#22: Gender lens investing in the developing world with Ulla Huotari
Ulla Huotari is an Investment Manager at Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and professional impact investor. Ulla focuses on origination and execution of Financial Sector investments and projects with gender initiatives. Ulla has been one of the driving forces of Finnfund’s Gender Strategy and Finnfund has since April 2019 invested over €121 million in companies that promote women’s empowerment in developing countries. Ulla’s background is in asset management with a special focus on micro-finance. She has also been responsible for Finnfund’s treasury. Prior to joining Finnfund in 2012, Ulla worked as a treasury professional at a global company Kemira Plc and in different roles in commercial banks. Ulla holds an MSc in Accounting from Helsinki School of Economics. We cover the following in our conversation: What are some of the key problems or challenges in the developing world? Gender equality and how big an opportunity this is in the developing world? FinnFund and what is the key criteria used to invest? Measuring impact. Gender lens investing and what this looks like on a practical level. Female entrepreneurship. What will the future look like 10 to 15 years from now in the developing world? And how can women can engage much more as impact investors?