2X Women’s Initiative
DFC is empowering women worldwide to strengthen communities and economies.
DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative is committed to addressing the unique challenges women face globally and unlocking the multi-trillion dollar opportunity they represent. Through 2X, DFC has catalyzed billions of investment in projects that are owned by women, led by women, or provide a product or service that empowers women. DFC also applies a gender lens to every project it considers to help ensure that women will benefit.
Investment Stories
Revitalizing Kenya’s organic pesticide industry and improving livelihoods for smallholder farmers
A new model for investing in women
Sourcing critical minerals to support the global clean energy transition
Fueling equitable transportation and entrepreneurship in South Africa
Strengthening digital logistics and shipping in Pakistan and Egypt
Protecting Pakistan’s female farmers from climate-related losses
Increasing access to hygiene products for women in India
Tackling water scarcity in Sub-Saharan Africa through local entrepreneurship
Improving farm productivity in India with digital solutions
Helping women in Brazil access affordable healthcare
Expanding COVID vaccine manufacturing capacity in Southeast Asia
Advancing accessible healthcare in India
Advancing access to affordable housing finance for women in India
Leveraging technology to improve access to capital for small businesses in Africa and the Indo-Pacific
Expanding access to clean water and sanitation
Supporting refugees and host populations in Jordan and Lebanon
Expanding a leading university in Vietnam
Mobilizing growth capital in Nepal
Strengthening treatment of chronic disease in Sub-Saharan Africa
Helping small businesses in Liberia access long-term lending
Supporting Jordan’s economic recovery from COVID-19
Supporting small business growth in Guatemala
Helping women-owned businesses in East Africa weather the disruptions of COVID-19
Helping a women-owned business expand access to women’s health and sanitation products
Preserving the livelihoods of rural farmers confronting COVID-19
Providing critical services to women in Latin America
Expanding women’s access to affordable mortgages in India
Supporting loans to female borrowers
Expanding access to clean water in El Salvador
Supporting a female entrepreneur in Mongolia
![Woman standing in pyrethrum field](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2023-09/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Kentegra.png?itok=h7E8R7Ne)
A DFC loan is helping Kentegra, a Kenyan and U.S. biotechnology company, build a new pyrethrum processing facility in Nakuru County, Kenya, to meet growing demand.
![woman in red and orange outfit smiling](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2023-03/Investment%20Story%20Banner_WLB5.png?itok=5MOmWJsE)
A DFC loan of $10 million provided first loss capital to the Impact Investment Exchange Women’s Catalyst Fund to help launch Women’s Livelihood Bond™ 5: the world’s first Orange Bond.
![TechMet's mining facility in Brazil](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2023-02/Investment%20Story%20Banner_TechMet.png?itok=gLlKCM_i)
DFC is investing equity in two projects in Brazil and South Africa that will help TechMet Limited increase production and strengthen the supply chains of critical minerals.
![SA Taxi minibuses undergoing maintenance](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2023-01/Investment%20Story%20Banner_SA%20Taxi.png?itok=_480RaNp)
DFC loans are helping SA Taxi Impact Fund expand lending to black-owned and -led SMEs that operate minibus taxis across South Africa. These small buses provide affordable door-to-door transportation along fixed routes. SA Taxi’s business model integrates services such as repairs and refurbishments, insurance, and data analytics to help bolster the success of its borrowers.
![Cargo ship in ocean](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-12/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Trella.png?itok=Kl1QtyBS)
A $4.2 million DFC partial loan guaranty, in collaboration with USAID Pakistan and USAID Egypt, will help Trella Holdings BV strengthen its fast-growing digital logistics business in Egypt and Pakistan to map more efficient routes and connect more shippers and truckers.
![Pakistani farmer in a field](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-11/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Pakistan%20InsuResilience.png?itok=Fnefh67t)
A DFC loan is helping the InsuResilience Investment Fund work with financial institutions to develop and expand insurance to protect smallholder farmers and other climate-vulnerable populations against extreme weather and other natural disasters.
![Two Indian schoolgirls looking at their schoolwork](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-10/Investment%20Story%20Banner_SootheHealthcare.png?itok=Nb6-SVRM)
Former banker and leadership coach turned-entrepreneur Sahil Dharia founded India-based Soothe Healthcare in 2012 after considering the negative effects of girls missing school due to menstruation and the benefits of expanding access to hygiene products. DFC financing will help Soothe support the expanded manufacturing of affordable menstrual products and grow its distribution network to better reach under-served women in non-urban areas.
![Two Jibu employees smiling in front of a van](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-08/Investment%20Story%20Banner_jibu.png?itok=_BDYSU72)
DFC financing supports the expansion of Jibu, an award-winning business that helps local entrepreneurs establish franchises selling packaged drinking water. Jibu provides access to drinking water to underserved African communities in Rwanda and Uganda, as well as other markets across the continent. Jibu currently operates in seven African countries with over 195 franchises.
