Date Time
UN ESCAP partners with SEAF to launch Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund
In early 2020, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF) formalized a partnership to catalyze women’s entrepreneurship through gender lens impact investing in Asia. The partnership, which received financial support from the Government of Canada, set out to unlock private growth capital for small and medium enterprises over the next four years through the development and management of private equity impact funds targeting women as business owners, leaders, employees, and consumers.
Today, ESCAP and SEAF are pleased to announce the successful launch and first close of the SEAF Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund (SWEEF). ESCAP has provided SEAF with technical assistance and grant support to complete the establishment of SWEEF. To date, the Fund has received an anchor commitment from Pædagogernes Pension (PBU), the Danish pension fund for early childhood teachers and youth educators, which will be directed toward enterprises owned, led and supporting women in Southeast Asia.