Freshco is a Kenyan company that sells high-yield hybrid seeds, especially maize seed, to small-scale farmers. Maize seed that is optimized for the climates of Kenya's various regions can produce up to six tons of grain per hectare, compared to only one ton with ordinary seed.
Liam Brody, senior vice president of business development and corporate relations, reflects on his recent trip to Haiti and visits to two Root Capital clients.
A Root Capital client since 2003, CECOCAFEN is working to achieve intergenerational prosperity through a number of initiatives, such as a scholarship program for children of cooperative members. Exolina Aldana is a CECOCAFEN scholarship recipient. Watch her discuss her work coordinating CECOCAFEN's gender and youth programs, as well as her vision for the future.
Rolando Lazo is a coffee farmer and a member of the Nicaraguan coffee cooperative SOPPEXCCA. In this video, Rolando explains how Root Capital's loans to SOPPEXCCA have empowered him to buy land and make a profit from his coffee.
Root Capital Founder and CEO Willy Foote reflects on his recent travels to Burkina Faso and tells the story of Karikis International, a shea processor and exporter founded by a remarkable woman named Felicité Yameogo
Root Capital clients in Africa and Latin America discuss their work empowering women and how it impacts their businesses and communities.
Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa (Pangoa) is a Fair Trade and organic-certified coffee cooperative located in San Martín de Pangoa, Peru. Pangoa's 207 members are smallholder farmers who cultivate shade-grown coffee on the slopes rising from the lowland jungle to the highlands in the region of Junín.
Taza Chocolate is a small bean-to-bar chocolate maker, and the only producer in the US of 100% stone ground, organic chocolate. Taza buys its cocoa beans from La Red Guaconejo, a cocoa cooperative in the Dominican Republic and a Root Capital client since 2009.
Root Capital was selected to be featured in one of the three "Uncommon Heroes" films that premiered at the 2009 Skoll World Forum. Watch the film to learn more about Root Capital and our impact on farmers and artisans around the world.
Businesses supported by Root Capital transform rural communities and conserve natural resources in the world's poorest, most environmentally threatened places. In this film, we invite you to come with us to Guatemala and Nicaragua to meet those whose lives we touch.
In February 2010, members of the Root Capital team traveled to Liberia, where they visited the Liberian Women's Sewing Project, a sustainable apparel manufacturer part-owned and operated by Liberian women.