Since its launching in 2001, the NESsT Venture Fund has provided enterprise development support to hundreds of social enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Recognizing that social enterprises require different types of support at the different stages of their social enterprise development process, the NESsT Venture Fund is comprised of two types of portfolios:

- a “later-stage portfolio” of more advanced social enterprises receiving multi-year financing and capacity- building assistance to start-up or expand a social enterprise; and

- an “early-stage portfolio” of social enterprises receiving support to complete business plans, feasibility studies and/or pre-feasibility studies for their social enterprises.

Read more about the social enterprises that have received support from the NESsT Venture Fund:

- NESsT Venture Fund Central Europe Portfolio

- NESsT Venture Fund (Fondo Nido) Latin America Portfolio

 

  

Portfolio Profile:

The Little Train That Could: Vydra Stimulates Sustainable Development in Rural Slovakia

Established in 1997, the mission of Vydra is the “preservation of local traditions, cultural and natural values”and the sustainable development of the rural Microregion Cierny Hron of Slovakia.

Vydra is a national association of young people (140 members in 2002) that grew out of a 15-year old Slovak youth movement started to preserve the historic Ciernohronská Forest Railway (CHZ). After restoring the CHZ, Vydra began a rural tourism effort to contribute to the broader community development of the Microregion Cierny Hron.

NESsT has invested in Vydra’s effort to start up a "Tourist Camp” to encourage tourism, create local employment opportunities, and sustain Vydra’s operations. The camp will include: a buffet near the new Museum of the History of Forestry, offering refreshments and meals to tourists; cultural events on an outdoor wooden stage; environmental education programs for schools; and recreation areas for tourists. > Read more

The historic CHZ forest railway has been the engine behind Vydra’s efforts to revitalize the region.

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