Speaker 1: Our next guest Websites notes that they coined the term
Speaker 1: gender smart and is not focusing on the is now
Speaker 1: is now? Excuse me, focusing on the integration of gender
Speaker 1: analysis into a newer existing investment process for better social
Speaker 1: and financial outcomes. So Zann Biageles co founder of gender Smart.
Speaker 1: It's a community of individuals across the finance ecosystem and
Speaker 1: they're working on moving more gender smart capital more strategically
Speaker 1: around the globe. So let's get more on her efforts
Speaker 1: and outcomes. Uh, She joins us via zoom from the UK. Hey, Suzanne,
Speaker 1: nice to have you here with Mike Regan and myself. Um,
Speaker 1: I want to start if I can, with some of
Speaker 1: the news because you are in the UK, and of
Speaker 1: course we've been focusing on UK Prime Minister Lis Trust
Speaker 1: resigning women in leadership roles. How does a development like
Speaker 1: this impact the narrative around women leaders or how we
Speaker 1: think about being gender smart, if at all. Well, I
Speaker 1: think the reality is that for women or male leaders,
Speaker 1: the key is to be paying attention to what people
Speaker 1: really need healthcare, access to affordable energy, access to goods
Speaker 1: and services that make their lives better. Um, and that
Speaker 1: gender balanced leadership and leadership that's really paying attention to
Speaker 1: the stakeholders that are involved is what we need. So, uh,
Speaker 1: I don't think that liz trust is particular position says
Speaker 1: anything about gender lens investing? Well, Susan. If I'm an investor,
Speaker 1: how how do I approach this issue? Is it a
Speaker 1: matter of sort of counting up the number of women
Speaker 1: on boards and in management positions? You know? Is is
Speaker 1: there more to it? Um? You know? How how do
Speaker 1: I invest with the gender to lens? Thanks for asking that.
Speaker 1: So the first is that we're really thinking about where
Speaker 1: we see women in leadership, governance, employment, supply chains and customers.
Speaker 1: And the key is to really be thinking about not
Speaker 1: only counting. So where do I see a woman on
Speaker 1: a board? Or where do I see a woman entrepreneur?
Speaker 1: But really looking at is that entrepreneur creating something of
Speaker 1: value in the market? Do they really have product market fit?
Speaker 1: Do they understand how to really value their labor uh
Speaker 1: and their supply chains? And are they creating good policies
Speaker 1: and practices? And it could be male or female laid businesses,
Speaker 1: But where do you see gender balance and where do
Speaker 1: you see attentiveness to what the needs are of those
Speaker 1: different kinds of stakeholders. So in in a bigger company,
Speaker 1: in a listed company, you might be thinking about the
Speaker 1: policies and practices. Do they have good care benefits, do
Speaker 1: they have good leaf benefits, do they have pay equity?
Speaker 1: What does it look like from a recruitment, retention, advancement
Speaker 1: promotion perspective, And what we see and what the market
Speaker 1: sees is that where you have better gender attention to
Speaker 1: gender UM and those gender balance practices, you get better
Speaker 1: financial outcomes and you get more access to talent, you
Speaker 1: get access to customers, you get access to innovation on
Speaker 1: a different level. So as with some document you share
Speaker 1: with us, and we talked about this a lot that
Speaker 1: you know, diversity including women and just in general, having
Speaker 1: you know, a more diverse senior management, diverse boards, it
Speaker 1: does lead to a better financial outcome. What are some
Speaker 1: of the numbers that you're finding and some of the
Speaker 1: work that you're doing UM with investors or the investment community,
Speaker 1: What are some of the outcomes that you're getting. So
Speaker 1: I look at Bloomberg. Bloomberg New Energy Finance came out
Speaker 1: with a report at the end of looking at where
Speaker 1: you have again publicly listed companies with better gender diverse
Speaker 1: leadership and governance, better climate outcomes, better innovation outcomes, and
Speaker 1: better financial outcomes. Um. And so I think about anyone
Speaker 1: who is looking in the twenty one century at a climate,
Speaker 1: who is a climate smart business, and who is really
Speaker 1: going to be paying attention to the trends and the
Speaker 1: indicators that we need. There is going to be looking
Speaker 1: for gender balance and diversity, equity and inclusion as part
Speaker 1: of the solution. And if you're from oh, I'm sorry, Susan,
Speaker 1: if you're you know, if you're an investor sort of
Speaker 1: assessing the entire investment landscape, is there is there a
Speaker 1: solution to do this sufficiently, you know, sort of a
Speaker 1: technology technological way to sort of score gender equality the
Speaker 1: way you would some of the E. S G factors. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So there's a company called Equally, I mean Equally M
Speaker 1: s C. I uh, and a number of others are
Speaker 1: are doing this work. Um. And if I think about Equally,
Speaker 1: which I think is the top at this on this level,
Speaker 1: they're looking at nineteen variables. So they're looking at again,
Speaker 1: where do you have not only women on boards, but
Speaker 1: where roles are they in. They're looking at women in
Speaker 1: leadership again, what roles are they in and what's going
Speaker 1: on with PA equity, including, by the way, bonus compensation,
Speaker 1: which is an issue that people often will leave out
Speaker 1: when they're talking about PA equity. UM. When you're looking
Speaker 1: at employment again, those different factors around the policies and practices. Similarly,
Speaker 1: with supply chains, do you have a resilient and supply
Speaker 1: chain where pay is fair, where working conditions are fair? Um?
Speaker 1: And in some places obviously there's a legislation and man
Speaker 1: and mandates around that UM here in the UK Modern
Speaker 1: Slavery Act, and in other places we don't have that
Speaker 1: requirement for data collection. UM. From a customer standpoint, you'd
Speaker 1: be looking at again, where do you have customers who
Speaker 1: are Where do women customers really value those products and
Speaker 1: services that improve their life? So they look at these
Speaker 1: nineteen variables they compare across four thousand companies UM, and
Speaker 1: they are feeding their data is feeding about a billion
Speaker 1: and a half in funds. So you know, we have
Speaker 1: to run, but hopefully we can catch up with you
Speaker 1: again in the near future. Suzanne Biegel, co founder of
Speaker 1: Gender Smart, joining us via zoom from the UK. This
Speaker 1: is Bloomberg Radio