17 Nov SEAF’s Jennifer Buckley Named a Real Deals Future 40 Leader
November 17, 2020 – SEAF’s Jennifer Buckley, a Senior Managing Director based in Singapore, has been named to Real Deal’s Future 40 Diversity and Inclusion Leader’s List. The list recognizes “key individuals in the [private equity] asset class who have made or are making a notable impact on improving diversity and inclusion practices” in their firm and through their work. Jennifer is an exemplar of this through her work as a leading gender-focused impact investor, as well as her leadership in advancing SEAF’s internal equality and promotion.
Since joining SEAF, Jennifer has dedicated her work towards the advancement of Women’s Economic Empowerment – WEE in SEAF terms. Her work began with leading the SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund (SWOF), an investment vehicle funded by DFAT (Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) that invested in six southeast Asian companies across health, education and agribusiness, all led by or supporting women through employment and or targeted goods and services. Through SWOF, Jennifer saw an opportunity to advance this concept, leading to the development of the SEAF Gender Equality Scorecard (GES©).
Jennifer’s dedication to Diversity and Inclusion demonstrated through SEAF’s Gender Equality Scorecard
The GES© was developed as a tool to assess women’s economic empowerment and gender equality and diversity within individual investment opportunities and portfolio companies for SEAF funds. Through Jennifer’s dedication to the cause, the GES© has been adopted across all SEAF funds and promoted to the broader development finance institutions and the private equity community to be incorporated in their investment processes. Significant data is being collected regarding the tangible impact that focused investment and assistance can have on women and girls, and Jennifer is now building out partnerships with peer impact investors, gender lens practitioners, and academia to advance the work.
Following the success of the SWOF, Jennifer is leading the development of the SEAF Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund, a SE Asia focused vehicle that will build upon SEAF’s gender lens foundation. She has also been instrumental in the launch of the SEAF COVID 19 Facility and the SEAF Women’s Growth Fund, both made possible through the support of the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC). SEAF is emerging as a leader in women’s economic empowerment and gender lens investing, a notion made possible by Jennifer’s work.
Jennifer has also promoted diversity and inclusion within SEAF. She has consistently promoted female investment professionals on her teams, emphasizing the need to lead by example and to increase the ranks of women in private equity. SEAF has also worked to clearly incorporate all aspects of the Gender Equality Scorecard© to enhance SEAF’s practices.
SEAF is proud to have Jennifer’s leadership and dedication to diversity and inclusion and supports her inclusion in the Real Deals Leaders List.