Haas Social Impact Fund: Impact Investing and Women’s Economic Empowerment at SEAF
by Pang Sittakaradej, Haas MBA 2020
Thanks to Haas Social Impact Fund (HSIF), I was able to spend my summer at Small Enterprise Assistance Fund (SEAF), a social impact private equity firm investing in underserved small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world. Working at the headquarters in Washington, D.C. gave me insight into how SEAF generates development impact by providing growth capital and business assistance to businesses in emerging markets that, although they contribute significantly to job creation and the local economy, lack of access to appropriate financing. With SEAF’s strong global presence, I was able to visualize and experience the whole investment process and gain an in-depth understanding of the overall impact investing sector.
As part of Women’s Economic Empowerment team, my primary role was to conduct in-depth research on topics relating to gender equity in business and develop the gender-smart manual. The manual will provide guidelines for investment professionals around the world in making gender-smart investment decisions and pursue the right strategy to improve gender equity overtime. There is still a lot of work to be done in all aspects including pay equity, representation in the workplace and leadership, benefits and professional development, workplace environment, and value chain management. But there is much room to empower women and bring additional value to the economy.
Apart from women’s economic empowerment, I worked to understand SMEs’ entrepreneurial ecosystems for countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia including Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and India. Studying information from contributions of SMEs to countries’ economy, roles of SMEs in each key industry, to critical players in each country, I developed a thorough understanding of entrepreneurial ecosystems in the region. I learned to recognize the different levels of advancement and needs of SMEs in each country. I also learned that, to achieve development goals, ecosystem building work is very critical to both spur SMEs development activities and create pipelines for all types of investors.
In addition, I got a chance to learn overall fund set-up processes by assisting on the fund-raising processes of 2 newly set-up funds in 2 different regions. Differences in the impact foci of both funds allowed me to understand how to strategically conduct fund marketing and target an appropriate investor mix. I also learned to innovatively apply financial market knowledge in impact investing using alternative financing structures. Moreover, working on due diligence processes for 2 potential investees in the Philippines and Indonesia also allowed me to have exposure in actual investment processes.
In summary, 10-week internship experience equipped me with a thorough understanding and the necessary skill sets to continue working in the impact investing sector. It has also provided me with in-depth knowledge for empowering women, investing in Southeast Asia, and the importance of entrepreneurial ecosystem development works in the region. To me, this internship opportunity is a stepping stone to formulate my theory of change I would like to achieve through my future career.
