CARE-SHETRADES

IMPACT FUND
Po w e re d by Bamboo Capital

Impact starts with equal

Everything we do during and after the COVID-19 crisis must aim to build more equal,
inclusive and sustainable economies and societies. This includes gender-responsive
economic and social policies and placing women’s economic lives at the heart of
the pandemic response and recovery plans.
United Nations, April 2020
The socioeconomic impacts of the COVID19 pandemic are exacerbating existing social and economic
inequalities, leading the United Nations to posit that “such impacts risk rolling back the already fragile gains made
in female economic participation, increasing poverty rates and limiting women’s ability to support themselves and
their families, especially for female-headed households.”

According to the Asian Development Bank, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for 96% of all
businesses in Asia, and millions of workers employed by SMEs lack protections and safety nets. As financial
conditions tighten and access to credit becomes more challenging, SMEs, especially women-led SMEs, are at a
particular disadvantage due to pervasive bias and limited access to networks of power and affordable sources of
finance. Payday lenders and other opportunistic actors who charge exorbitant interest payments and penalties
are likely to step into the void, increasing the vulnerability of SMEs in general and women-led SMEs in particular.

Within the current crisis lies an opportunity. While governments focus on emergency relief measures and fiscal
stimulus measures, providing growth capital to women-owned and women-centered SMEs ensures the recovery
is centered on the principle of gender equality. This is vital in countries where weak or non-existent social safety
nets disproportionately affect women.

The CARE-SheTrades Impact Fund is a partnership

between CARE USA, the International Trade Centre
(ITC), and Bamboo Capital Partners to champion
gender equality. This US$75 million fund will deploy
both debt and equity capital to growth stage companies
in South and Southeast Asia, notably in Indonesia,
Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and
Bangladesh.
The Fund will invest in companies that:
• Are women-owned, women-led, and/or have a
large female employee base
• Produce a good or service that improves
women’s security or prosperity
• Procure from women-owned or women-led
producers and supply chain actors
CARE-SheTrades Impact Fund at a Glance
Size: US$75 million with US$15-20 million first
loss tranche
Partner Institutions: CARE USA, International
Trade Centre, and Bamboo Capital Partners
Type: Debt and Equity
Target Countries: Indonesia, Bangladesh,
Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar
Deal size: Average under US$3,000,000; Range
US$1,000,000 - US$5,000,000.
Sectors: Financial services, healthcare, e-
commerce, essential services, agriculture; portfolio
companies must have significant female employee
base, customer base, and/or supplier base to
satisfy the fund’s gender-lens screening criteria

Beyond cushioning the worst effects of the crisis, the CARE-SheTrades Impact Fund will support the private
sector’s ability to “rebuild better” by instilling new norms and practices around gender equality and
worker protection.

CARE’s experience in building gender-just businesses has shown that enterprises with equitable pay, fair
workplace policies, and career advancement opportunities for women achieve higher performance and have
higher rates of retention. Similarly, ITC SheTrades experience has shown that gender smart businesses distribute
the gains from trade more equitably, are more innovative and more resilient. Technical assistance provided by
CARE and ITC will deploy critical on-the-ground capacity building throughout the economic recovery.

The CARE-SheTrades Impact Fund’s core objectives and technical assistance package are designed to:

Objective Technical Assistance

Create a safe, gender inclusive workplace
Provide an equitable and just workplace
environment for women and marginalized groups
Increase economic prosperity for women
Implement policies and reporting systems to prevent
sexual harassment and gender-based violence
Implement benefits policies and protective measures that
provide job security for women and marginalized groups
and eliminate the gender pay gap
Improve product design and point-of-delivery experience
for female customers

Promote the participation of women-led Implement programmes and policies that enable fair
businesses and female producers in the supply contractual relationships with female producers and
chain suppliers
The Fund’s team has been curating pipeline for rapid deployment in target countries. Most of the funding will be
directed to companies with strong local demand drivers including financial services, healthcare, online
economy, essential services (such as energy and water) and agriculture. The portfolio will be constructed
around scalable and cost-efficient models that can continue to operate and expand even during disruption.

The partnership between an asset manager, an international NGO, and a UN organization is unique.
Bamboo Capital Partners, an impact investor with a decade-plus track record in emerging markets, will manage
the investment process from deal origination and due diligence, to portfolio management through exit. Ticket sizes
are expected to be in the US$1-5 million range. A first loss, subordinated tranche of US$15-20 million will catalyze
participation from the entire spectrum of investors. The fund is equipped to structure a range of instruments such
as quasi-equity, mezzanine-debt, revenue-based loans, convertible debt, senior debt and pure equity; such
flexible capital can meet stage-appropriate needs and address cash flow scenarios as circumstances evolve.

The Fund is female-led and brings a diverse and unique set of skills to the table to ensure the Fund pushes
the envelope in the field of gender-lens investing globally. The team includes experienced investment
professionals from Bamboo Capital Partners, seasoned executives from CARE Enterprises Inc., as well as gender
experts based in CARE’s country offices, and senior leaders from ITC, all of whom provide critical networking,
financing, technical assistance, and pipeline sourcing support. The International Trade Centre will leverage its
extensive SheTrades initiative to identify suitable pipeline in target countries. CARE’s gender experts will integrate
gender analyses across the entire investment cycle. Both organizations will work together to offer tailored
Technical Assistance (TA) to each portfolio company.
Inputs Outputs Outcomes Long-term impact

Businesses with significant Women jobs supported

women employee base
financed
Gender-lens
investing debt Businesses that serve women
and equity customers financed
Businesses that work with
women suppliers financed
Improved access to products
and services that increase
economic prosperity of women
Increased number of women
suppliers supported
Improved gender-equitable
workplace practices

Better design of products and

Strengthened gender equality services to respond to the needs
Technical
policies and processes within of women
Assistance
investee companies
Increased participation of
women-led businesses in supply
chains

The CARE-SheTrades Impact Fund theory of change, expected outputs, outcomes, and impact.