The Orange Bond Movement is a global push to get capital markets investing directly in women. It kicked off with the Orange Bond Initiative, launched by IIX (Impact Investment Exchange) alongside a coalition that includes the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and UN Women. Orange Bonds channel money specifically toward businesses and projects that advance women’s economic empowerment, whether that’s female-led enterprises, gender-diverse leadership, or products and services designed for women’s needs. The world’s first Orange Bond priced in 2024, and the movement has set a goal of unlocking $10 billion to reach 100 million women.

This conversation will explore how the movement has evolved, what opportunities it now presents to investors, and the impact potential still ahead.

Anna Smukowski is Managing Director of Business Development and Impact Investing at Enterprise Community Lending Fund (ECLF), where she leads the Enterprise Community Impact Note program and oversees capital raising and fund structuring.

Elizabeth Alm, CFA, is Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Analyst at Saturna Capital, where she manages several fixed-income mutual funds spanning developed and emerging market sustainable bonds. She spent 11 years before that at Wells Fargo Asset Management as a senior research analyst covering high yield municipal bonds.

Constance de Wavrin is the Global Lead for the Orange Movement focused on advancing the nexus of gender equality and climate adaptation on behalf of the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX). Her work centres on building ecosystems for equitable transition investment scale-ups, forging strategic alliances and raising public and private capital for social and sustainable impact.