Meet Our Clients

This coffee cooperative invests in the advancement of women, education of youth, and community health programs. SOPPEXCCA is a Fair Trade and organic-certified coffee cooperative located in the jungles of Jinotega, Nicaragua, where 65% of the nation’s coffee is grown. This business is known for its emphasis on gender inclusion and the empowerment of women farmers—40 percent of its members…

After the 1994 genocide, this Rwandan coffee cooperative gave survivors a path for hope and reconstruction. In 2005, the Dukundekawa coffee cooperative, also known as Musasa, became Root Capital’s first client in Africa. Since its founding in 2004, Musasa has grown from 300 to more than 1,800 members—among them many women who were widowed by the 1994 genocide. Today, some…

This coffee cooperative is growing its business by relying on the leadership of women. Every morning, Dora Lisa Carrión Gómez rises early to make the morning shift at Saja, the cafe she manages in the quiet Andean town of San Ignacio in northern Peru. Saja is owned and operated by members of the APROCASSI coffee cooperative’s women’s group. These 72…

By sourcing palm oil from pre-existing areas of cultivated land, Serendipalm is defying industry norms of deforestation and contributing to sustainable development in rural Ghana.

In the wake of paramilitary violence, this cooperative gave farmers alternatives to the drug trade—and became the beating heart of its rural community. Nestled in the foothills where the Amazon rainforest meets the towering Andes Mountains, the Peruvian town of San Martín de Pangoa exudes an aura of calm. Life seems to move at a leisurely pace; ambling through the…

In the rural highlands of Guatemala, this honey cooperative has found ways for both farmers and the planet to thrive. When Alvaro Almengor assumed the position of general manager at Copiasuro, a cooperative of honey producers spread across the southwestern highlands of Guatemala, its 22 members had little more than 113 hives and dreams for a better life. “They…

After the Rwandan genocide devastated the country, smallholder coffee farmers banded together to help their community recover and prosper. When genocide broke out in Rwanda in early April 1994, coffee farmers around the small town of Maraba had just begun the harvest. Early pickings were underway, and the coffee cherries were in their final weeks of maturation. Three months later…

Recognizing the need for affordable, nutrient-rich alternatives to imported rice, this agroprocessing business built up the market for traditional Senegalese grains. After years of watching working mothers feed their children imported rice rather than local Senegalese grains, Bineta Coulibaly decided to take action. Traditionally, women used locally-produced and nutrient-rich millet flour to make couscous, arraw (small balls of flour cooked…

To ensure the long-term sustainability of coffee farming in their community, this cooperative cultivates meaningful career paths for youth. Many young people perceive agriculture as a career that’s difficult, unrewarding, or devoid of pathways for career advancement. Often, their perceptions prove true—and in parts of Honduras, the challenges faced by young people in rural regions have risen to the level…

When aging coffee trees and a deadly fungus threatened farmer livelihoods, this cooperative invested in long-term sustainability. Perched high atop a steep mountain in the lush Cajamarca region of northern Peru sits the proud town of Chirinos. Boasting a modern church and brand-new municipal building that serve as bookends to a well-manicured central plaza, the town hums with signs of…