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.
We’re delighted to release the NESsT 2024 Annual Report, highlighting a year defined by far-reaching impact and transformative growth. For nearly three decades, NESsT has worked at the nexus of people, profit, and the planet. In 2024, we reached a milestone that speaks to this mission: since its founding, NESsT has positively impacted the lives of over 3.4 million people from communities around the world.
Sweden joins as a donor to NESsT’s long-standing South America acceleration program, enabling the program to increase the number of enterprises it supports and to expand its efforts in Colombia, Peru, and into Brazil.
Our work on the ground in Brazil’s Amazon region has consistently shown that increasing women's participation is critical for the socio-bioeconomy to become a robust and sustainable national development strategy.
NESsT announces that Chad Sachs has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Sachs has held a series of senior management roles with NESsT since joining in 2019, most recently as Chief Investment Officer. He brings deep experience in the worlds of finance and social impact that will further reinforce NESsT’s mission of developing sustainable communities and building an inclusive economy.
Women are key to alleviating poverty in emerging and low-income countries. NESsT’s current portfolio companies are 51% women-owned and 44% of the senior management teams are comprised of women. By bringing a gender lens to their businesses, community-based enterprises perform more efficiently and effectively and are able to achieve greater impact.
A thriving and inclusive future is built by diverse, inclusive teams. With the support of J.P. Morgan, NESsT launched Empowers, a program that prepares firms to effectively integrate youth and women into the workplace and to reap the full benefits of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace.
Claire Wilkinson has been newly appointed to the Board of NESsT UK. She’s walking the 184 miles of the Thames Path from the barrier east of Greenwich to the river’s source in Gloucestershire. While she walks, she’s going to consider social entrepreneurship and write a blog for us. She’s hoping to encourage donations to NESsT, to raise money for social enterprises generating dignified jobs for people most in need.
Latest post: 25 June 2019
Gender-lens investing initiatives around the world declare that mainstreaming gender in development finance and impact investing is about both men and women. Yet in most countries there are such egregious, multi-dimensional barriers to women entrepreneurs that these efforts are—and must be—primarily about advancing women’s access to capital.
As spring emerges in the southern hemisphere, the NESsT Fund is actively looking for additional companies that want to raise debt capital in the $50K - $500K range. The Call for Applications, active as of October 2019, aims to select 5-10 investment companies in the next two months to offer debt funds.
