Women, Capital, and Climate: Setareh Heshmat on Shifting Power in Impact Investing

As the climate crisis intensifies, a new generation of investors is emerging—one that views capital not just as a tool for profit, but as an instrument for justice. At the heart of this movement is Setareh Heshmat, ESG investment director, systems thinker, and one of Southeast Asia’s most respected advocates for inclusive climate capital.

She’s not just investing in climate solutions. She’s investing in the people—especially women—who are redesigning what the future of finance can look like.

“We can’t solve planetary problems with the same power structures that created them,” Heshmat says. “If capital flows remain concentrated in the hands of a few, the outcomes will continue to be extractive. Diversity isn’t a value-add—it’s the foundation of survival.”

The Numbers Tell a Story of Exclusion

Despite progress, global investment data remains stark:

• Less than 3% of venture capital goes to women-led startups.

• Women receive only 1 in 10 climate finance grants in emerging markets.

• Female fund managers control less than 15% of total private equity capital worldwide.

Setareh sees these numbers as more than just gaps—they're structural failures.

“It’s not that women aren’t building solutions. It’s that we’ve built financial systems that are blind to them.”

Why Women-Led Ventures Are Crucial to Climate Solutions

According to Heshmat, women-led startups—especially in the Global South—tend to approach climate and social challenges with a holistic, community-centric mindset.

• They are more likely to embed equity and accessibility into product design.

• They often prioritize long-term resilience over short-term growth.

• Their leadership styles tend to be collaborative, trust-building, and locally rooted.

She notes that in her own portfolio, women-led companies have consistently outperformed on both impact KPIs and capital efficiency.

“They build slower, but they last longer. That’s what climate resilience requires.”

From Advocacy to Action: Shifting Capital Structures

Setareh doesn’t stop at advocacy. Over the past three years, she has restructured how her firm approaches deal-making to make it more inclusive:

✅ Founder-Inclusive Diligence

Due diligence now includes founder interviews that explore lived experience, community ties, and mission alignment—especially useful for evaluating non-traditional or first-time entrepreneurs.

✅ Bias-Aware Evaluation

She trains her investment committee to identify and correct for bias in pitch feedback—ensuring they don’t equate confidence with competence or penalize founders for not fitting the Silicon Valley mold.

✅ Gender-Lensed Fund Design

Through her influence, her firm now allocates a specific portion of its fund to women-led and gender-inclusive startups—especially those working in climate, health, and ethical AI.

“We don’t just ask, ‘Is this a good company?’ We ask, ‘Who gets to build the future?’”

Mentorship as Infrastructure

Setareh also runs a pro-bono mentorship program for emerging female founders in Southeast Asia. Through monthly cohorts, she connects them with ESG advisors, impact VCs, and grant funders.

Past mentees have gone on to:

• Launch climate-resilient urban farming businesses

• Create supply chain traceability tools for ethical fashion

• Build AI-powered apps for flood risk alerts in underserved regions

“Mentorship isn’t charity. It’s infrastructure. If we want women to lead, we need to clear the path, not just cheer from the sidelines.”

What True Power Redistribution Looks Like

For Heshmat, the goal isn’t just inclusion — it’s redistribution. That means shifting not only opportunities, but also:

• Decision-making power (who sits on the board)

• Ownership stakes (who shares in the upside)

• Capital control (who writes the checks)

She’s currently working on launching a regional impact syndicate co-managed by women investors across ASEAN, with the goal of deploying $25 million over the next three years into women-led, climate-positive ventures.

The Future of Finance Is Feminist, Not Fragile

Setareh challenges the perception that feminist or gender-lensed capital is niche. She argues it’s the only kind of finance that’s built to last.

“Climate collapse is what happens when systems are brittle, exclusive, and extractive. Feminist finance—finance that is inclusive, transparent, and regenerative—is what resilience looks like.”

She believes that just as biodiversity strengthens ecosystems, diverse capital flows strengthen economic systems.

Final Thoughts: Rewriting the Power Map

Setareh Heshmat isn’t just diversifying the cap table—she’s redefining the value system that drives it. Her work sits at the intersection of climate justice, gender equity, and financial reform—a place where few venture, but where the future is being quietly rebuilt.

“This isn’t about giving women a seat at the table,” she says. “It’s about redesigning the table—and making sure it’s made sustainably, seats everyone, and serves more than just profit.”