Low-income women in South and Southeast Asia face a series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Few have a formal bank account. Women farmers in Asia work more hours per week in the field than men, but earn much less. With little or no access to electricity, they’re exposed to toxic fumes from kerosene lamps and stoves. The list goes on.
Those are some of the problems IIX is trying to address with its Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB). In 2017, the Singapore-based social impact finance pioneer introduced its first $8 million WLB, which pooled together a group of impact enterprises to issue a collective bond aimed at improving women’s economic opportunity. IIX’s proprietary impact assessments were used to measure the social impact and financial viability of the borrowers.
