Brewing a Solution: Coffee, Agroforestry, and the Race Against Climate Change

Root Capital’s CEO and Founder Willy Foote gives his remarks at the 2024 TEDxBoston. Photo credit: Root Capital “To save our beloved coffee, and all the benefits that come with it, we need a more comprehensive approach to this existential threat of climate change.” – Willy Foote Use of the term “agroforestry” continues to grow in popularity in…

Read more

Topics: Environment |

Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Gender Equity in Indonesian Agriculture

Ibu Rizkani, Founder and Position Chair of the first women-only cooperative Kokowagayo in Aceh, Indonesia, pictured in their storefront. Credit: Root Capital. Making History: Aceh’s First Women-Owned and Led Cooperative Ibu Rizkani is a woman who is shattering gender expectations in Indonesian agriculture. She is the Founder and Position Chair of Kokowagayo, the first women-owned and led cooperative in Sumatra,…

Read more

Topics: Southeast Asia | Women in Agriculture |

How Our Next Generation Jobs Impact Pathway Is Creating Future Leaders in Agriculture

Intern Pierre Ndabazi of Cocahu, a coffee cooperative in Rwanda, trains coffee farmers on coffee pruning. Photo credit: Gladys Thitu/Root Capital Young people in rural communities are struggling. There are few jobs-and those that exist are seen as low-paying, sporadic, and unfulfilling. It’s no wonder so many youth leave rural areas behind. Their parents can barely make ends meet. Crop…

Read more

Topics: Youth |

How A Public-Private Partnership Helped Agricultural Enterprises Weather the Pandemic

Permata Gayo cooperative members stand outside the cooperative’s headquarters in Aceh, Indonesia. Credit: Root Capital. Sixty percent of the world’s coffee supply comes from smallholder farmers with less than five hectares of land. While their products may account for more than half of the world’s coffee beans, small agricultural cooperatives often lack access to finance and therefore are unable to…

Read more

Topics: Southeast Asia | Stories of Impact |

Our Top 5 Highlights from 2023

2023 was a year of sustained progress for Root Capital, thanks to our dedicated community of supporters. As we enter 2024-a milestone year as we celebrate our 25th anniversary!-we reflect on our top five highlights from the past year. Leonor Gutiérrez, Director of the Women in Agricultural Initiative (WAI), presents to the Women’s Council at a convening in Nairobi, Kenya,…

Read more

Topics: Environment | Our Community | Women in Agriculture | Youth |

Root Capital y Vuna Coffee School: una colaboración de aprendizaje digital

Un estudiante de Vuna Coffee School sentado al lado de la fundadora y directora ejecutiva de la escuela, Sara Morrocchi, en Finca Café Brújula, ubicada en Oaxaca, México. Crédito: Vuna Coffee School El socio de aprendizaje digital de Root Capital, Vuna Coffee School, cubre una brecha fundamental en el mercado de educación cafetalera. Vuna es una plataforma…

Read more

Topics: En Español |

Root Capital and Vuna Coffee School: A Digital Learning Partnership

A Vuna Coffee School student sits with the school’s Founder and CEO, Sara Morrocchi, at Finca Café Brújula in Oaxaca, Mexico. Credit: Vuna Coffee School. Root Capital’s digital learning partner, Vuna Coffee School, fills a key gap in the coffee education market. Vuna, a one-of-a-kind digital coffee education platform, was founded in 2020 to address the lack…

Read more

Topics: Partnerships |

Will the COP28 Agreement Translate Into Real-World Climate Action?

Mountains near the Pula Lenca Cooperative in Marcala, Honduras, November 2023. Credit: Dylan Butler/Root Capital. As we near the end of 2023, we will say farewell to the warmest year on record-a year where our clients and their communities faced ever-more-urgent climate threats, like hail storms knocking coffee cherries off trees in Rwanda and heavy rains in…

Read more

Topics: Environment |

Cleanest Coffee Production Award Goes to Root Capital Client

Caption: A Flor de Café cooperative member tends to coffee on a drying patio. Photo credit: Root Capital Cooperativa de Servicios Múltiples Flor de Café R.L. (“Flor de Café”), a coffee cooperative in Murra, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua, is accustomed to the powerful tropical storms, flooding, and landslides that accompany hurricane season each year. As climate change intensifies,…

Read more

Topics: Stories of Impact |

A Journey Into the Heart of Kenya’s Macadamia-Processing Region

Superfine Africa Nuts employees sort macadamia nuts by hand alongside Root Capital’s Leonor Gutiérrez, Director of the Women in Agriculture Initiative, and CEO and Founder, Willy Foote. Photo credit: Root Capital In September, I, along with my Root Capital colleagues Leonor Gutiérrez, Martin Buyeka, Willy Foote, and Rose Ochieng, had a chance to visit our Kenyan client Superfine Africa Nuts.

Read more

Topics: Environment | Stories of Impact |