunities and level of job security to women as men.
We work closely with our portfolio enterprises to support them to become equitable and gender inclusive, moving beyond simply tracking the participation of women, toward measuring progress brought about through qualitative, transformative change to shift gender norms.
Our gender-lens investing strategy involves five key elements:
DEVELOP quantitative and qualitative metrics that can be easily adopted by enterprises that capture gender dynamics and gender intersectionality.
ENSURE that gender equality and inclusion is assessed and supported both at the due diligence and investment stages.
UTILIZE the collected metrics to inform enterprises on ways to improve their business practices in order to support gender diversity, wellbeing and close gender disparities for employees and suppliers.
INCREASE the representation of women employees and entrepreneurs in leadership positions, reflecting the intersectionality of the communities where your portfolio operates.
INFORM the fund investors on key gender outcomes of their investments.
See also: NESsT’s Gender Lens Investing Blog Series
As an organization committed to advancing gender equity, NESsT checks in regularly with our portfolio of enterprises as well as with our own standard operating practices. We get updates from our portfolio through our quarterly Performance Measurement Tool (PMT) as well as our biannual Dignified Employment Survey.
As we strive to live out the principles with which we assess our investment portfolio, let’s look at the roles women play within the NESsT ecosystem and how we apply a gender lens in our day-to-day work.
63% of NESsT leadership are women
Women hold key leadership positions at NESsT, shaping our strategy and operations across six countries. Seven of the 11 members of our management team are women including Tiana Lins and Alejandra Ramírez, country directors from Brazil and Colombia; Renata Truzzi, the director overseeing the whole of our acceleration portfolio; and our Chief Executive Officer, Kirsten Dueck. With women making up 63% of leadership, this figure is nearly double the industry average for senior management positions in Wealth and Asset Management and Institutional Investors in the United States, according to the 2024 Women in the Workplace Report by LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company. These numbers reflect our broader commitment to embedding gender equity into NESsT’s organizational leadership.
57% of the NESsT team are women
With a team of 57 people across three continents, there are 33 women on board represented in every department of NESsT, including Finance, IT, Operations, Communications, and Portfolio Management. At a percentage of 57% of staff—including entry-level positions up to C-Suite—NESsT outranks the 2024 average makeup of entry-level positions held by women in the United States at 48% (LeanIn.org/McKinsey), with the report indicating those averages drop as you include management and senior roles.
Of our team of 30 overseeing the activities of our acceleration and investment portfolios (including portfolio managers, program managers, acceleration leads, and fund associates), 13 are women and operate in key roles across South America and Central & Eastern Europe—Mariana Lima joined NESsT in 2024 as the Investment Officer for the NESsT Lirio Fund’s expansion into Brazil, and Ioana Samoil joined NESsT in 2021 as a portfolio manager, rising to Acceleration Lead in Romania in 2024. With near gender parity (43%), this is more than double the median percentage of women portfolio managers (16%) reported by Morningstar’s Diversity in Asset Management Report.
The NESsT Board of Directors also reached gender parity in December 2024, which outpaces findings that women hold less than a quarter of the world’s board seats (23.3%), according to a 2024 report by Deloitte.
40% of NESsT portfolio enterprises have a focus on women, 58% report women in leadership
NESsT invests in and accelerates social enterprises from traditionally excluded communities that create job opportunities to benefit people and the planet. As such, 40% of NESsT portfolio enterprises name women as an area of impact or people supported by their social impact. Additionally, by the end of 2024, 58% of our acceleration portfolio reported their organizations as either being women-led or having hybrid leadership (balance of men and women in leadership).
Meet the 57 NESsT portfolio enterprises driving gender equity – from women-led businesses to those creating solutions that support and uplift women – and learn how they continue to make meaningful impact in their communities.
