To our friends - we thank you and wish you a very special holiday season.

 

 

 

 

Dear Friends of EcoEnterprises Fund,

Year-end 2004 marks the 5th anniversary for EcoEnterprises Fund.  We are celebrating our successes, assessing our lessons-learned, and continuing to transform our vision into reality.

We were launched as a cutting-edge initiative by an incredible group of investors, led by The Nature Conservancy and the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank.  One of the primary goals of the Fund was to overcome traditional barriers between the private and nonprofit sectors and to create credible collaborative partnerships.  Through risk capital and business advisory support, we are promoting community-based, commercially-viable economic activities that encourage the sustainable use of natural resources.  Our work provides a means to help protect and abate threats to biodiversity.

We have committed close to US$4 million to 17 small, pioneering businesses throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, leveraging over US$20 million for these projects.  Our portfolio companies have partnered with 82 community associations or NGOs, provided a steady source of income for producer groups in 11 communities, and touched the lives of over 60,000 people through direct employment, supplier relationships, training and technical assistance, and community outreach and development.

We are extremely proud of the impact these projects have had in the region.  

We are thankful for all of the support we have received along the way.  Most notably, we have been blessed with a distinguished and devoted Board of Directors that has consistently dedicated time and energy to achieving the Fund's mission.

On behalf of the Fund team, we wish you a joyous holiday season.  We look forward to sharing our journey with you in the years to come.

All my best,  

Tammy E. Newmark

President, EcoEnterprises Fund

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Recent Highlights...

• We have launched our social and environmental monitoring tool.  User-friendly and critical to monitoring our impact over time, we have begun applying the tool across the portfolio, starting with a sustainable agriculture project in Ecuador and our investee Loofah.  

• We continue to use our Global Environmental Facility grant to increase our technical assistance efforts, such as producing a biodiversity management plan for all projects in the portfolio.  In addition, we will expand our efforts with Marimex and its non-profit partner Observadores de las Americas in their work with the local fishing community to develop a comprehensive sanitation plan for the lagoon area.  The pristine lagoons of the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve are a World Heritage Site and a critical habitat for gray and humpback whales.    

• In September, we increased our commitment to Sambazon to underwrite the company’s growth.  Recently, Sambazon has received publicity after Dr. Nicholas Perricone appeared on the U.S. television show Oprah praising açaí as "one of the most nutritious and powerful foods in the world."  http://www.sambazon.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=57     

• We will soon close on three investments, all of which are compelling business models that have unique partnerships with the local community:

  Biocentinela is one of the first companies worldwide to produce and export organically certified saltwater shrimp.  The company will provide financial support and assistance to access medical facilities, fresh water, and basic education for over 2,000 people in two local communities near its farms in the Guayaquil Gulf of Ecuador.  Please visit the company’s website at www.biocentinela.com.

  A top supplier of reforested lumber, Southern Primavera reflects Costa Rica's strong commitment to conservation and reforestation.  The company works with Fundación de Desarrollo de la Cordillera Volcánica Central (FUNDECOR), a respected forestry management NGO in Costa Rica, which has a network of over 500 landowners who lack market for their timber.  Southern Primavera sources timber from this network, paying 50% more than regular market price, and from plantations of its affiliate company EcoAmerica. 

  Also located in Costa Rica , Los Nacientes is an organic coffee company that evolved from a producer association of 25 small farms in the San Ramon area.  The producer association now supplies product to the company for its domestic and export sales.  This investment is another example of the Fund providing harvest financing to support small producers of organically certified coffee.

• Please join us in congratulating Eugenia Villalobos, Investment Officer.  In November, she was inducted into the 2004 Class of Georgia Tech's Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni. 

•  Oksana Aguilar, Financial Monitoring Officer, presented at the World Resources Institute’s New Ventures Mexico Investor Forum.  These conferences, held regularly throughout Latin America, are the foremost venue in the region for entrepreneurs to showcase their sustainable businesses to potential investors and venture capitalists.  We are currently reviewing several interesting prospects from the Mexico forum, and will report on any developments in future updates.  

• Tammy Newmark, President, recently attended a workshop entitled Private Investment for Social Goals hosted by the World Economic Forum, Rockefeller Foundation, and International Finance Corporation.  The gathering, composed of international leaders in the “blended value capital market,” met to generate strategies for mainstreaming triple-bottom line investing.

• Follow the links to learn more about our other exciting projects and products of our portfolio companies!

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