Voices from the USAID Finance and Investment Network: Deetken Impact
Alexa Blain is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Deetken Impact, an investment fund manager with a focus on social and environmental impact, operating across Latin America and the Caribbean. With support from USAID INVEST, Deetken Impact will expand its support to portfolio companies under the Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund and de-risk opportunities for investors.
By Carolanne Chanik, INVEST Communications Coordinator
The Aymara are an indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America. Although conquered by both the Incan and Spanish empires in the 15th and 16th centuries, the culture has continued for hundreds of years, and nearly 2.3 million Aymara people live across Bolivia, Peru, and Chile today.
Ilu is an Aymara word meaning “to plant,” and it’s the chosen name of Deetken Impact and Pro Mujer’s Women’s Empowerment Fund. “It represents our commitment to cultivating a world where women and girls lead their fullest and most productive lives,” says Alexa Blain, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Deetken Impact, which manages $100 million in social and environmental impact assets across three funds in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Ilu Women’s Empowerment Fund is a joint venture between Deetken Impact and Pro Mujer, a non-profit organization with over 30 years of experience in providing financial, social, health, and education services to women entrepreneurs. The Ilu Fund provides senior and subordinated debt investments to a portfolio of 22 high-impact, medium-sized companies that serve women clients, advance women in leadership and governance, or support women as entrepreneurs across Latin America and the Caribbean. “We take the time to assess each company and understand where they’re at in their specific journey to improve their gender practices,” says Blain. “We don’t expect them to be experts in all areas; we’re here to help them grow in a way that make sense to their business model.”
With support from USAID’s Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment Hub and USAID INVEST, Deetken Impact and Pro Mujer are reducing risk to attract additional investment and expanding support to portfolio companies to help ensure their success. With catalytic funding from USAID, Deetken and Pro Mujer structured a $35-million blended finance fund, incorporating $1 million in first-loss capital. This added security for investors will support a final fundraising round for an additional $8 million.
Deetken and Pro Mujer also launched a technical assistance facility to deliver customized assistance to Ilu Fund portfolio companies and continue their practices of knowledge dissemination and advocacy to grow the greater gender lens investment field. “We want to acquaint more investors with gender-smart perspectives and demonstrate how they can both drive business performance and offer sound financial and impact returns,” says Blain.
The Ilu Fund is dedicated not only to supporting female beneficiaries, but to connecting with women investors. “It’s definitely a professional and personal passion of mine,” says Blain. “I think too many women all over the world feel disempowered about their finances and the way that they invest. Women are hugely underrepresented in private market investing.” In venture capital in the U.S., for example, just five percent of investors are women. “I think it’s not hard to conclude that a lack of women investors contributes to a lack of support for women-led institutions,” says Blain.
The key to attracting more women investors may lay in the design of innovative investment vehicles. “Investment patterns indicate that women are more risk astute, meaning, at a macro level, they are less likely to take a large risk in anticipation of a large reward. However, they are more comfortable with taking moderate risks. So, they look at risk-return a little bit differently than men,” says Blain.
Blain saw evidence of this trend while designing and fundraising for Ilu Fund’s impact bonds. “We designed the impact bonds to attract more Canadian investors who are primarily new to impact investing and working in emerging markets,” she explains. “We were really pleased to discover over 40% of the individual investors in that fundraising round were women. That’s actually quite a high percentage in a private market context. It’s not 50%; it’s not where it should be, but it was still really encouraging and something that we’re looking forward to building on in the future.”
