An opinion piece from NESsT CEO Chad Sachs: During a recent trip to Junín, Peru, to visit some of the companies in our NESsT Lirio Fund portfolio, I found myself reflecting on the difference between the numbers we see in a portfolio report versus the real life change we see happening in the field.
NESsT and The Ashmore Foundation announce a three-year partnership to support Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC)-led bioeconomy enterprises in the Colombian Amazon. The partnership, which marks a renewed collaboration between NESsT and The Ashmore Foundation, will help strengthen NESsT's ongoing work in the region with a specific focus on opportunities for women and young people within Indigenous enterprises.
“Echoes for the Amazon” is an impact investment fund created by Festival Cordillera and Páramo Impacta and managed by NESsT to protect this vital global ecosystem, working alongside those who have been doing so for generations. With NESsT’s support, every transaction generates sustainable cycles of care, regeneration, and long-term impact.
NESsT, in partnership with IEB and CEPF, is launching Raízes do Cerrado: Strengthening the Sustainability and Impact of Socio-Bioeconomy Enterprises for Conservation, aiming to strengthen the socio-bioeconomy as a pathway to conserving the Cerrado, one of the most biodiverse biomes in the world.
Last month we joined several partners from across the IKEA Social Entrepreneurship network in Älmhult, Sweden, for three days of dialogue, exchange, and collective reflection on how we can better support social enterprises creating positive social and environmental impact around the world.
This World Food Day, we’re looking back at last month’s NESsT portfolio gathering at Juchowo Farm in Poland, where we came together with eight social enterprises and representatives from IKEA and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship to explore what becomes possible when food systems are designed around the needs of people, communities, and the environment.
International Pride Day is a moment of visibility and celebration, and a reminder that, in some contexts, dignity and inclusion are still not guaranteed in everyday life, including at work. In this blog, we look at why inclusive entrepreneurship matters for building fairer labor markets, and why supporting small and growing businesses is essential to expanding access to dignified work and strengthening more inclusive workplace cultures.
This World Refugee Day 2026, we spoke to Ruslan Syvoplias, the Ukrainian entrepreneur behind Future Leaders Project (FLP). Drawing on Ruslan’s own experience of migration, FLP offer a more inclusive model of early education for families facing displacement. In this blog hear Ruslan’s journey building FLP, why early education matters for refugee children, and how – with NESsT’s support – he is strengthening this model to reach more families rebuilding their lives in Poland.
In this article, NESsT Chief Impact and Operations Officer Renata Truzzi shares her lessons in walking the talk in impact investing – from measurable impact through rigorously-measured investments and running accelerator programs that prioritize locally-led businesses to prioritizing DEI-driven decision making – an approach that has allowed NESsT to create thousands of dignified jobs and improve millions of lives worldwide.
NESsT recently expanded its executive team with the addition of Catalina Rodriguez Hohman as Chief Financial Officer. Catalina, who is based in Cali, Colombia, has over 15 years of financial experience in national and multinational companies including EY, Deloitte, Russell Bedford International, and most recently One Earth Future Foundation (OEF).
NESsT announces today that Grzegorz Wach has been named NESsT Country Director of Poland, reflecting the impact investor’s expanding acceleration of social enterprises that create dignified jobs for individuals from excluded communities, including refugees, migrants, women, at-risk youth, the LGBTQIA+ community, and others facing systemic barriers to economic opportunity.
NESsT announces today that Ioana Samoil has been named NESsT Country Director of Romania, highlighting the impact investor's deepening focus on accelerating Romanian social enterprises that create dignified jobs for individuals from excluded communities, including refugees, migrants, women, at-risk youth, the LGBTQIA+ community, and others facing systemic barriers to economic opportunity.
