Current landscape of initiatives to support gender-diverse investment in Europe

• Author: Castellano, Letizia; Skonieczna, Agnieszka
• Pages: 9-10

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4. CURRENT LANDSCAPE OF INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT

GENDER-DIVERSE INVESTMENT IN EUROPE

The mapping of Member States identified a total of 102 initiatives involving over 140 activities. All

Member States have some activities aimed at supporting women’s entrepreneurship.

Most of the initiatives focus

on mentoring and

networking. Funding

activities are the second

most common. They

usually involve

market-based funding

(loans and equity often

complemented by EU

funds), the matching of

investors with companies, prizes and grants. The targeting of female investors (focusing on

networking) is less pronounced than that of female entrepreneurs. An integrated approach of

promoting gender diversity in investment finance is rare at country level, despite appearing crucial in

tackling many of the barriers facing female entrepreneurs and investors (see Box 1).

At EU level, the Commission runs a number of networking initiatives, such as the European gateway

for women’s entrepreneurship (WEgate)10. Initiatives on the investors’ side are more embryonic, with

the EU pioneering support for networks of female business angels (European Commission, 2017).

Policy advice, monitoring and prizes for women entrepreneurs are also available, e.g. the EU prize for

women innovators under Horizon 2020 (European Commission, 2019).

Investment support under EU financial instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investment

(EFSI) does not specifically target female entrepreneurship or female investors. Support for female

entrepreneurs has been provided to date through general instruments such as guarantee facilities for

SMEs, microfinance, equity products and European Investment Bank (EIB) framework loans (see

Box 1).

Overall, the current investment framework for female entrepreneurs and investors appears fragmented

and does not include a systemic and strategic focus on gender. As the EU discusses its policy strategy

and budget for 2021-2027, InvestEU offers an opportunity to adopt such an integrated approach to

stimulate more funding with a gender lens, catalysing investment in female-led enterprises and

harnessing the power of women as investors. On this assumption, the SME Strategy for a sustainable

and digital Europe11 presented by the Commission is giving InvestEU a central role in supporting

women-led SMEs under the gender-smart initiative.

Based on the economic research and country mapping provided in the annex to this paper, such an

approach should rely on three pillars:

 investing – narrow the gender investment gap;

 nurturing – develop the pipeline of quality projects to close the gap; and

 stimulating change – raise awareness of the gender investment gap.

10 https://wegate.eu/

11 An SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe COM(2020) 103 final, 10.03.2020