Gender Lens Investing with Lisa Willems

Lisa Willems joined AlphaMundi Group in 2013 and is currently a Managing Director at the impact investment firm. She established AlphaMundi Foundation in 2016, a nonprofit sister organization to the group that supports social entrepreneurs with technical assistance, business first gender-smart interventions, and impact measurement. Beyond her investing experience, she spent four years working as a management consultant in New York, predominantly at Oliver Wyman. Lisa has traveled extensively and worked with social entrepreneurs in Ghana, Honduras, Tanzania, and the Dominican Republic. With a BAs in Economics and Public Policy from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Lisa is an adjunct professor at American University, where she teaches a graduate course on impact investing. Brigit and Don sit down with Lisa Willems to discuss the ethicality and profitability of gender lens investing (GLI), AlphaMundi’s mission to address the need for female founders and comparable funding for their ventures, business first gender-smart interventions, the biggest challenges of GLI, key success factors, identifying the signs of growth in companies for investments, Silicon Valley’s influence on international venture capital markets, and advice for other investors who are looking to get started with GLI.