Private Equity International: Matching words with action

Shami Nissan, Partner, Head of Sustainability at Actis, spoke with Jon Yarker for Private Equity International’s article on gender diversity in private markets investing. Click here to read the article online, here for the piece in the digital issue of the magazine (pages 16-18) and read on below for some of Shami’s commentary.

Shami Nissan, Partner, Head of Sustainability at Actis, commented:

“I don’t think we’re quite at the point where real decision-making is being directly influenced by this criterion alone. That would be a seminal moment if we saw that happen.

“[We got questions like] is this really meritocratic/are we suggesting positive discrimination? Sometimes there could be questions about delaying embarking on the DE&I agenda due to competing priorities, but we seek to set tone early rather than delay – what is crucial for success on DE&I is tone at the top.

“Fortunately, we usually get a lot of positive engagement with this, with people asking positive questions about the ‘how’ rather than the ‘why’.”