Meet Our Clients

In the face of adversity, this coffee cooperative is using credit and training from Root Capital to help its farmers thrive. It all started with 19 farmers and one contract. In 1997, following a long harvest season, farmers in the highlands of Honduras banded together to export just over 5,000 pounds of coffee to a group of buyers in Germany.

This coffee cooperative in southern Mexico is showing that responsible agriculture can help preserve natural resources. The misty forests of southern Mexico’s El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve teem with life. This cloud forest—one of the most biodiverse in the world—serves as a critical habitat for thousands of species of migratory birds and endangered animals. But fragile ecosystems like El Triunfo are…

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this cooperative is providing coffee farmers with the tools they need to rebuild their lives after war. The province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has a dangerous past—and a complicated present. The lake that gives the province its name divides the DRC from neighboring Rwanda to the…

Hundreds of thousands of farmers in Ghana depend on cocoa for their livelihoods. This business is making sure those farmers earn a decent living. One of the country’s largest exports, cocoa employs approximately 800,000 farming families across Ghana. “It’s the biggest vocation, the biggest source of livelihood in these communities,” says Nelson Adubofour, head of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Union.

For decades, the indigenous Awajún people of northern Peru have struggled to overcome systemic poverty, discrimination, and violence. Now, as members of the APROCAM cooperative, they’re attaining higher incomes—and a better quality of life. In Peru’s northern Amazon, Awajún farmers struggled for years to eke out a living growing cacao on the banks of the Utcubamba River. Completely reliant on…

As shifting weather patterns make it harder to grow crops, this Kenyan grain aggregator is ensuring women farmers can adapt and prosper. With rains less predictable and growing seasons in flux, an old agribusiness adage is increasing in relevance for enterprises that work with rural smallholders: What’s good for the farmer is good for the business.  When The Rain…

To combat entrenched poverty and violence, this coffee cooperative improved the incomes of indigenous farmers. With towering oaks, gushing waterfalls and long green stretches of bountiful coffee trees, Guatemala’s Maya Ixil region is a place of lyrical beauty. But listen closely enough, and the lyrics tell an entirely different story—a story of an ugly past marked by heartbreaking violence. In…

By teaching organic practices, this fruit cooperative ensures farmers don’t have to sacrifice their health or the environment to make a profit. In Walter Elizondo Naranjo’s office in San Antonio, Costa Rica, hangs a large banner with pictures of pineapple, bananas, and oranges. 100% orgánico, the banner proudly states. Looking at the banner, Walter grins broadly. “This is COOPEASSA.” Thirty…

In a conservative region of Indonesia, one woman is leading her cooperative through exponential growth. In the misty Gayo highlands of northern Sumatra, Ibu Rahmah is making her mark on Indonesia’s coffee industry. Twenty years ago, Rahmah began working as a small trader, purchasing a few pounds of hand-picked coffee cherries from individual farmers and reselling them to larger traders.

This macadamia nut processor is investing in young people by creating reliable career paths. The annual macadamia harvest is now underway in Kenya, and The Village Nut Company’s hilltop factory in Nyeri County is buzzing with activity. As farmers deliver their crop and employees carefully hand-sort the finest nuts, the Muhara siblings are busy mentoring the next generation of agricultural…