Q&A: Goldman Sachs Foundation president on 'ripple impact' of investing in women

NEW YORK — Financial exclusion is a common reality for many women in emerging markets. About 70% of women who own small- and medium-sized enterprises in low- and middle-income countries cannot access the finance they need, according to the World Bank. The Goldman Sachs Foundation wants to change this dynamic through its partnership with the International Finance Corporation and through its “10,000 Women” initiative, which now aims to give more than 100,000 women entrepreneurs greater access to finance. “Coming into it a lot of people thought, ‘Maybe they will be a lesser value credit, maybe it will take longer for them to pay it back, maybe they will default at higher rates,’” said Asahi Pompey, president at the Goldman Sachs Foundation. The opposite has proven to be true. “Women pay back at higher rates, they understand debt, and they take it seriously and they want to get rid of that debt, but do it in a smart way. And they are pretty disciplined about paying that back,” Pompey said. Pompey, a lawyer and former managing director at Goldman Sachs, took on the role of Goldman Sachs Foundation president in January. The foundation, which engages in both domestic U.S. and international work, has invested more than $1.2 billion in financing for women entrepreneurs in low- and middle-income countries. “When you help a single person, how far does it go in terms of helping others? And 90% of graduates report paying it forward, mainly mentoring an average of eight women in their communities.” --— Asahi Pompey, president, Goldman Sachs Foundation Pompey sat down with Devex to discuss how the foundation is measuring its impact, and where she wants to take its work in the months and years to come. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. I understand your family immigrated from Guyana to New York when you were young, and you spent some time growing up in public housing. How has your background influenced the way you are guiding work at the foundation? It has had a profound impact. I feel my life has been marked by opportunity. My family and I immigrated to the U.S. when I was 10. I was a recipient of a great deal of philanthropy throughout the course of my life. I received a scholarship through the Coca-Cola Foundation and other foundations to attend college. The pathway of philanthropy was calling but from the side of really understanding the transformative impact that these programs can have on people’s lives. The important part is not just the individual, but the family, the community, that comes along with those dollars and that creates real change. And now, when you are thinking about the work of one of your flagship programs, “10,000 Women,” what do you see as some of the best opportunities for investment with the women you are working with? The program now is really beyond 10,000 women — Goldman achieved this goal back in 2014 and we decided we will not stop there, but we will listen to these women and figure out their additional needs. What these women told us is that access to capital continues to be a disproportionate problem for women entrepreneurs. Goldman decided to launch the gender facility, providing capital to women, in partnership with the IFC in 2014. Today that program has raised and deployed more than $1.2 billion in investments to women-led small- and medium-sized enterprises in 32 countries. We are at 53,000 women all told that have been touched by the program. How do you measure the results of your investment in these entrepreneurs? The businesses are tracked, measured, surveyed on a regular basis. Nearly 70% of graduates report increased revenues in their businesses as we go back to them. And nearly 60% report creating new jobs in their communities. One way in which we measure [the impact] is to figure out what the ripple impact is. When you help a single person, how far does it go in terms of helping others? And 90% of graduates report paying it forward, mainly mentoring an average of eight women in their communities. Can you talk a bit more about this “ripple impact” with investing in female entrepreneurs on communities? What are some of the challenges with this kind of measurement? It’s always difficult to isolate the impact of one intervention on an entrepreneur and their business when there are many factors affecting them. Understanding the true impact of an initiative requires looking beyond those directly impacted — but it is not easy, and requires an investment in resources and time. I hope that our work to highlight these measures will inspire other organizations to evaluate their indirect impact, too. How do you intend to build a bigger network with your “10,000 Women” program? A decade into the program, our focus for “10,000 Women” has been to democratize access to the world-class educational resources … Now, we are using technology to try to scale into more countries and communities. To reach women entrepreneurs in diverse locations who may not have ready access to transport or child care, we have made this best, in-class curriculum available free of charge, “10,000 Women” online, through Coursera. Launched a little over a year ago, “10,000 Women” online has already reached women in over 170 countries. We are also invested in our ongoing partnership with the International Finance Corporation, which was launched in 2014 to catalyze investment to support women-owned businesses. Through this facility we’re committed to providing capital to 100,000 women entrepreneurs globally. You are relatively new to this role as president at the foundation. How would you like to see the organization grow? I think we would like to see getting more women access to this program, access to the education they need. Getting more access to the network of other women entrepreneurs, getting more women access to capital. Being an entrepreneur, women entrepreneurs tell us, can be pretty lonely. There is that need to reach out and connect with other people who have shared experiences. Last year, we put the curriculum online, free of charge. There is no way with technology we should not be able to give you the opportunities you need to uplift your community and your family. More broadly, how do you see trends in philanthropy progressing? I see three trends, in particular. One is data-driven philanthropy. It is not a check writing exercise, but where are my dollars going, where are we seeing results? Tracking those results, documenting them, and reiterating on the model. The second thing is partnerships. I see more and more partnerships, in terms of whether it is colleges or universities or other organizations. We do it to see that we have the broadest reach as possible. The third thing I would say is really a democratization in the say around philanthropic dollars. Years ago, a lot of the conversation around where philanthropic dollars go was had by a few individuals involved in that decision-making. What we are seeing is that organizations are allowing others within the organization to have more of a say where the dollars go.