![Indian farmer using mobile phone](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-07/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Agrostar.png?itok=LS_uM3iq)
A DFC investment in Chiratae Ventures International Fund IV LLC is supporting investments in multiple technology companies, including Agrostar, which offers an agri-tech platform to help millions of farmers access information and expert advice and purchase the seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs to help them increase yields and reach larger markets.
![Female doctor measuring heartbeat of female patient](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-06/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Femme.png?itok=IktP0gJ7)
A DFC loan is helping GIP Medicina Diagnóstica S.A. expand its chain of women’s health diagnostic centers that provide diagnostic testing, imaging, blood work, and pathology testing services. The company, which is known as Femme in the local market, currently operates 14 centers in São Paulo and will use the DFC financing to expand, adding more than 27 centers over the next six years, serving low and middle-income women. With the additional diagnostic centers, the company projects its annual patient consultations will increase from approximately 300,000 currently to more than 4.5 million. Femme plans to place new locations in underserved areas to help increase access for low-income households.
![COVID-19 vaccine dose in front of a masked woman](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-06/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Bio%20E.png?itok=zuERzris)
DFC financing is helping Indian vaccine manufacturer, Biological E Limited, expand production capacity for at least one billion additional COVID vaccine doses.
![Indian man on a video call with a doctor](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-05/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Portea.png?itok=Fup2omxg)
DFC-guaranteed loans to Portea Medical, an India-based home healthcare company founded in 2013, will help provide targeted healthcare services at a fraction of the cost of traditional care. While hospital ICU care can cost approximately $400 per day, Portea’s comparable home-based services are available at only $133 per day.
![Indian woman standing in the doorway of a home](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-03/Investment%20Story%20Banner_ManiBhavnam.png?itok=29lU5n18)
DFC financing to ManiBhavnam Home Finance India Private Limited (ManiBhavnam) is helping support mortgage and home equity loans to low-income borrowers in cities across northern and central India, with 100% of the loans to be provided to women borrowers, co-borrowers, or guarantors.
![Woman smiling and holding basket](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-03/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Lendable.png?itok=9cAZ0h0r)
A loan to Lendable Inc. is supporting the creation of the Lendable Fintech Credit Fund I, which will provide loans to fin-tech companies across Africa and the Indo-Pacific. These fin-tech companies will use innovative technologies such as digital banks and mobile investment accounts to provide credit, working capital, remittances, and payment solutions to underserved customers and MSMEs in target countries.
![Woman holding a cup of water](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-03/Investment%20Story%20Banner_WaterEquity.png?itok=sTGI73JC)
DFC financing is helping WaterEquity, a nonprofit impact investor, provide loans to microfinance lenders to help communities in the Indo-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa invest in water and sanitation solutions. By mobilizing significant private investment, WaterEquity has financed more than 543,000 loans that have helped nearly three million people across nine developing countries access safe water or sanitation in their homes and communities by installing toilets, septic tanks, or connections to piped water. DFC’s financing will support additional lending through 2026 aiming to bring access to water or sanitation solutions to millions more low-income families around the world.
![Woman smiling in store](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-03/Investment%20Story%20Banner_NEF.png?itok=qqG3CzTr)
A DFC loan to the Near East Foundation (NEF) UK is supporting the creation of a Development Impact Bond (DIB), an innovative form of financing which is repaid by donors seeking specific measurable social impacts. The DIB—DFC’s first development impact bond focused on refugees—will finance a training and grant program to help refugees and vulnerable Jordanians, primarily women and youth, launch microenterprises as a sustainable source of household income.
![Student holding a pencil and taking an exam](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-01/Investment%20Story%20Banner_FUV.png?itok=sD97LRON)
DFC financing is supporting the expansion of Fulbright University Vietnam with a new campus in Ho Chi Minh City that will serve up to 1,300 students. Fulbright, Vietnam’s first independent nonprofit university, offers degrees in engineering, liberal arts, and public policy and partners with multiple American universities including Harvard and the University of Texas to bring a high-quality undergraduate and graduate education to Vietnam. As the first college in Vietnam to offer needs-based tuition assistance, the university is also expanding access to affordable education.
![Nepalese woman using tablet](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2022-01/Investment%20Story%20Banner_Dolma_0.png?itok=0gRvcDvQ)
A DFC equity investment in Dolma Impact Fund II will support investments in healthcare, renewable energy, and technology. Dolma Fund Management, the first private equity fund manager dedicated to investing in Nepal, will target investments that reduce dependence on imported energy, help mitigate the impacts of flood, landslide, and drought on its largely agrarian economy, while promoting the introduction of technology that promotes financial inclusion.
![Interior view of a dialysis center](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2021-12/AHN%20Banner.png?itok=w9p8_zn3)
Photo Credit: Africa Healthcare Network
A DFC loan is supporting the expansion of Africa Healthcare Network, the first dialysis chain in Sub-Saharan Africa focused on expanding access to affordable and quality care. Africa Healthcare Network will use the loan to improve dialysis care in existing hospitals in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, while establishing clinics to screen for kidney disease as well as registries for patients who are at risk.
