We’re delighted to release the NESsT 2025 Annual Report, reflecting a year of measured growth, deepened partnerships, and meaningful impact alongside social entrepreneurs and communities across South America and Central and Eastern Europe.
Since 1997, NESsT has invested in enterprises that create dignified jobs for those most in need guided by our core belief: a good job can change a life.
Over the past 29 years, we've seen this change ripple outwards beyond one life to entire communities that are thriving, resilient, and self-sufficient.
Our unique approach positions high-performing enterprises in South America and Central and Eastern Europe to realize their full potential, making a tangible impact now while paving the way for a world where everyone can thrive.
In 2025, we reached a milestone that speaks to this mission: Since our founding, our collective work has contributed to improving the lives of more than 4.7 million people including Black people, Indigenous Peoples, the LGTBQIA+ community, migrants and refugees, people with disabilities, smallholder farmers, women, and youth.
2025: the most effective solutions are built locally
Locally based social enterprises are uniquely qualified to address critical social problems within their communities, providing meaningful work opportunities that foster thriving, resilient, and self-sufficient communities.
In 2025, we expanded our portfolio from 88 to 142 social enterprises across Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Poland, and Romania that all share a common theme of supporting people and the planet. This growth is more than scale; it reflects a deeper reach and a stronger ability to support entrepreneurs building sustainable livelihoods.
What 2025 reaffirmed is clear: the most effective solutions are built locally. By backing entrepreneurs embedded in their communities, we are helping to shape more resilient and inclusive economies.
Throughout 2025, we supported these businesses – 65% of which are led by women or have women on their leadership teams – to create over 50,000 dignified jobs and impact the lives of close to 625,000 people.
By leveraging donations and patient capital, we can ensure tailored financing and one-on-one business development support reaches these social entrepreneurs that are creating dignified jobs and empowering their communities.
““Our impact is driven by more than just capital. It is built through long-term partnerships – working alongside entrepreneurs to navigate complexity, strengthen their businesses, and unlock lasting value for the communities they serve. This work is made possible by the trust and commitment of our partners and supporters, who enable us to take a patient, systems-oriented approach.””
Highlights from our 2025 impact journey
In 2025, we reaffirmed our commitment to placing under-represented communities at the center of what we do. As NESsT CIOO, Renata Truzzi shares “We strive for a horizontal, rather than top-down, relationship in our mentoring and capacity-building programs. Our participation in international events frequently includes entrepreneurs taking the stage; once again, the focus is on giving everyone a voice, co-building a more dignified future and a more sustainable planet for all.”
This commitment took shape through our work with the NESsT Amazonia portfolio – which since 2015 has supported more than 115 high-impact enterprises and cooperatives in the rainforest in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
COP30 being held in Belém, Para, Brazil – marking the first time a UN convention took place in the Amazon – opened a critical opportunity to bring the voices of those working to keep the forest standing into global climate debates.
Entrepreneurs from the NESsT Amazonia portfolio in Brazil, including Karati Xikrin from Associação Bebô Xikrin do Bacajá (ABEX) and Keivan Hamoud from Associação dos Agropecuários de Beruri (ASSOAB), took part in roundtables, sharing the dayto-day realities of building businesses that both depend on and protect the forest.
“[NESsT] has made it possible for us to occupy these spaces, such as COP30 in Belém. Here I’ve learned how financing for the Amazon is planned and how climate finance can reach community-led organizations rooted in territories that are truly managing and preserving the Amazon forest.”
The NESsT Lirio Fund reached a new milestone, disbursing $20M USD to growing enterprises across South America.
In 2025, the NESsT Lirio Fund reached a significant milestone. Since its inception, the fund has disbursed more than $20 million through 37 loans, supporting enterprises across Peru, Colombia, and Brazil that are improving livelihoods and protecting the environment in some of South America’s most socially and environmentally critical landscapes.
Over seven years, the NESsT Lirio Fund’s investments have contributed to the protection or sustainable management of more than 1.5 million hectares of land while positively impacting the lives of over 17,000 people. These include smallholder farmers and producers, Indigenous communities, and people living in regions affected by conflict. Of those reached, over 30% are women.
In 2025, the fund disbursed an investment to Brazil nut producer Cooperativa dos Agricultores do Vale do Amanhecer (COOPAVAM) (pictured left).
Located in the threatened area of Mato Grosso – one of the most rapidly deforested regions in the Brazilian Amazon – the women-led cooperative sources sustainably harvested Amazon nuts from 300 Indigenous producers 80% of whom are women.
We prioritized intentional mentoring and trust-based relationships to co-create lasting impact.
Photo: Jakub Jankowski, CEO of Inter IKEA Group and IKEA Thought Partner, with WEF Team
At the heart of the partnership between NESsT and long-standing partner IKEA Social Entrepreneurship is a shared belief that lasting impact is built through both capital and intentional mentoring.
In 2025, we strengthened our efforts to connect IKEA co-workers with social entrepreneurs to exchange knowledge, challenge assumptions, and scale solutions grounded in realworld experience. These relationships go beyond technical support; they create space for reflection, problem-solving, and mutual learning, often evolving into long-term relationships built on trust.
Women’s Entrepreneurship Foundation (WEF) joined the NESsT Central and Eastern Europe Accelerator Program at the end of 2024, at a critical point in its impact journey. Through targeted support from NESsT portfolio manager Aneta Sokolowska and IKEA Thought Partner Jakub Jankowski, CEO of Inter IKEA Group, the WEF team developed a new three-year strategy to navigate an increasingly competitive market.
About the experience, Agata Ziolo, Vice President of WEF, shared: “Our mentoring experience with [Jakub] has been amazing; we worked with a specialist and very supportive person who truly understands women’s business. We received enormous psychological and strategic support when the foundation was going through a difficult time. Everything is now moving in the right direction. We have a plan and a strong team in place.”
We surpassed more than $1M invested in businesses led by Black entrepreneurs in Brazil.
In 2025, NESsT’s Racial Equity Initiative reached an important milestone, surpassing $1 million USD invested in businesses led by Black entrepreneurs in Brazil.
Beyond the figure itself, this milestone reflects a continued, intentional effort to address the structural barriers Black entrepreneurs face to accessing capital, while supporting Black-led businesses that generate both economic and social impact in their communities.
EcoCiclo (pictured right) joined the portfolio in 2025 to advance its work expanding access to basic menstrual hygiene products for girls and women in vulnerable situations. Led by Black women, the enterprise produces and distributes reusable sanitary pads, combining direct social impact with waste reduction and menstrual health education. To date, it has reached over 17,000 women across seven communities throughout Brazil.
We strengthened our support to enterprises beyond acceleration as they apply for and secure impact loans with the NESsT Violet Fund in Central and Eastern Europe and the NESsT Lirio Fund in South America.
NESsT’s two impact funds continue to build a robust pipeline of impact-driven enterprises through ventures emerging from NESsT’s acceleration programs in the regions where it works – marking an important step as they become investment ready. An example is Romania-based recruitment agency Jobful, which applied to the fund in 2025 and was approved in early 2026 to reach LGBTQIA+ job-seekers through its inclusive recruitment platform.
We invite you to read the full report here: