From the Fund Manager - continued...

Over the past seven and a half years, we have invested $6.3 million in capital which spurred more than $75 million in follow-on financing.  Due to the determination, vision and tenacity of the project principals, we are pleased that partnerships with over 200 NGOs and community groups have been created, nearly 700 jobs have been generated, and 145,000 people have benefited.  Our leverage, scale, and impact have been impressive.  Check out our website for the full results.

Our focus in 2007 has been scaling-up our technical assistance to improve business performance and to help projects achieve conservation and social goals.  In this issue’s "Closer Look" segment, we highlight key efforts and underscore why this aspect of our work is critical to the success of our portfolio companies.  We thank The Nature Conservancy, Inter-American Development Bank, and International Finance Corporation/Global Environment Facility for providing us with the monies to support the services we feature.  

Recently, I heard someone describe our technical assistance work as “training wheels,” which reflects the important role that this aspect of our program plays for our projects.  By providing resources to project principals so that they ably avoid bumps in the road, stay balanced and accelerate toward success is our greatest contribution.  We continue to wish our companies smooth travels ahead and will do whatever we can to pave the way for them.

All my best,

Tammy E. Newmark

Fund Manager, EcoEnterprises Fund

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A Closer Look - continued...

Only recently, the need for technical assistance to complement investment activity has been identified by groups, such as The Investors' Circle of the Social Venture Network.  EcoEnterprises Fund has been a leader in showing that the combination is a winning formula.  As we have found, these monies help diminish risks which in turn encourages the growth of pioneering sustainable enterprises.

With each year, we have invested more time, energy, and funds on monitoring and technical work – to keep a watchful eye on the projects as they mature and to provide assistance to help navigate the inevitable growing pains.  Since the Fund’s inception, we have spent over $350,000 addressing specific company needs, helping projects design and reach ambitious conservation and social goals, covering legal fees, and enabling staff to roll up their sleeves to provide hands-on business advisory support. 

The International Finance Corporation/Global Environment Facility (IFC/GEF) grant has been instrumental in helping us cover the costs of our expanded technical role.  Increasingly, we are aiding projects which offer maximum biodiversity benefits and ensure our portfolio’s biodiversity benefits are preserved once we exit companies.  

We highlight three distinct projects below that demonstrate how our grant-based support has helped companies achieve their goals.  We hope to build on our efforts in the future as we continue to leverage our impact and strive for financial, social and conservation success.

Business Development:  Growing and Learning

When a Canadian customer expressed interest in purchasing organic vegetables in addition to organic cut flowers, Organic Blooming jumped at the opportunity.  Organic Blooming seeks to become the leading producer and exporter of organically certified calla lilies in Ecuador, and to sell other high-quality flowers and farm produce in the export and local market.  www.organiccallas.com

Having secured the demand for organic veggies, the company needed to generate the supply.  This is when the Fund entered in October 2006 to cover the costs of a consultant to advise on organic vegetable cultivation and the development of a new product line. 

The diversification fortifies Organic Blooming’s business base.  Currently, in addition to selling calla lilies, Organic Blooming grows and sells vegetables and two new species of flowers, alstroemerias and blue agapanthus.  Having earned organic certification for its calla lilies and vegetables, Organic Blooming is poised to achieve its ambitious goal of being a leader in the Ecuador export market.

Environmental:  Measuring Conservation Results

Rainforest Expeditions’ ecolodges are located in the buffer zone of Peru’s Tambopata-Candamo Reserve Zone, part of a biological corridor of global biodiversity importance.  www.perunature.com  Committed to being a responsible ecological steward, the company has endorsed a monitoring and evaluation plan which includes biodiversity management indicators and will define carrying capacity.   

The Fund, in conjunction with Conservation International’s Verde Ventures and Blackpool Zoo, is supporting this endeavor.  The monitoring plan follows the United Nations’ “State-Pressure-Response” framework, where the status of the ecosystem, threats to that status, and conservation responses are assessed over time.  In February 2007, the initial species-specific baseline was undertaken, identifying 138 bird species, 12 medium- and large-sized mammal species, 8 species of bats, and 16 species of dung beetles, among other species, in the 12,000 hectares of land and waterways that constitute the area of study.

Already a leader in the region for its commitment to high environmental standards, Rainforest Expeditions will use the information gathered from the study to help guide their operations to maximize protection of the region’s biodiversity.                                                                                                                                                                                                               ©Chris Kirkby

Social:  Community Training

Established in 2005, Terrafertil is one of the first dehydrated organic and conventional tropical fruits companies in Ecuador.  www.terra-fertil.com  With ISO 9001, organic and fair-trade certifications, the company is a leader in the field.  Terrafertil’s incredible growth arises from its ability to develop higher-margined and more sophisticated products for the local and export markets.  For instance, the company recently introduced “fresh ready to go” fruit salads for Supermaxi, the country’s largest supermarket chain.  Moreover, Terrafertil has targeted the potential of dried goldenberries for export as a complement to raisins and cranberries.  

Goldenberries are not grown organically in Ecuador nor in the quantities needed by the company.  For this reason, Terrafertil turned to the Fund to help support an initiative to train local farmers to become organic goldenberry suppliers.  A goldenberry specialist from Colombia, where the fruit is widely cultivated, will work with local communities near Terrafertil to plant and harvest goldenberries, allowing these farmers to generate additional income off their land.  Becoming an organic supplier to Terrafertil provides an alternative to the region’s main commercial activity, conventional flower production, which compromises the health of the community and the environment given the intense use of pesticides. 

Fund Highlights - continued...

Ø   Kudos to BioCentinela, one of the first companies worldwide to produce and export organically certified saltwater shrimp, for its press release in Seafood International Magazine in October 2006.  www.biocentinela.com