![Women members of the International Bank of Liberia's senior management team](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2021-11/Investment%20Story%20Banner_liberia%202.png?itok=sh_TavD8)
DFC financing is helping Liberia’s oldest bank, International Bank of Liberia Ltd., increase lending to its growing base of SME clients. DFC’s commitment of $20 million in financing extends an existing partnership with the bank, which previously used $20 million in financing from DFC’s predecessor, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to provide loans ranging from $500,000 to $3 million with tenors of up to three years to a group of SME borrowers in key industries including food value chains, logistics, and manufacturing.
![A smiling female Vitas Jordan client](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2021-08/Investment%20Story%20Header%20Image_VitasJordan.png?itok=KcgMejjo)
DFC has committed a $50 million loan portfolio guaranty to help Vitas Jordan, a Jordanian microfinance institution, expand its lending to “missing middle” small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), businesses in need of financing too large for microfinance loans yet often considered too small or risky for commercial lenders.
![Guatemalan woman smiling in a store](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2021-06/bancoindustrial_2.png?itok=p2X9jnjq)
DFC committed $200 million in financing to Guatemala’s Banco Industrial to expand lending to small and medium enterprises and businesses that are owned by or led by women. The financing has enabled Banco Industrial to support businesses across the country in a range of sectors.
![Ugandan woman on the street](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2021-05/SEAF%202.png?itok=km5QbRP8)
DFC is providing financing to the SEAF COVID-19 Global Gender Lens Emergency Loan Finance LLC, which is managed by the global private equity impact firm SEAF (Small Enterprise Assistance Funds). The facility is supporting Financial Access Commerce and Trade Services (FACTS), a company that specializes in providing short-term working capital to small and medium-sized businesses, agribusinesses, and emerging entrepreneurs in Kenya and Uganda.
![kasha delivery driver on motor bike](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2021-02/Kasha%20banner.png?itok=uYDtF2jD)
Equity financing is helping the women-owned and women-led e-commerce business Kasha, expand its business selling personal care products to women in Kenya and Rwanda. Kasha offers an online store accessible through basic mobile phones, where consumers can browse, order, make payment and arrange for delivery. The company also works with a network of agents, most of them community health workers, who reach out to women in more remote areas to assist them with their purchases. To date, the company has served 70,000 customers, most of them low-income women.
![photo, woman smiling and checking on crops](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2020-07/RootCapital_Gumutindo_1_1440x480.jpg?itok=Sz8fhSN6)
A DFC loan guaranty facility is helping Root Capital sustain livelihoods of more than one million farmers—more than half of them women—in 21 countries in Africa and Latin America.
![photo, woman creating jewelry and smiling](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2020-08/DFC_GlobalParnterships_2_1440x480.jpg?itok=_B5DhrCL)
Financing to Global Partnerships supports lending to microenterprises and other organizations in Latin America that are working to expand opportunity for people living in poverty by expanding access to paid work, education, energy, healthcare, housing, sanitation, and clean water. Most of DFC’s financing targets women, who are more likely to work in the informal economy and be vulnerable to poverty.
![photo, Indian woman standing in front of building and smiling](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2020-07/DFC_Aviom_1440x480.jpg?itok=TL0fKU_h)
Local currency financing of 350 million Indian rupee is helping mortgage lender Aviom provide approximately 1,200 home loans to women in India. Aviom, which serves women borrowers in predominately rural areas, provides loans in an average amount of $4,000. Many of the women served by Aviom work in the informal economy, have undocumented income, and would otherwise not be able to access home financing. Affordable mortgages enable women to build homes they could otherwise not afford and establish a credit history.
![Supporting loans to female borrowers](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2020-01/Kiva_HP_image.jpg?itok=H_iSWFov)
A $10 million loan has helped Kiva Microfunds support almost 100,000 microloans to developing country borrowers across 30 countries. With women comprising more than three quarters of borrowers, the project advances DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative to support projects that economically empower women.
![Expanding access to clean water in El Salvador](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2020-04/Azure_woman_dishes_1_rs.jpg?itok=lYpjGr8E)
Photo Credit: Catholic Relief Services
Financing to Azure Source Capital, a special lending vehicle, is supporting loans to small cities and rural communities for investment in new and rehabilitated water pumps, pipelines, and storage tanks. Azure aims to improve water supply for 300,000 people, and is combining financial support with training so local residents can operate their own water systems.
![Supporting a female entrepreneur in Mongolia](/sites/default/files/styles/dfc_investment_story_homepage_700px_x_470px_/public/2020-02/Goyol_Cashmere_sewing_2.jpg?itok=GVaxAShB)
DFC's $5 million loan is helping Goyol Cashmere, a local producer of wool and cashmere knitwear, construct a new factory and purchase additional equipment in order to expand production. Cashmere is the third largest export in Mongolia, where cashmere goats are well suited for the harsh climate. The country's cashmere industry, which represents 28 percent of the world's cashmere market, provides stable incomes to over 100,000 people across the country. Goyol Cashmere sources 50 percent of its raw cashmere materials from rural herders to produce high-quality knitwear that is exported to bolster Mongolia's economy.