International Women’s Day 2026: Give to Gain
On 4 March, ICG hosted and sponsored an International Women’s Day reception in their London office, as part of UK Private Capital’s Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) series. Suzi Gillespie, UK Private Capital’s Head of Research, reflects on the conversation and how private capital businesses can build inclusive workplaces.
A key part of UK Private Capital’s mission is to help firms build businesses in which everyone can thrive and bring their best to work. This isn’t always easy, so our DE&I series, sponsored by ICG, is designed to bring together people from across the industry to share experiences and make connections. Our March event aligned with International Women’s Day, with this year’s theme of Give to Gain providing the foundation for the discussion.
Data
I spoke about the importance of data and transparency, noting our latest study on Diversity in Limited Partner Investments teams, which found that 30% of people in LP investment teams were women, with this falling to 22% at the senior level and 15% on investment committees. This hasn’t moved since we last did the study two years ago.
Mentorship
Colm Walsh (ICG) and Jennie Galbraith (Inflexion) highlighted the importance of mentorship and sponsorship across the career journey from early career to senior professionals to ensure teams attract and retain diverse talent and promote an inclusive culture. As mentors, they found the experience hugely beneficial on a personal level, making them better at managing people and understanding different perspectives. Many firms run internal mentoring programs, but cross industry initiatives such as that run by Level 20 can provide external perspectives. This can be particularly valuable for smaller firms.
Intersectionality
Sophie Hulm (Progress Together) spoke about the challenge of intersectionality: your family background and the cultural knowledge that brings can have a huge impact on your progression within financial services. If you are a woman and from a working-class background, this impact is nearly doubled. People can be hesitant to share details of their socio-economic background at work – with a lot of people ‘masking’ at work, which can be exhausting. Opening up the conversation, done in the right way, can make a real difference to how people feel at work and breaking down barriers.
Role models
For those in senior positions, being loud and proud about their background and boundaries can help to change the wider firm culture. An example might be a parent doing an early day at work and leaving at 5pm to collect children. Also important for advancing gender equality more broadly is ensuring that men do their fair share of caring responsibilities and are encouraged by their employers to do so. This could be through specific policies such as parental leave, or through everyday flexibility.
Building high performing teams
Private capital is, at its heart, a people business, and to deliver the best returns, firms need to attract, retain, and develop the very best talent.
UK Private Capital has recently launched a Diversity Taskforce, chaired by Jennie Galbraith, which brings together people from across private equity, venture capital and advisory firms to work on this topic. At a time when businesses are rethinking what diversity means and how to build better, more inclusive teams, this will be a valuable resource for the private capital industry.
By continuing to measure, reflect, and collaborate, UK Private Capital reaffirms our commitment to shaping an industry that is inclusive and competitive.
The panel discussion included Karim Palant as moderator (UK Private Capital Director of External Affairs), Jennie Galbraith (Sustainability Director, Inflexion and Chair, UK Private Capital Diversity Taskforce), Colm Walsh (Managing Director, ICG and Level 20 Mentor), Sophie Hulm (CEO, Progress Together) and Suzi Gillespie (UK Private Capital Head of Research).
