In February 2020, SEAF Vice President Katharina Inkiriwang attended the AVPN Southeast Asia Conference in Bali - “Leveraging the Power of Networks” - which brought together a diverse array of stakeholders. With all conferences canceled for the foreseeable future, we look back at this event...
Transformative Interventions in SMEs through Gender Focused Entrepreneur Ecosystem Development and the Gender Equality Scorecard© SEAF pursues gender equality and women economic empowerment to deliver on its mission of “Improving Lives and Communities through Entrepreneur-Focused Investment” as the organization understands the critical role of SMEs as...
A View from The Front Lines March 18, 2020 - Sichuan, China SEAF Sichuan SME Investment Fund (“SSIF”) was founded in 2001 to fill the shortage of growth capital available to private enterprises in Sichuan, a western province of more than 80 million people. As with...
Gender equality is an enabler and accelerator for virtually all the Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”). Gender equality is a goal in its own right (SDG5), but cuts across all 17 SDGs and is reflected in 45 targets and 54 gender-specific indicators (UNDP, 2019). Women's Economic...
Manila, The Philippines - 5 March 2020 - SEAF has announced its first investment in the Philippines as SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund (“SWOF”) has invested in Ellana Cosmetics Pte Ltd (“Ellana Cosmetics”), a fast-growing skin first cosmetics brand established by founder-formulator, Theresa Buenaflor, as a...
Using Gender Lens Investing to Promote Women’s Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Development Invisible Barriers Women constitute half the population but have long been overlooked as entrepreneurs, employees, and consumers, particularly in developing countries such as those in Southeast Asia, the focus of SEAF’s Women’s Economic Empowerment work....
ADN Telecom Ltd., a portfolio company of SEAF Bangladesh Ventures LLC, made its debut trading on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) on the 6th of January 2020. The company raised BDT 570 Mn ($6.7 Mn) from the public market in the...
Hong Kong - November 11, 2019 - SEAF is honored to have been awarded the AVCJ’s Responsible Investment Award for its work with Organica, a Vietnamese organic food producer, and retailer. Each year, the AVCJ, Asia’s leading source of information for private equity and venture...
SEAF CEO Bert van der Vaart tells the story of Solaric, a solar company in Bangladesh, a country where approximately 40% of the population is still off the electricity grid. Solaric's off-grid, rural populations clean and affordable solar power to help raise their standard of...
Jakarta, Indonesia 9 July 2019 SEAF has announced that the SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund (“SWOF”) has invested in BEAU Artisan Bakers Pte Ltd (“BEAU Bakery”), a leading local artisanal bakery and café founded by Talita Setyadi. BEAU is a specialty bakery café brand focused on producing artisanal...
