Impact investing trailblazer ImpactAssets has selected NESsT to its IA 50 Emerging Impact Managers 2024 list of newer fund managers to watch that demonstrate potential to create meaningful impact.
NESsT has a portfolio of 50 enterprises based in the Amazon. Over the past five years, NESsT portfolio managers have worked closely with these enterprises to monitor, measure, and grow their impact. Recently, NESsT sought to develop more detailed methods to understand the culture and context of the data it collects, specifically for enterprises in the Amazon.
Associação Bebô Xirin do Bacajá (ABEX) is an Indigenous-led association that participated in the Amazon Indigenous Rights and Resources (AIRR) project launched in 2021 to support Indigenous populations to become more visible and active actors in the Amazon economy, in ways that conserve rainforest biodiversity and build environmental resiliency.
Located in the jungle areas of central and eastern Peru, Kulkao sources cocoa from over 400 smallholder farmers living in the remote regions of the Amazon basin. Its products include cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and cocoa nibs that are sold to local and international markets such as Europe and North America. Due to its success, in 2023, NESsT approved a second revolving loan to Kulkao, supporting the social enterprise to continue to purchase cacao beans from local farmers committed to organic, sustainable practices.
NESsT, a leading global impact investor and venture philanthropist, today announced the appointment of Kirsten Dueck as Chief Executive Officer. NESsT announces this significant leadership transition as it closes out its milestone of over a quarter-century of success, and prepares to embark on its next quarter-century journey of impact investing. Nicole Etchart, NESsT co-founder and outgoing CEO, will transition into a new role as Senior Advisor and will remain on the Board of Directors.
The Racial Equity Portfolio provides funding to select Black enterprises focused on economic empowerment and social impact in Brazil.
SOCAP 2023 took place in San Francisco, California from 23–25 October. Nicole Etchart, NESsT Co-Founder and CEO, co-hosted the session ‘Scaling Impact Through Collaboration: Rallying Stakeholders Around Blended Finance,’ alongside Nele Bouchier, Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer for IKEA in the United States, and Charu Adesnik, Executive Director of the Cisco Foundation and Director of Social Innovation Investments at Cisco Systems, Inc.
Diaspora.Black, a social enterprise in the tourism and events sector, joins the NESsT Racial Equity Initiative. With NESsT’s investment, Diaspora.Black will offer training and funding to local Afro-entrepreneurs, fostering a community dedicated to expanding tourist routes that bring more visibility to the history and culture of Afro-Brazilians.
Flower producer Cattleya manages employs 350 individuals, primarily from the nearby rural towns of Suesca and Sesquilé, providing them with a stable source of income, fair wages, well-being services, and professional development opportunities. Over 50% of Cattleya’s workforce are women who are the primary earners of their families.
The partnership program improves the quality of life of marginalized and excluded people across Chile, Colombia and Peru by supporting a fair, inclusive, and sustainable economy.
The NESsT’s Lirio Fund’s investment will provide working capital to Cuencas on an as-needed basis, supporting the social enterprise to increase the number of cacao suppliers it sources from and boost its organic cacao production capacity.
Our portfolio enterprise Targ Pietruszkowy is celebrating a decade of creating a positive impact in its local community. Targ works with around 140 small-farm holders, almost half of whom are women. For many, selling their organically grown produce at Targ Pietruszkowy is their main source of income.
In 2022, the Lirio Fund made its first investment in Colombia, welcoming Pomario, a social enterprise that sells organic produce and provides jobs to rural communities.
The NESsT Refugee Employment Initiative (REI) is named 'Social Fund of the Year, Europe' by Environmental Finance. One judge said the fund was "an important social initiative to invest in local SMEs," and added it was "good to see investments in organizations making commitments to employ refugees".
On this World Population Day, we take a moment to reflect on how we can support the communities that are responsible for nourishing the rest of the world.
The NESsT Lirio Fund is named Environmental Fund of the Year, Latin America by Environmental Finance. The Lirio Fund provides debt capital to high-impact enterprises that are advancing job creation for individuals most in need and accelerating environmental conservation in the Andes-Amazon.
From June 19-20, we hosted a two-day welcome summit for the first cohort of enterprises we welcomed as part of the initiative. The online event brought together entrepreneurs, IKEA co-workers, NESsT portfolio managers, members of the IKEA Social Entrepreneurship team as well as other partners.
The MetLife Foundation is joining other donors, including Cisco, the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), Erol Foundation, and Parceiros Pela Amazônia (PPA), among others, to support NESsT Amazonia. This new multi-year partnership between NESsT and the MetLife Foundation will accelerate sustainable forest conservation by catalyzing 10 Amazon-based enterprises.
NESsT and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announce a new pilot program to support 15 enterprises in the Amazon Basin with financial capital and business mentoring resources. The program will launch as a 18-month pilot to test a new model of governance that will form an alliance with regional and national indigenous federations.
Cooperativa Cafetalera Laguna de los Cóndores sources coffee from almost 460 smallholder farmers operating in the region, working to alleviate their severe financial strains and ensure coffee producers earn a living income. NESsT’s revolving investment will support Laguna to reach and sign contracts with more producers over the next two years, with funding provided on an as-needed basis for working capital needs.
NESsT and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship visit Chile to reflect on support in the region and evaluate the accelerator’s impact so far. Together we witnessed firsthand the positive changes these social enterprises are making in their areas, and gained a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges they face.
In April, the NESsT - IKEA Social Entrepreneurship CEE Accelerator hosted its first in-person mid-term event, bringing together portfolio social entrepreneurs from Poland and Romania, business mentors from IKEA and the NESsT Poland Program council, and NESsT portfolio managers.
The NESsT Refugee Employment Initiative focuses on financing and assisting a cohort of fifteen impact-driven enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe that provide refugees with long-term employment opportunities, especially those affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The initiative is welcoming the first six social enterprises to continue building upon important aid efforts in the region.
The Violet Fund (CEE) and Lirio Fund (LatAm) are NESsT’s core impact funds in the two respective emerging markets, empowering social enterprises with capital and resources to solve critical social issues within marginalized communities.
The NESsT Lirio Fund is seeking applications from social enterprises that are addressing the root causes of poverty for communities in Latin America, with great emphasis on improving rural livelihoods and preserving land through sustainable practices.
INTERVIEW: Founded in the 1990s to support emerging civil society in eastern Europe, NESsT remains focused on helping high-impact organisations to grow and avoid grant dependency. We find out how the investor is going one step further to track its own impact – and how a new fund hopes to challenge LGBTQIA+ discrimination.
The two separate partnerships will study local, NESsT-backed enterprises to inform policy recommendations and drive more meaningful impact in the region