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The Hidden Filters: How to Fix the Biases that Skew Investment Pipelines Away from Women Founders
Over the past decade, gender lens investing has moved from the fringes of impact investing into a more mainstream priority for many investors. But as Michal Januszewski at LeFil Consulting argues, while the overall gender-lens thesis has gained traction, the actual representation of women-led businesses remains stubbornly low within investor portfolios, with women-only founding teams capturing just 2.3% of global VC funding in 2024. He explores the structural and behavioral biases that can exclude women founders in each stage of the investment funnel, and shares practical recommendations on how investors can address them.
- Categories
- Investing
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Three Questions for Five African Businesses: Insights from Sankalp Africa Summit’s ‘Enterprise Showcase’
The recent Sankalp Africa Summit featured an “Enterprise Showcase” where up-and-coming African businesses shared information about their work and missions. NextBillion interviewed five of these entrepreneurs and company representatives, asking each of them three questions: What are the main challenges you’re facing in running your business? What kind of support would help you overcome these challenges? And what’s one thing you wish funders understood about your business needs? Their responses reveal some of the innovative approaches and key issues that are emerging in Africa’s vibrant ecosystem of small and medium-sized enterprises.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Social Enterprise, Transportation, WASH
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Dangerous Deliveries: Alarming Rise in Mothers Giving Birth Without Clean Water, WaterAid Research Finds
Investing in clean water, toilets, and handwashing in healthcare facilities could cut maternal and newborn deaths in half, for only $1 per person.
- Categories
- WASH
- Region
- Global
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Global Water Crisis Aggravated by Gender Inequalities According to New UN Report
Despite decades of progress, inequalities continue to compromise global water security, disproportionally impacting women and girls, who despite of being the main collectors of water, continue to be excluded from water management and leadership roles.
- Categories
- WASH
- Region
- Global
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ResponsAbility Commits USD $21.5 Million to CDB to Scale Green Lending in Sri Lanka
The transaction strengthens responsAbility’s footprint in South Asia and the Sri Lankan market, supporting CDB in expanding SME lending, advancing gender-focused financing, and scaling investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Research: A Plan to Maneuver Female Leadership in Ghana’s Renewable Energy Sector
The country is experience a profound paper-to-practice divide with agencies operating in silos and treating gender as a tangential social issue rather than core economic requirement.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Leveraging the Currency of Trust: How Social Commerce Data Can Inform Risk Management and Bring Formal Finance to Women-Led MSMEs
Across emerging markets, millions of women entrepreneurs operate in trust-based economies invisible to formal credit systems. As Nabilla Prita Fiandini and Monica Christy at MicroSave Consulting (MSC) explain, these businesses rely on their social reputations and customer relationships to survive, and often use platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to market their products. They share insights from a recent MSC report based on surveys and interviews with hundreds of social sellers across Indonesia, exploring how data from these entrepreneurs' social commerce activity can be used to boost their access to formal finance.
- Categories
- Finance
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Announcing NextBillion’s Most Influential Articles of 2025: Vote for Your Favorites by Jan. 4
NextBillion’s “Most Influential Articles of the Year” contest has been an annual tradition since 2012. As we do each December, we’ve highlighted 12 of our most-read articles from the past year: You can find links to them in this article, or on the homepage below. We invite you to read them and vote for the ones that influenced your thinking the most. You can vote up to once per hour between today (Dec. 19) and 11:59 pm EST on Jan. 4. We thank you for your support and engagement over these past 20 years, and we wish you a happy and prosperous 2026.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Finance, Investing, Technology, Telecommunications, Transportation
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