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2X Canada is a CAD 75.9 million blended finance facility led by FinDev Canada and funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada, that will support investments that drive a positive impact on gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The overall impact objective of this facility is to enhance the socio-economic well-being of underserved, vulnerable populations, particularly women, primarily in Latin America, the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. 2X Canada will work towards this objective by addressing persistent market gaps and structural barriers faced by underserved populations, particularly women.
The vision to build back better supports a recovery that is inclusive, sustainable and resilient. The COVID-19 pandemic is in many ways an opportunity for both public and private sectors to ensure that financial investment decision-making places sustainability, equality and climate action at its core.
Businesses in our target markets are facing tremendous challenges affecting employees, customers, and surrounding communities. The economic losses from the pandemic have been shown to have a disproportionately negative impact on women. More women are being pushed into poverty than men because of the compounded effects of job and income losses, increase in unpaid care work demands, lack of social protection and access to services, and the overrepresentation of women workers and entrepreneurs in informal sectors and sectors affected by lockdown measures.
Investments within the 2X Canada portfolio will address this reality. The expectation is for 2X Canada to contribute to sustainable, inclusive, resilient growth in targeted markets with a focus on the underserved.
2X Canada will support an estimated 8-10 entities in fostering economic recovery from COVID-19, through investing in key sectors supporting gender equality or providing liquidity to enterprises that support quality jobs and/or access to services, particularly for women, and/or to women-owned and led micro, small and medium enterprises.
Investment opportunities will be assessed by the following:
2X Canada also considers the following investment terms when assessing an opportunity:
2X Canada: Inclusive economic recovery will focus on financial intermediaries, such as investment funds, financial institutions, and other investment vehicles with a clear strategy to reduce gender equality gaps and benefit women. All investments will qualify for the 2X Challenge. Here are some of the criteria listed below:
Surpapel is a preeminent sustainable manufacturer of paper and cardboard boxes in Ecuador. The group is a key partner of the Ecuadorian government’s National Strategy and Action Plan for the Circular Economy Transition.
Cooprogreso, the fifth largest financial cooperative in Ecuador, was founded in 1969 by 32 local entrepreneurs whose mission is to serve the underbanked. Cooprogreso has built a gender-balanced customer base of microentrepreneurs and smallholder farmers providing access to financial services for low-income customers.
Locfund Next is a debt fund that provides financing in local currency to microfinance institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. The vision of the fund is to strengthen financial inclusion through the microfinance ecosystem in an environment that has shown to increasingly require digital transformation.
EEGF is a fund designed to provide patient, flexible capital combined with technical assistance that is currently lacking in the Decentralized renewable energy (DRE) ecosystem. By offering tailored solutions it is able to meet the changing needs of growing DRE companies working to achieve SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy by 2030.
Find answers to your questions about 2X Canada below.
It's a blended finance facility led by FinDev Canada to enhance the socio-economic well-being of underserved, vulnerable populations, particularly women, through access to finance.
The facility will support opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
This facility unlocks the possibility to invest in riskier, underserved and fragile markets where FinDev Canada cannot currently invest directly.
This type of financing addresses persistent market gaps and structural barriers faced by underserved women entrepreneurs, widening the reach of Canada’s development finance impact.
2X Canada will complement FinDev Canada’s core mandate, enhancing its ability to deliver high impact outcomes through private sector investments that promote inclusion and innovation or deepen our reach in frontier markets.
2X Canada will exclusively support transactions that intentionally drive gender equality. This means that an investment must show a positive impact (current or potential) on at least one key vector of gender equality identified in FinDev Canada's gender strategy: access to entrepreneurship, leadership positions, quality employment or access to economic empowerment tools for women.
All investments will be 2X Challenge eligible.
2X Canada will focus on financial intermediaries (investment funds, financial institutions including micro-finance, cooperatives) with a clear strategy and thesis to reduce gender gaps in access to finance, leadership roles, quality employment and/or access to economic empowerment tools. By working together, we can develop and launch innovative programs and offer development impact capital to reach scale.
The 2X Challenge was launched by the G7 development finance institutions (DFIs) in 2018 at the G7 Charlevoix Summit. It is a commitment by DFIs to mobilize financing in gender smart investment. The 2X Challenge surpassed is original target of US$ 3 billion and has expanded its membership to include development banks, and other DFIs. The 2X Challenge has defined a common set of criteria to define what investing in women mean.
2X Canada is capitalized at C$75.9 million through the International Assistance Innovation Program at Global Affairs Canada.
FinDev Canada will co-invest in a vast majority, if not all, of the transactions supported by 2X Canada. This approach will allow 2X Canada to support high impact transactions that are challenged by financial and market risks that make strictly commercial implementation impossible. Through co-investing, 2X Canada and FinDev Canada together can support transactions that will fill crucial gaps in financing and help reduce financial risk to enhance women’s economic empowerment.
Yes. 2X Canada will provide technical assistance. In addition to providing core services including strengthened management and governance, impact measurement, and various areas of business performance such as E&S and data management, specific technical assistance needs in the context of economic recovery will also be supported. These may include business strategy re-orientation, rapid operationalizing of gender action plans, development of financial products and services specifically to serve women, and broader operations and systems strengthening.
Statement made at the Financing African Economies Summit on May 18, 2021
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Program undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada.
