Gender equality
Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but also a necessary component to achieve a sustainable future.
Overcoming gender barriers enables access to untapped pools of talent and resources, and it is good for business. Norfund is committed to promoting gender equality in our own organisation and in our investees.
Norfund promotes equal opportunities for women and men both within our own organisation and across our investment portfolio. Our approach is grounded in the understanding that gender equality is both the right thing to do and smart business. Inclusive companies perform better, are more resilient, and contribute more effectively to sustainable development.
Through our investments, active ownership and partnerships, we seek to strengthen women’s economic participation, improve working conditions, and reduce gender-based risks in the companies in our portfolio.
Norfund integrates gender equality considerations throughout the investment cycle
Gender equality considerations are integrated systematically into the investment cycle for all investments and are assessed both during due diligence and during the holding period.
During the investment process, gender equality in the investee is considered using the framework of the global 2X indicators , across different dimensions, like employment, management and contribution to the value chain. Norfund’s internal documents include guiding questions to facilitate a good discussion around gender equality with the company and potential improvement areas.
Managing gender-based violence and harassment
Over the last years Norfund has enhanced the capacity of its investees to identify, prevent, and manage GBVH in the workplace. Through Business Support funding, we are providing a series of advanced GBVH training sessions for portfolio companies, running from 2024 to 2026. The training is co-funded by BII (UK, lead investor), DFC (US), Proparco (FR) and DEG (GE) and delivered by Social Development Direct. Internally we have also strengthened capacity, through trainings, and integrated tools to assess and address the risk of GBVH in Norfund’s portfolio.
Gender balance in Norfund’s portfolio companies
The total number of jobs held by women in our portfolio companies was 309 000 or 40 %, among those that reported gender disaggregated data, by the end of 2025. During 2025, the direct jobs held by women increased by 15 100 jobs, or 6.6 %, within Norfund’s portfolio companies*.
*Covers companies with two consecutive years of reporting, including investees held directly in our portfolio as well as those reached through platforms and funds.
Note: Numbers are not directly comparable across years due to changes in Norfund’s portfolio. The 2024 share of individual loan clients reflects 2023 data.
Advancing gender equality in Norfund’s portfolio
The following examples from 2025 illustrate how Norfund works to advance gender equality across its portfolio.
In 2025, Norfund continued to promote gender equality through a combination of targeted investments where many women are reached, either directly as employers, or as beneficiaries of the services offered by the company, through active ownership and nudging practices in the businesses, and tailored business support initiatives. Our approach focuses on strengthening women’s economic participation and supporting investees in developing inclusive and gender-responsive business practices, adapted to their local context.
In 2025, Norfund selected a panel of executive search firms to broaden our networks and identify qualified, diverse candidates for board positions in portfolio companies based in Africa. This collaboration has already resulted in several successful appointments, including locally based women with strong and relevant competencies. Building on this positive experience, Norfund is now extending this approach to actively strengthen board candidate diversity in portfolio companies in Asia.
Advancing gender equality through Norfund’s Business Support facility
Norfund’s business support facility is a key tool in the work towards greater gender equality in portfolio companies. It enables companies to access external expertise to identify gender gaps, develop gender and diversity strategies, and build internal capacity through targeted training and advisory services. The examples below highlight business support initiatives implemented in 2025.
Strengthening internal systems and employment practices – First Finance, Asia
Improving job quality including gender‑smart approaches – AgDevCo Technical Assistance Facility
Through its Technical Assistance Facility, AgDevCo (a specialist investor in African agribusinesses) continued a project in 2025 focused on improving job quality and promoting decent work across its portfolio. With support from external experts, AgDevCo undertook job quality and decent work assessments and began developing a practical job quality toolkit. The toolkit will help portfolio companies adopt strategies to incorporate job quality principles (including gender‑smart approaches) in employment practices. The aim is to embed job quality principles, including gender considerations, into workplace improvements and to enable broader uptake across the AgDevCo portfolio over time.
Strengthening gender inclusion at portfolio level – Ascent, Africa
From 2025 to 2026, the SME fund Ascent strengthened its approach to gender inclusion through a series of portfolio-wide assessments, stakeholder engagements, and practical support initiatives. A gender inclusion and 2X alignment review helped identify opportunities to further align the fund with international best practices, while an in-person roundtable discussion with investee companies highlighted key priorities for advancing gender inclusion across the portfolio.
Building on these insights, Ascent developed Gender Inclusion Minimum Standards for the portfolio companies, alongside practical tools to support inclusive recruitment, GBVH safeguarding, flexible work arrangements for parents/caregivers, professional development and promotions. The fund also launched pilot coaching programs with selected healthcare and manufacturing companies to help strengthen employee feedback systems, improve GBVH prevention mechanisms, and conduct pay and promotion audits.
To support long-term impact, gender equality action plans are being co-developed with participating companies to help embed and sustain gender-inclusive practices across the portfolio.
Building leadership pipelines for women – Board platform and leadership development in Asia
In 2025, Norfund strengthened its focus on women’s leadership development in Asia through two complementary initiatives. One initiative involves establishing a platform for executive- and board-ready women, developed in partnership with several DFIs and led by an external consultancy. The second initiative focuses on leadership development efforts aligned with the Female Future Programme model implemented in Africa. Together, these initiatives aim to increase women’s representation in board, management, and leadership positions by combining advisory support, capacity building, and peer learning, thereby contributing to more inclusive leadership pipelines for portfolio companies in Asia.
Norfund also continued our support and use of the female future program (FFP) and the board room Africa (TbRA) program to support leadership development in our portfolio companies in Africa.