the highest “gold” rating in the Pride 2024 Index, awarded by the Japanese organization “Work with Pride” for workplace initiatives supporting LGBTQ+ rights. 38 Three out of thirteen board members of GSG Impact JAPAN are women. 39 They are prominent leaders in the impact investing field and include Miyuki Zeniya, Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group; Chunmei Huang, Representative Director at Impact Capital Limited; and Megumi Muto, Special Advisor to the President at Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Their leadership underscores the importance of championing gender inclusion at decision-making levels, which remains a key area for growth within Japan’s impact investing landscape. These efforts are shaped by broader government-led gender equity initiatives. For example, Japan mandates that companies with more than three hundred employees disclose gender pay gaps, fostering transparency and accountability. 40 This culture of learning, collaboration, and openness has been integral to GSG Impact JAPAN, and this approach will remain important for the impact investing industry as it evolves and Since 2022, SIIF has had a strategy on equality, led by Nanako Kudo, SIIF executive committee member, and Yuya Kato, SIIF Director of Business Development and Impact Officer. Although investments have been small, SIIF has tried to encourage women entrepreneurs and address Japan’s gender inequity. Gender Equality Investments In 2019, SIIF launched the Startup Support Program for Single Mothers. This initiative, carried out in collaboration with Digisearch and Advertising, Inc. and the Japan Single Mother Association, provided two years of financial and training support for three aspiring female entrepreneurs. The program focused on online article writing, allowing single mothers to work flexibly and gain financial independence. Direct investments were modest, each participant received ¥10 million (approximately $68,000 USD) as startup capital and a guaranteed salary for two years. 41 The results were varied: one entrepreneur achieved financial success with over ¥1 million (approximately $6,800 USD) in monthly sales; another managed to break even; and a third faced significant personal and professional challenges, ultimately leading to the closure of their business. The program only had the one application cycle and Phase 2 is anticipated in the future. continues to tackle systemic inequities. SIIF’s Gender Equity Investments
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Ten Years in the Making
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