Thursday Feb 19, 2026
Thursday Feb 19, 2026
Thursday, 12 February 2026 03:14 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Charumini de Silva
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| Angela Ng – Pic by Ruwan Walpola |
Sri Lanka is ready to catalyse the next wave of impact investment by aligning gender inclusion with climate resilience, said Singapore-based Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) Chief Operating Officer Angela Ng yesterday.
Addressing stakeholders at the first-ever Lanka Impact Investment Summit (LIIS) 2026 in Colombo, she said the two-day discussions signalled a turning point in the country’s sustainable finance journey.
“The Summit sends a very strong signal that Sri Lanka is ready to shape its economic future with the right intention,” she said, noting that policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs were now “a step closer to bringing this vision to life.”
Highlighting Sri Lanka’s context as a climate-vulnerable island nation, Ng noted that women play a critical role across agriculture, fisheries, and other sectors vital to food security and climate adaptation, yet remain underrepresented in access to capital.
“Women make up more than half of the population, yet remain severely underrepresented,” she said, adding that they are central to industries that drive national resilience, particularly in the face of floods, extreme weather, and pressures on the blue economy.
She pointed out that gender equality and climate resilience must be addressed together. “We cannot talk about the Orange Movement, which is Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, without talking about green or blue. Gender equality and climate resilience are not conversations we can have separately. They are interlinked,” she explained.
Ng stressed that the key challenge facing Sri Lanka is not the availability of capital, but how it is mobilised. “The question is not whether capital exists—because it does. The question is how we are really catalysing it forward,” she said.
She said the newly signed partnership between IIX and the LIIN is aimed at strengthening Sri Lanka’s ecosystem so that “gender inclusion, climate resilience, and economic growth can move together,” particularly in rural and emerging sectors.
She added that Sri Lanka has the potential to demonstrate how capital markets can be aligned with resilience and inclusion, positioning itself as a regional hub for South Asia.
In a further boost, Ng announced that Sri Lanka will host the next Orange Forum in October, the flagship global convening of the Orange Movement™, bringing international investors and development partners back to Colombo.
Placing Sri Lanka within a broader global framework, Ng outlined IIX’s 17-year track record in designing financial instruments that serve underserved communities, smallholder farmers, and rural entrepreneurs without deepening inequality.
Headquartered in Singapore, IIX has mobilised over $ 150 million in capital and launched seven ‘Orange Bonds’ – women-focused, tradable instruments, listed on the Singapore Exchange, as well as the world’s largest Orange Bond on the Indonesian Stock Exchange. The organisation operates across Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Under the Orange Movement™, named after SDG 5 on gender equality, IIX aims to mobilise $ 100 billion by 2030 to impact 100 million women and underserved communities globally. The next phase includes the launch of a $ 1 billion Orange Private Fund, with a targeted first close of $ 250 million and a linked $ 250 million technical assistance facility focusing on South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
“It is no small feat,” Ng said of the global ambition. “We need everybody in the room to see how you can play a role with us.”
As Sri Lanka seeks to accelerate economic recovery and climate adaptation, she said that the path forward requires building the economy “with women and underserved communities and making it happen together.”
