In July 2025, NESsT formally established its legal presence in Colombia with the opening of a new office. While we've accelerated diverse impact-driven enterprises based in Colombia for 5 years, this milestone enables us to deepen our local involvement in the region.
This natural next step reflects our commitment to ensuring the long-term growth of our portfolio in Colombia, strengthening our on-the-ground collaboration with regional partners, and continuing to create lasting impact for some of the country’s most under-represented communities.
“Formalizing our presence in Colombia deepens our impact and strengthens the benefits we can deliver to the local entrepreneurs and communities we work with. It means we can continue to build programs that respond directly to local priorities such as conserving Colombia’s rich biodiversity, supporting entrepreneurs that face barriers to financing, and creating dignified, long-term jobs that address the root causes of poverty.”
Close to 7 million people in Colombia still live in extreme poverty.
By investing in and accelerating impact-driven enterprises in Colombia, we create quality job opportunities for marginalized individuals, including women, Indigenous peoples, smallholder farmers and producers, and youth.
Since 2021, our work in Colombia has:
channelled over $2.4M in resources to social enterprises in Colombia that often face obstacles when accessing financing from traditional sources due to their high-impact focus
provided 18 Colombian enterprises working with marginalized communities with financing and business assistance, supporting them to create 3,765 dignified jobs in the country
had a positive impact on the lives of 231,231 individuals
Today, NESsT provides tailored business support and flexible funding to 13 social enterprises in Colombia across three of its flagship programs: the NESsT Accelerator Program in South America, NESsT Amazonia, among other partners, and the NESsT Lirio Fund.
These enterprises include...
Photo: Delzur, a NESsT portfolio enterprise
Delzur
International fashion brand Delzur, a women-led enterprise, joined the NESsT portfolio in 2024. On its online store, the Colombian enterprise promotes and sells products and experiences produced by more than 250 Indigenous community members, over 90% of whom are women.
Launched with support from NESsT, IKEA Social Entrepreneurship and Sida, Delzur’s digital storefront positions small producers' quality handcrafted products as conscious Indigenous art. As a result of these efforts, Delzur has been able to secure partnerships with high-end international companies and increase local producers’ income, improving the livelihoods of rural families across 12 of Colombia’s Indigenous communities through stable, well-paid income opportunities that protect culture, territory, and tradition.
Photo: BioIncos, a NESsT portfolio enterprise
Bioingredientes Amazónicos (“BioIncos”)
The Indigenous-led enterprise, located in Putumayo, sources wild fruits from more than 170 suppliers in the Amazon Piedmont in Colombia, transforming them into natural oils for use in the cosmetics industry. BioIncos, which joined the NESsT Amazonia portfolio in 2023, pays prices above market average and supports small producers to improve their livelihoods and that of their families and communities, while conserving the high-biodiversity corridors and landscapes of the region.
NESsT has supported BioIncos since it joined the Amazon Indigenous Rights and Resources (AIRR) project in 2021. Now, as part of the NESsT Amazonia portfolio, supported by IDB Lab and Moore Foundation and implemented in Colombia in collaboration with OPIAC, BioIncos is expanding its commercial strategy to reach leading natural cosmetics companies in Europe and the US and improving the traceability of its rainforest-sourced products to meet international certification standards.
Photo: Cattleya, a NESsT portfolio enterprise
Cattleya
Cattleya is a NESsT Lirio Fund portfolio enterprise that exports fresh roses to the US market. Located in Cundinamarca where approximately 25% of the local population live below the poverty line, Cattleya employs over 350 people from nearby rural communities, providing fair, stable income, well-being services, and professional training opportunities. Over 50% of Cattleya’s workforce are women who are the primary earners of their families.
NESsT’s term loan to Cattleya provides structured working capital, allowing the company flexibility in its operations while supporting it to provide a constant, reliable supply of flowers to its main client and increase the number of individuals it employs in the local community.
As we continue to grow our team, expand our programs, and learn from the communities we serve, we’re grateful to our dedicated internal teams and the many partners who have supported and continue to support our work in Colombia.
Read more about our work in Colombia here: nesst.org/colombia