The 3rd edition of the Impact Investors Foundation’s Gender Impact Investment Summit will be held on October 2, 2025 in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, with activities in top gear to stage a memorable event.
The event will bring together impact investors, entrepreneurs, policy makers and change makers who have flair for real action on closing Africa’s gender finance gap. The 2025 African Transformation Report, “Gender Equality and Economic Transformation: Lessons from Africa”, estimates that gender inequality costs Africa $95 billion annually, stressing that at the current rate, full gender inclusion won’t be realised until 2093.
The theme of this year’s summit is “Investing in Equity: Advancing Gender-Led Solutions for Inclusive Development”. The event will be held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island in Lagos.
The Gender Impact Investment Summit is a robust platform that convenes stakeholders to address the gender financing gap in Nigeria.
“With the 1st and 2nd editions of the Summit geared towards bridging the financing gap through women-centric policy advocacy, and the promotion of gender inclusive models, this year’s summit marks a significant paradigm shift from advocacy to tangible action with the launch of a comprehensive Gender/GESI Roadmap,” IIF says. “This roadmap contains concrete strategic interventions designed to dismantle the barriers faced by women-led and owned businesses, youth, and People with Disabilities (PwDs).”
The Gender Impact Investment Summit serves as a platform for collaboration between investors, entrepreneurs, public and private sectors, and other ecosystem players. It aims to catalyse and unlock financing for women-led/women-owned enterprises and women-centric products and services, with an overarching aim to promote inclusive capital deployment.
Key themes and tracks include scaling gender lens investing in existing and emerging markets, translating policy and GLI commitments into actionable solutions, capacity building and education, impact measurement and monitoring, as well as collaboration and networking. The summit will feature ideation and knowledge sharing, policy and advocacy, gender/GESI roadmap launch, exhibitions and panel sessions.
Highlighting the need to focus on women-led businesses, IIF says that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reported that 32.9% of nano and micro businesses in Nigeria are owned by women. And according to Women’s World Banking (WWB), only 6% of women in Nigeria have access to credit even as Africa has the world’s highest rate of women launching their own businesses.
The programme is proudly supported by PwC, RISA, UK International Development Fund, GIZ, among others.
