The Impact Investors Foundation (IIF), Nigeria’s leading platform for unlocking impact capital, today hosted the 4th Gender Impact Investment Summit (GIIS). The landmark event featured the historic unveiling of the Inclusive Capital Scorecard, a Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) Baseline report, which establishes a foundation and clear understanding for GESI integration practices in impact investment.
Summit Theme and Context
The summit, themed “From Commitment to Action: Strengthening Inclusive Gender Lens Investment for Nigeria’s Growth,” convened at a critical juncture for deepening Nigeria’s National Women Economic Empowerment policy. Building on the momentum of previous years, where over 50 organizations pledged support for inclusive capital, the 4th GIIS serves as the definitive platform to translate high-level pledges into tangible, measurable results for women, youth, and the over 35 million Nigerians living with disabilities.
Centerpiece: GESI Baseline Survey
The centerpiece of this year’s summit was the GESI baseline survey, which serves as a reference point for tracking progress, informing interventions, and strengthening accountability toward achieving the national inclusive capital roadmap. It also features a policy roundtable, where regulators, ministries, and government agencies made actionable commitments to strengthen cross-sector collaboration and accelerate policy implementation for women, youths, and persons with disabilities (PwD) in key economic sectors, including climate resilient industries.
“The GESI Baseline Report is more than a document; it is the data-driven foundation required to fix structural barriers in our financial system,” stated Etemore Glover, CEO of the Impact Investors Foundation. “While women own nearly 40% of Nigerian businesses, they receive a disproportionately small share of formal credit. This report empowers stakeholders to identify acute gaps and benchmark progress as we move toward a truly inclusive economy.”
Keynote and Industry Perspectives
Ibukun Awosika, Chair of GSG Nigeria Partner and Vice Chair of GSG Impact, emphasised the significance of this milestone at the 4th GIIS: “By providing the data-driven foundation needed to benchmark progress, it demands that stakeholders not only mobilise inclusive capital at scale but also embed GESI and gender lens investment principles into every investment decision and policy. This summit is the definitive platform to close investment gaps, unlocking Nigeria’s full economic potential and ensuring our growth is truly equitable and transformative.”
The 4th Gender Impact Investment Summit (GIIS) acts as a vehicle to dismantle obstacles for women, serving as a catalyst for growth by actively driving impact to accommodate women, including those in the informal labour market. It moves beyond rhetoric to institutionalise accountability by encouraging organisations to not only track how capital is raised, but also the type of capital deployed, jobs created, enterprise growth, geographic reach, and measurable inclusion outcomes.
Economic Imperative and Deal Rooms
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) are increasingly recognized as critical leverage points; by addressing the institutional gaps that leave women, youths, and persons with disabilities-led businesses under-resourced, Nigeria can catalyze a new wave of data-driven investment and productivity. The keynote address, ‘Turning Gender Equity into Economic Advantage,’ presented by His Highness Khalifa Muhammad Sanusi II CON, Sarkin Kano, stressed the need for the intentional dismantling of structural barriers that hinder women’s financial inclusion, noting that gender equality is not merely a social imperative but a critical economic lever for national prosperity.
To facilitate immediate economic impact, the 4th GIIS introduced enhanced Deal Rooms, operating both virtually and in-person. These rooms are specifically designed to provide a direct matchmaking pipeline, connecting investors with ready-to-scale, women-led enterprises, leading to a soft commitment of about $250,000 from investors. In addition, the summit featured technical sessions which emphasised institutional capacity building, equipping both public and private sector actors with the GESI diagnostic tools, investment readiness tools, and data capturing frameworks necessary to mainstream GESI and gender lens investing (GLI) into their core operations.
Data and Future Impact
The economic urgency of this intervention is underscored by current data showing a stark inclusion gap: only 23 percent of Nigerian women have bank accounts, compared to 77 percent of men. By providing credible, first-of-its-kind data, the IIF is positioning the GESI Roadmap as a strategic necessity for sustainable national growth. The summit featured high-level participation from financial institutions, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), and policymakers. Through interactive panels and policy conversations, leaders were invited to move beyond discourse and lead in GESI integration, utilizing the new report to influence future policy and investment strategies.
