Month: January 2021

Goodwill Ambassador Sonia Gardner. UNCDF

Moroccan-born Ms. Gardner, is one of the most prominent senior women in the financial sector, and has been an industry leader for over two decades, as president of a multi-billion dollar New York-based global alternative investment fund. She has pledged to use her new role as the first-ever UNCDF Goodwill Ambassador to promote opportunities and resources for women business owners, and improve living standards for underserved communities. 

UN News: Why is it important to help more women gain access to finance?  

Sonia Gardner:  First, finance can play an important role in facilitating economic growth in the world’s poorest countries and that, in turn, can improve the investment climate and living standards for underserved women in those communities.

Separately, women have traditionally faced many obstacles in building their careers in the finance industry. For example, in some areas of finance, the percentage of women in C-Suites (executive-level managers) is less than 10 per cent, and gender inequality tends to become more pronounced as one moves up the career ladder, particularly as many women drop out in middle management for a variety of reasons.  

These are the types of challenges I hope to help address as Goodwill Ambassador for UNCDF.  I am truly honoured and humbled to serve in this role.

UN News:  What are some of the challenges faced by women?

Sonia Gardner: I think one of the biggest challenges faced by women continues to be unequal treatment in the workplace.  Since I entered the workforce 30 years ago, there has been improvement, but there still is much work to be done to eliminate systemic inequality.  

In 1986, I entered the world of finance and built a business working closely with my brother.  In part because of that, I didn’t face the same challenges that many women in our industry have confronted as they have worked their way up the corporate ladder, or hit the glass ceiling.  I faced different challenges; at the top of the list, was the experience of being the only senior woman in the room on too many occasions over the last 30 years.  

Much has been written about how to solve the problem of systemic inequality, and although some progress has been made over the years, there is still much work that needs to be done to increase the number of senior women in finance.  As you can imagine, gender inequality in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is a far greater problem.

UNCDF

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is supporting women’s economic empowerment in the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

UN News: As Goodwill Ambassador, who are you advocating for?

Sonia Gardner: My area of focus is on gender equality in the 47 least developed countries working to give women access to economic resources.  These women in the LDCs need capital to start and grow businesses and provide a path to lift their families out of poverty.

I absolutely believe that most men and women see that change is necessary. Women in the LDCs are particularly underserved and vulnerable.

UN News: Why are you so passionate about this issue?

Sonia Gardner: This issue is critical to me because the inequities are so stark and so few women experience financial inclusion.  

My personal background has helped shape my perspective.  I was born in Morocco and, at age four, I immigrated to the United States with my family. I grew up in a small two-bedroom apartment and shared a room with my brother and sister for many years.  

My parents came here with almost nothing, and their primary goal was for us to have a good education.  They made incredible sacrifices and we all went to college and law school on scholarships and loans.  I’m grateful every day for the success I have had over the years and I believe giving back is central to anyone’s success. I have truly lived the American Dream.

Despite my modest upbringing, I was afforded numerous opportunities in my life that helped me to achieve success. I want to give my time and use my voice to help improve the lives of women in the LDCs because that’s one of the areas where I see the greatest needs, at this time.  

UNCDF

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is supporting women’s economic empowerment in the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

UN News: What will you do to bring about change and make it easier for women to access finance?

Sonia Gardner:  Last year, I was able to meet Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the incredible mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone.  Since meeting the Mayor at an event during the UN General Assembly, I have helped her build an early learning centre at the Congo Water Market in Freetown, for 40 preschool children ages one to five.  A second centre for an additional 40 children will be built later this year.   

These centres will allow women working at the market to have their children get a head start on a quality education.    

I look forward to broadening this type of support, for UNCDF to make finance work for the poor and help to achieve the SDGs. 

In much of the world, women are the providers. They, like the market women in Sierra Leone, are earning money and supporting their families every day.  It’s very hard for them to get any sort of financing or backing or even childcare. I’m planning my first trip to Sierra Leone, which will hopefully be in the fall, to visit the childcare centres and see first-hand the positive change for these market women and their children. 

UN News: What do your peers in this male-dominated industry make of your appointment as Goodwill Ambassador?  

Sonia Gardner: My peers are very excited that I’ve taken on this role, and have been very supportive.  They agree that we need to improve the pipeline and build a system that supports women, to eliminate the systemic inequality women have traditionally faced.  

