In May 2025, we were delighted to host an in-person meeting in Olsztyn, Poland, bringing together NESsT portfolio enterprises, partners from IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, and members of the NESsT regional and global teams.
Enterprises face a major challenge when it comes to accessing capital: limited access to credit and investment, as they are often deemed high-risk by traditional banks and investors. With this gap in funding, blended finance emerges as a strategic solution. It combines philanthropic, public, and private capital to reduce risk and attract investment in sustainable enterprises. By taking on the first risk, organizations like NESsT create the necessary conditions for banks and private investors to feel confident in supporting these businesses, thus increasing their access to credit and growth capital.
NESsT announces today that it has joined the Sustainable Connections Institute (Conexsus), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in AmazonBeEco, an unprecedented four-year initiative to support the sociobioeconomy in the Pan-Amazon region.
As we kick off celebrations for Pride Month 2025, we’re revisiting the recent efforts of the NESsT Violet Fund that have helped drive our work to bring vital financial and technical support to enterprises that are advancing equality for the LGTBQIA+ community in Central & Eastern Europe.
NESsT announces Renata Truzzi has been named Chief Impact & Operations Officer. Truzzi – who joined the organization in 2012 – has served in multiple capacities within NESsT, most recently as Global Acceleration & Impact Director. Her background in impact investing, business development, marketing, and fundraising will further support NESsT’s organizational effectiveness and operational excellence.
NESsT Empowers is a program that helps women who face discrimination in the hiring process access the career resources to transition into sustainable and quality jobs. Through Empowers, social enterprises are connected to successful business leaders who are interested in deepening the commitment towards diversity, equity and inclusion of their workplace.
Through trainings, events, and early-career programs, Możesz ITy equips youth and their allies with the tools, connections, and support they need to achieve diversity in the tech industry. Karolina Gadalska is the Manager of the Foundation and works closest with the students of the program. She supports them with accessing training from corporate partners, finding employment, and anything else that comes up as part of the students’ transition to a career such as relocations.
At the Coders Lab Schooling Program, young people at all levels of education learn programming from scratch, enabling them to work in IT. Coders Lab founded the "Keep Up the Pace" Foundation to implement the professional education program, Możesz ITy, that will make it easier for homestay and foster home children to live independently.
Young people with intellectual disabilities in Poland are at high risk of social exclusion and unemployment. Currently, less than 0.1% of people with intellectual disabilities participate in the labor market. Siedlisko is a social enterprise that offers vocational training and dignified employment opportunities to youth with intellectual disabilities and to long-term unemployed people from rural areas.
