BIDUK Focuses On Gender Equity and The Blue Economy
As an IMPACT-oriented lending platform we maintain a strong commitment to gender equity, positive social impact and environmental sustainability in the businesses and teams where we invest.
We collect and track metrics as part of our loan process, and work with businesses to understand and implement practices that support women as employees and positive stewardship of blue resources as they grow.
We look for founders and leadership teams that are open to discussions about how to increase the positive social impact in their businesses, in ways that make sense for their models, industries and stages of growth. We have clear and extensive “do no harm” screens in place for our investments—including certain industries we will not invest in. However, we aren’t merely looking for companies that tick certain boxes.
We have found that engaging with leadership teams about ways to help them build better businesses leads to better solutions for everyone. This applies to both gender equity and reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.
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Investees with representative gender balance and equal pay practices
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Investees with positive environmental impact
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Loans to women-owned or women-led businesses
GENDER LENS INVESTING
There Is No Single Definition For Gender Lens Investing.
For BIDUK Gender Lens Investing (GLI) is the intentional act of making investment decisions and adopting processes and policies because it will have a positive effect on women and girls, and builds gender equity.
What does GLI mean for BIDUK?
We have intentionally addressed much of the unconscious bias in the investment process.
This means that we go beyond ‘targeting’ women in businesses to remove gender bias during the due diligence process and loan product development, while engaging our clients in discussion about the benefits of workplace equity.
Our goal is not only to challenge conventional systemic bias but also to demonstrate that women-led & women-owned businesses DO thrive if they are able to access customized products that serve their needs.
Valuing Women as business leaders – rather than seeing them as beneficiaries – is the first step toward addressing the unconscious bias.
BIDUK’s Approach to GLI
Ownership & Management
Workspace Equity
Want to learn more about the Frontier Brokers’ approach to GLI?
Watch this 4-min video:
Explore more resources and publications in the BIDUK Blog and check out the Value for Women report “How to invest with a Gender Lens” (PDF), where BIDUK is mentioned.
The Blue Economy
Indonesia is a vast and dynamic country comprised of nearly 18,000 separate islands.
We pay particular attention to the Blue Economy—the economy derived from marine habitats and ecology. This includes SGBs that intentionally and proactively support marine preservation, sustainable livelihoods and preserving the delicate balance of the ocean ecology.
BIDUK actively seeks out companies working on issues such as:
Additionally, as part of our investment process, we assess the extent to which companies are doing their part to support the environment.
For a growing restaurant chain, for example, we would look at their energy sources and usage, whether they recycle, the type of takeaway packaging they use, and what they do with leftover food.