Our Approach
Root Capital partners with agricultural enterprises so that their success can foster more prosperous, inclusive, and resilient rural communities.
Root Capital Founder and CEO, Willy Foote, discusses Root Capital’s approach at TEDxBOSTON.
We'll only get there together.
Root Capital is reimagining resilience. We believe that resilience is not the sole responsibility of the most vulnerable—who already must strive to overcome histories of marginalization, neglect, and systemic poverty—but a dynamic and collective project calling upon the perspectives, talents, and resources of all of us.
The next few years can be a turning point if we work together to invest in proven solutions. With the right support, agriculture enterprises can be engines of impact.
Caption: Root Capital staff connect with members of Cooperativa Alonso de Alvarado in Peru.
Our Pathways to Progress
With the right support, agricultural enterprises can act as engines of impact for their local communities—raising incomes, creating jobs, uplifting women and young people, preserving vulnerable ecosystems, and building rural prosperity. Our services are designed across four impact pathways essential for bolstering rural resilience:
Where we work
We provide stability in a volatile environment.
As an impact-first investor, we operate in countries experiencing climate shocks, economic instability, and political turmoil, and in markets with extreme fluctuations, like coffee, cocoa, and tree nuts. Our steadfast approach and enhanced risk appetite offer a stable partner to our clients in an otherwise tumultuous setting.
Across Africa, smallholder farmers grow coffee, cocoa, macadamia nuts, and sorghum that powers the economy, as well as local food crops to feed the growing population. These farmers depend on agricultural businesses to help them access domestic and international markets.
Sumatra is home to some of the highest-quality coffee in the world, grown by thousands of smallholder farmers. These farmers work with cooperatives and social enterprises to process their goods and ensure they’re earning a fair price on the international market.
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 producer organizations 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 consequences of climate change.
In the Andes, the landscape is dotted with smallholder farmers making their livelihoods by growing coffee or cocoa. These farmers are members of cooperatives, associations, or social enterprises that allow them to fetch premium prices on the international market.
Measuring Our Impact
By measuring our impact, we unlock critical data that drives real decision making about where and how we deploy limited resources.
These metrics not only drive our strategy, but also inform our clients and influence a broader ecosystem of smallholder-focused service providers and value chain partners. As a result, we have amassed a significant data set and a growing body of evidence, carefully culled over more than two decades, which we proactively share with stakeholders and across our digital channels.
Caption: Maraba Cooperative employees and members in Rwanda sort coffee.