The Participation Multiplier: Rethinking Gender-Lens Investing in Emerging Markets
by Advance Global Capital
Looking beyond ownership
Gender-lens investing is often measured through a familiar set of indicators: how many women own businesses, how many hold leadership positions, and how much capital reaches female entrepreneurs.
These metrics matter. But they may only tell part of the story.
Across AGC's portfolio in 2025, 43% of SMEs supported by our financing partners were female-owned and 50% were female-led. Together, these businesses employed thousands of people, worked with extensive supplier networks, and served millions of customers across emerging markets.
This raises a broader question: what if the true impact of gender-lens investing extends well beyond the women directly receiving capital?
Drawing on data from AGC's 2026 Impact Report and insights from 2X Global, we believe gender-lens capital can act as a participation multiplier. When women gain greater access to finance, the effects often extend beyond ownership and leadership into employment, supply chains, market activity, the wider communities these businesses serve, and the families each actor goes home to.
Understanding these ripple effects may help investors better capture the full economic impact of gender-lens investing.
Women as Owners and Decision-Makers
“Within AGC’s portfolio, women are not just participating at the margins of economic activity - they are helping drive it.
Ownership and leadership matter because they influence where capital, decision-making authority, and opportunity are concentrated.”
Advance Global Capital (AGC) is an impact-focused private credit manager that provides working capital financing to SMEs across emerging markets through local lending partners. By supporting lenders embedded within their local markets, AGC helps expand access to capital for businesses that are often underserved by traditional banking systems.
Within AGC's portfolio, women are not just participating at the margins of economic activity - they are helping drive it.
Ownership and leadership matter because they influence where capital, decision-making authority, and opportunity are concentrated. Research has consistently shown that women entrepreneurs face greater barriers to accessing finance, often due to limited collateral ownership, informal business structures, or historical lending biases.
Yet when women gain access to capital and leadership opportunities, the effects rarely stop at the executive level. Leadership influences hiring decisions, workplace culture, supplier relationships, and the allocation of resources throughout a business.
This dynamic was reflected in AGC's 2025 survey data, where 100% of surveyed SMEs reported offering at least one initiative supporting women, including mentorship, training, recruitment, or career development programmes.
Employment: Participation Beyond Leadership
“Across AGC’s portfolio, women represented 31% of SME employees in 2025. These jobs create income, stability, and opportunities that extend beyond individual workers into households and communities.”
The impact of access to finance extends beyond business owners and managers.
Across AGC's portfolio, women represented 31% of SME employees in 2025. These jobs create income, stability, and opportunities that extend beyond individual workers into households and communities.
When women-led businesses face barriers to finance, the consequences can affect employment growth as well. Conversely, when businesses gain access to the working capital they need to expand, the benefits often flow through to employees and future hiring opportunities.
The Overlooked Dimension: Suppliers and Customers
This is why gender inclusion is not only a representation issue - it is also an economic participation issue.
“Across AGC’s network, supported SMEs reached more than 2.4 million customers and engaged over 560,000 suppliers in 2025. Yet gender-disaggregated data rarely captures these broader economic relationships.
This challenge is increasingly being recognised across the industry. The evolution of the 2X Criteria to include a dedicated Supply Chain criterion reflects a growing understanding that women’s economic participation extends beyond individual enterprises and into wider market ecosystems.”
Most gender-lens investing frameworks focus on ownership, leadership, and employment. These are important measures, but they leave a larger question unanswered: Who benefits beyond the business itself?
Across AGC's network, supported SMEs reached more than 2.4 million customers and engaged over 560,000 suppliers in 2025. Yet gender-disaggregated data rarely captures these broader economic relationships.
This challenge is increasingly being recognised across the industry. The evolution of the 2X Criteria to include a dedicated Supply Chain criterion reflects a growing understanding that women's economic participation extends beyond individual enterprises and into wider market ecosystems.
If investors only measure ownership and employment, they may miss a significant portion of how economic opportunity spreads through communities.
A Ripple Effect in Practice
This dynamic can be seen in AGC's portfolio.
In Colombia, financing provided through AGC partner Fintra S.A. supported Mueblería La Sampuesana, a furniture business founded by entrepreneur Edelmira Rosa Montes Peralta.
Access to working capital helped the business stabilise operations, expand its customer base, and strengthen employment capacity across multiple cities, including Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Medellín.
The impact extended beyond the company itself. Growth supported employees, suppliers, customers, and the wider local economy. This is the participation multiplier in action: capital reaching one entrepreneur and generating benefits across an interconnected network of economic relationships.
Looking Ahead
As gender-lens investing continues to evolve, there is an opportunity to broaden how we think about impact.
Much of the industry's progress has been built on measuring ownership, leadership, and employment - and rightly so. These indicators remain critical to understanding who has access to economic opportunity, but they may not fully capture how that opportunity spreads.
AGC's 2026 Impact Report and portfolio suggests that when women gain greater access to capital, the effects often extend beyond the business itself. They influence hiring decisions, workplace practices, supplier relationships, and the customers and communities those businesses serve. In this way, participation becomes cumulative – a multiplier - reinforcing itself across multiple layers of the economy.
For investors, this presents an opportunity to look beyond who receives capital and consider who ultimately benefits from it. In emerging markets, where SMEs sit at the center of economic activity, understanding these broader network effects may provide a more complete picture of both impact and resilience.
If gender-lens investing is ultimately about expanding economic participation, then its true footprint may be far larger than traditional metrics suggest.