Studies have found that, because mentorship for young women is so important, both senior women and men need to participate.  I saw this in my work as the Chair of 100 Women in Finance, which does important work with its NextGen programme. My hope is to create a network of my peers, men and women alike, who will mentor women in the Least Developed Countries and help find solutions to lift them out of poverty.

UN Special Envoy Hiro Mizuno. Hiro Mizuno

Before his appointment as Special Envoy, on 30 December 2020, Mr. Mizuno, of Japan, served as Chief Investment Officer of the Japan Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). He serves on the board of the Principles for Responsible Investment Association (PRI, an UN-backed body that aims to create sustainable markets that contribute to a more prosperous world for all), and has taken part in UN discussions on promoting the Sustainable Development Goals.

UN NEWS: How did you come to be involved with the UN and sustainable investment?

Hiro Mizuno: My journey started with a charity dinner around seven years ago, when I found myself sat next to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. I was a partner at a private equity firm at the time, and Mr. Annan asked me why Japanese investors were not interested in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance investing, otherwise known as sustainable investing). I couldn’t answer, because this was the first time that I’d heard of ESG! When he explained, my first reaction was that, in fact, this sounded very much like a natural fit with Japanese corporate philosophy.

I’ve been working in the financial sector throughout my professional life. However, up until I became the Chief Investment Officer of the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), I had always struggled with the concept at the heart of the investment industry; that, to win, you have to beat the market by outsmarting everyone else. I questioned whether the industry was adding any added value to society.

Then, when I joined the GPIF, which holds more than $100 trillion in assets, I realised that we effectively were the market. This is when I came up with the idea of universal ownership: as universal owners, it made more sense for us to contribute, by making the system better for everyone.

We soon started to get questions from the big portfolio managers, asking us what we were trying to achieve, and how they should respond. We started to use the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a convenient way to explain our strategy to corporate executives.

CIFOR/Tri Saputro

A farmer harvests rice in Bantaeng, Indonesia.

UN News: How can the financial sector address the growing gap between rich and poor?

Hiro Mizuno: The famous French economist Thomas Piketty, writes that the returns on investment outperform the economic growth rate. This means that those who hold financial assets become wealthier than the general workforce, who earn money from a salary. His conclusion was that, as a result, the gap between rich and poor continues to widen.

When I was at the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund, my aim was to reduce that gap. We handled huge financial assets and, by growing the fund, we could use pensions to allow ordinary people to benefit from the returns.

As CIO, inequality was always on my mind, all kinds of inequality, including between men and women, and between the Global North and Global South. If you look at the 17 SDGs, you can classify them as being about either sustainability, or inclusiveness.

Achieving inclusiveness is, of course, a way of reducing inequality, but so is sustainability: if we fail to deal with the climate crisis, we will be creating a sustainability gap between past and future generations, one that is unfair on those who will be left to deal with a world that is in a worse state than at present.

© UNICEF/Dhiraj Singh

A woman combs her granddaughter’s hair outside their home in Maharashtra, India.

UN News: Should the financial system be completely overhauled?

Hiro Mizuno: One of the problems with the financial system is that it’s largely based on an investment theory that is at least thirty years old. Redesigning a system takes a long time. It may, eventually, work much better, but expending the effort may mean doing nothing else for too long.

We only have 10 years to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and that is not enough time to change the whole system. What we can do is try to address technical hurdles. If we do that, we’ll get less pushback from investment professionals.

It’s true that many of those who work in finance feel constrained by the system, but things are changing: 10 years ago, investment professionals felt awkward about putting the word “sustainable” in their portfolio, but now that is seen as being acceptable.

What we need, I think, is much more innovation. There are so many technically smart people in this industry and, if we can address technical issues, there will be a domino effect that will lead to real, systemic change. 

UN News: What can you achieve as Special Envoy?

Hiro Mizuno: I’ve only been in this role for a short time, and I’m still trying to figure out what leverage I will have, but what the UN certainly has, is the power to bring decision-makers together to solve some of the world’s greatest problems. I’m very excited to work with the different parts of the UN System, as well as with the Secretary-General, to see how we can achieve change.

My goal is to use the financial sector to speed up the transition to a more equitable world. At a more practical level, I want to make investments more compatible with the Sustainable Development Goals. 

As we head towards to UN climate conference in November (COP26, due to be held in Glasgow in November), I want to see us create momentum, and get businesses aligned between themselves, as well as with our social and environmental goals. One thing I’ve learned throughout my career is that, when everyone is aligned, everything accelerates.