“Why do we have to keep making the business case for gender all the time? It clearly means it is simply not working.”
Hearing this from a gender specialist at the 2X Global Summit left me shaken. Two, even three decades down the line, the question still lingers: why do we continue to justify investing in women, or in any historically excluded group, through a “business case”? If equality and inclusion truly mattered, they would not need constant justification.
This October, we had the opportunity to facilitate a session on “Investing with an Accessibility Lens,” hosted by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at the 2X Global Summit. The discussion brought together an inspiring mix of changemakers, fund managers, and development practitioners who are daring to reimagine the financial ecosystem through the lens of disability inclusion.
Here are some of my takeaways as a facilitator
Reframing Disability and Accessibility: The Business Case
The starting point of the conversation was clear: accessibility is not a limitation; it is an opportunity. The global market of persons with disabilities represents a $16 trillion opportunity, yet exclusion continues to cost us far more in lost productivity, innovation, and untapped potential.
The costs of exclusion, whether through inaccessible infrastructure, untrained staff, or retrofitting after the fact, are immense. In contrast, universal accessibility saves money and benefits everyone, not just those with disabilities. The call was simple yet profound: accessibility must become the norm, not the exception: a default expectation embedded in our investment culture.
Data and Evidence: Making the Invisible Visible
One of the most powerful insights shared was the importance of data as a starting point. You cannot change what you cannot see. The use of tools such as the Washington Group Questions can help capture disability data in ways that drive both awareness and accountability.
However, collecting data is only half the battle, funding and prioritizing it remain an uphill struggle. Inclusive workplaces and data-backed approaches are vital to shifting mindsets and challenging the long-standing invisibility of disability in economic systems.
Inclusion in Practice: Representation and Participation
“Nothing about us without us” remains a guiding principle, but inclusion must move beyond tokenism. People with disabilities should not only be invited to disability-specific events; they should be at the table in mainstream spaces, shaping decisions that affect them.
As discussed in the session, the persistence of medical and charitable models of disability continues to limit how we think about talent and capability. Investments too often channel people with disabilities into low-skill sectors. Instead, they must be empowered to earn higher incomes, take leadership roles, and drive innovation.
Intersectionality and Integration: Building Bridges Across Lenses
The conversation also explored how disability intersects with gender, climate, digital transformation, and health care. While some tools from the gender-lens investing framework can be applied, they do not map perfectly. We must be intentional about what needs to be adapted and what must be newly created.
I was impressed with a question that was “How can we be truly inclusive in its entirety? How do we bring everyone together?” Through my learnings of working in inclusion, it is important to understand early on that we can’t solve all layers of intersectionality, but we can ensure that the ones we focus on are done well. The key lies in a twin-track approach: mainstreaming inclusion while simultaneously investing in targeted interventions that close persistent gaps.
Capital and Investment Strategy: Fix the Capital, Not the Company
When it comes to designing financial products, the question is not whether entrepreneurs can adapt, but whether finance can adapt to their realities. Context-specific approaches to capital structuring are essential. As fund managers and investors begin to embed inclusion into their portfolios, it must be reflected across the entire lifecycle of investment, and not just at the design stage.
The idea of “fixing the capital, not the company” resonated deeply. To achieve meaningful inclusivity, the financial ecosystem must evolve to meet people where they are, because where they should be is a shared vision.
And finally, all of this guided us to:
A Call to Reimagine Inclusion
Maybe the challenge with grassroots investing is that anything that doesn’t meet the “numbers threshold” struggles to make a business case. The structures, as they are, often fail to value human-centered impact. This is precisely why I attach such value to the inclusivity work being done across the Impact Hub Network, now active in seven countries, where we are striving to make investment ecosystems truly representative of the societies they serve.
As I listened to changemakers like Rhea Althea Guntalilib and Ryan Gersava, whose work continues to ripple across the region, I was reminded of how much transformative power lies in reimagining systems rather than individuals.
I was told that this session was a new addition to the 2X Summit, and for that, the organizers deserve tremendous credit. Conversations like these are what shift narratives and build momentum toward systemic change.
I left the room hopeful. Because while the challenge of making investment inclusive remains vast, the real question is…..
Do we dare to reimagine it that way?
A huge shout-out to the inspiring speakers of our session.
