About Us
EMpower was born in 2000 with a simple yet powerful idea: to give back. At the time, the Emerging Markets (EM) finance industry had become a mainstream asset class, included in many institutional portfolios. Finance professionals often travelled through EM countries, assessing investments, but were struck by the deep societal inequities they witnessed. The desire to address these disparities and contribute positively to the communities that had shaped their careers led to the founding of EMpower.
From the beginning, a few key principles shaped our approach to creating impact. We sought out local organisations already doing meaningful work in their communities, recognising that we didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. EMpower aimed to be a support system for those on the ground who were making a difference. Additionally, we fostered a participatory process where donors could be directly involved in philanthropic decision-making, ensuring that contributions were informed and intentional.
Securing consistent funding and maintaining momentum were significant hurdles in EMpower's early days. Every year began with the challenge of building the budget from scratch. To address this, we launched the Underwriting Model (UM) in 2004, a three-year renewable commitment by loyal supporters to cover core operational costs. This model proved transformative. With core costs covered, EMpower could direct all other donations to programming, building confidence in our financial sustainability. It also allowed us to extend our partnership timeline to 10 years, fostering deeper relationships with our partners and enabling long-term, meaningful impact.
Moreover, this structure freed EMpower’s staff from the constant pressure of external fundraising in their day-to-day activities, allowing them to devote more time to building relationships with grantees and communities. This focus enabled us to select the most promising organisations and build a best-in-class funding model, enhancing collaboration with our grantees and leading to more impactful outcomes for young people. EMpower has presented funders with a tangible and powerful solution to their desire to give back, creating a fulfilling philanthropic experience that resonates deeply with their values.
By 2005, we recognised that EMpower needed to evolve strategically. A landscape review revealed critical needs and gaps, and we decided to focus on marginalised young people—referred to as "at-risk" youth at the time. We streamlined our investments into three core areas: Livelihoods, Health, and Education, where we believed we could make the most significant impact. This shift paved the way for our future work, including recognising adolescent girls as a key focus. In 2006, our partnership with the Nike Foundation’s Grassroots Girls Initiative expanded our capacity to make more grants, facilitate dialogues, catalyse cross-learning, and promote innovative thinking specifically to empower girls and young women. From young women’s entrepreneurship to nontraditional livelihoods and girls’ participation in sports, we began working with partners to embed a stronger gender lens throughout all programme areas.
The impact EMpower has had on our donors is equally remarkable. Many had never ventured into non-profit work outside their school, religion or alma mater, but their involvement with us sparked a newfound interest in philanthropy. It became obvious that there was a potential to expand our reach. As the EM community grew globally mobile, so did EMpower. Our decision to follow the footprint of the EM finance community led to establishing charitable status in London in 2006 and expanding our reach to Hong Kong in 2010, and to Singapore and India by 2017. This came from a push by our boards to capitalise on the growth of the financial services sector and to tap into opportunities to tap local resources and, in India’s case, the CSR mandate. Each expansion reflected our participatory nature, with advocates in every location who put in time, energy, and personal reputation to help build each of our independent international hubs. This global but local approach allowed us to leverage local expertise and networks, enhancing our impact across regions. With the establishment of our Joint Executive Committee, we developed the governance capabilities to operate globally.
Every strategic plan (2008, 2014, 2019) since has enabled us to evolve further and push the envelope in grant-making practices, offering more multi-year and unrestricted funding, extending our partnership horizons, and clustering geographies within countries. Meaningful youth engagement became a cornerstone of our work, ensuring that young people’s voices were included in shaping the solutions to their challenges.
Today, EMpower stands as a testament to the power of collaboration between the finance community and local leaders in EM countries. Our underwriting model remains essential, and our focus on young people has grown deeper. As we celebrate 25 years, we reflect on the countless ways EMpower has evolved, always grounded in our core belief that those on the ground drive our work.
Our finance community and young people in emerging markets are indispensable to EMpower’s DNA, a commitment cemented over 25 years of work. As we continue to grow and adapt, these two pillars remain at the heart of our efforts to create lasting change.