Central America and Mexico

Since making our first loan to a coffee cooperative in Guatemala in 1999, we continue to invest in small and growing agricultural enterprises across the region.

From well-established cooperatives to early-stage businesses looking to grow, the region is full of enterprises poised to drive impact for smallholder farmers. This support is increasingly urgent, as the region battles natural disasters and other impacts of climate change. With offices in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Nicaragua, we use innovative funding mechanisms to unlock the impact potential of coffee, cocoa, and honey enterprises.


In this region we currently work in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Stories of Impact


Root Capital Client Shines at Bush Center’s 2015 Global Women’s Network

Plenary panel at the 2015 Global Women's Network. Photo credit: ExxonMobil Foundation. Earlier this week, Iliana Martinez, the general manager of Cooperativa Esquipulas, a smallholder coffee farmer cooperative and Root Capital client in the highlands of Guatemala, and Root Capital’s SVP Catherine Gill joined First Ladies, private and public sector leaders, and the next generation of innovators in Dallas at the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s two-day Global Women’s Network summit.

Con un poco de ayuda estas familias de agricultores orgánicos transitan el camino del éxito

En las tierras altas de Marcala, en Honduras, donde las calles no tienen nombre, para poder ir desde la iglesia - el punto principal de referencia que se utiliza en el pueblo– hasta la Cooperativa RAOS (la primera cooperativa de café 100% orgánica del país), es necesario contar con una de estas tres cosas: un mapa muy detallado, una guía local o una buena dosis de suerte.

With A Little Help, These Organic Farming Families are Navigating the Road to Success

Root Capital CEO Willy Foote visting Cooperativa RAOS in 2013. In the sleepy, highland town of Marcala, Honduras, there are no street names. To get from Marcala’s church – the town’s main point of reference – to Cooperativa RAOS, the country’s first 100 percent organic coffee cooperative just outside of town, you’d better have one of three things: a detailed map, a local guide, or a healthy dose of luck.

Así es como David Lozano de Root Capital trabaja para redefinir el ‘machismo’ en México

Inversión con un enfoque en la igualdad de género. Half the Sky.  HeForShe. Lean In. Durante los últimos años el empoderamiento económico de las mujeres se ha convertido en un tema predominante entre periodistas, profesionales del desarrollo internacional, inversionistas y empresas internacionales por igual. A pesar de que el interés en estos temas de la igualdad de género ha ido creciendo significativamente, David Lozano, quien trabaja en México como Coordinador de servicios de asesoría financiera para Root Capital, ya había iniciado a dedicar su trabajo a esta problemática desde hace 20 años, analizando el impacto que las desigualdades de género tienen en las personas, en las familias y en las comunidades en general.

How Root Capital’s David Lozano is Redefining ‘Machismo’ in Mexico

Half the Sky. Gender-lens investing. HeforShe. Lean In. Over the last several years, women’s economic empowerment has become a prevalent theme among journalists, international development practitioners, investors, and global companies alike. While mainstream interest in these issues has only recently piqued, Chiapas-based David Lozano, Root Capital’s Financial Advisory Services Coordinator for Mexico, has spent the last 20 years exploring gender inequality and its impact on individuals, families, and communities throughout the country.

Learning from a Women’s Cooperative in Guatemala

Last week, Root Capital impact officer Asya Troychansky wrote about the transformative impact that Root Capital’s financial management training has had on ACMUV, an all-women microcredit and handcraft association in Guatemala. This week, Estuardo Fuentes Gutiérrez, our Guatemala-based impact liaison, shares a recent conversation with Margarita Chojolán, regional training coordinator in Central America, about how we adapted our typical training to better serve women– and what we learned in the process.