Introducing Advanced Practice

Financial systems are not neutral; they are shaped by choices about what knowledge is valued, whose experience is considered credible, and which risks are deemed material. If finance is to advance gender equality and broader social change, progress cannot rest solely on increasing representation or directing capital to underinvested groups. It also requires interrogating the underlying investment norms that govern how decisions are made, particularly the tendency to privilege company-level financial performance over the structural and social realities that shape markets.

Criterion Institute’s system of Advanced Practice makes these power dynamics visible. Grounded in four interconnected principles (Will to Act, Integrity, Accountability, and Inclusion), Advanced Practice provides a framework for understanding how investment analysis, structures, and processes can either reinforce or disrupt inequitable systems. Transformative change is driven not only by what capital funds, but by how investment decisions are made and whose knowledge informs them.

This case study highlights Sahel Capital as a demonstration of Advanced Practice in investment analysis. Sahel demonstrates the importance of understanding company performance as a function of market structure and industry-level realities, rather than attributing success or failure solely to entrepreneurial ability. By centering the lived experiences of farmers, the operational constraints of agricultural work, and the power dynamics that shape pricing, risk, and value capture, Sahel elevates contextual and gendered market knowledge as material to investment decision-making. This approach reshapes how risk and opportunity are assessed across African food systems and shifts power away from firm-level blame toward systemic understanding.

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