By investing without discrimination based on gender, and cultivating female entrepreneurs and business talent, we work to end discrimination against women and girls and helps to bolster the role for women in economic life, creating avenues for women to assume central positions in their communities. Many of the portfolio companies also implement programs providing social services to women and children in the surrounding communities, supporting schools, medical care, improved nutrition, and financial literacy.

We identify, invest in, and nurture innovative, small- and medium-sized enterprises that foster the preservation and sustainable use of natural resources as well as the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services, offer employees a fair and safe working environment, and serve as important economic engines for surrounding communities and suppliers.

We channel capital into high-impact, nature-based enterprises operating in some of the most biodiverse and vulnerable regions in Latin America. We verify compliance with labor laws and International Labor Organization standards, and strongly encourage attaining internationally recognized industry, global production, and/or Fair Trade and organic certifications.

Our target sectors are all susceptible to the impacts from climate variability and increased weather extremes, and the rural communities our portfolio businesses serve are especially vulnerable. Our companies’ commitment to sustainability can be a positive force for change, with their innovative approaches helping to mitigate the effects of climate change through adaptative techniques, carbon sequestration or greater efficiencies in partnership with local peoples. Our companies offer sustainable livelihoods and foster resilience within their stakeholder communities.i

We work with companies that sustainably manage and promote the conservation of the oceans and marine resources that are vital to their operations as well as their local communities. Furthermore, by limiting or eliminating use of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals on land, which far too often contaminate surrounding areas, our portfolio companies are supporting the preservation of our waters and the vast biodiversity within them for future generations.

We select businesses that serve as stewards and advocates for the preservation and sustainable use of biologically-diverse ecosystems and ecosystem services throughout their operations and supply chains. Creating alternative income opportunities and livelihoods, we invest in portfolio companies which support suppliers and communities to participate in sustainable management, habitat protection and conservation efforts.