Root Capital invests in the growth of agricultural enterprises that support smallholder farmers. They seek out enterprises whose credit needs are too big for micro-finance and too small or risky for commercial banks. They provide loans ranging from $200,000 to $2 million specially tailored to harvest and sales cycles. To help businesses grow over the long-term, they also provide highly-customized training to strengthen their financial management, governance, and agronomic capacity.
With growth, these businesses become engines of impact that can raise incomes and create jobs, empower women and young people, sustain peace, and preserve vulnerable ecosystems.
Why We Partner
In order to address some of the world’s most fundamental challenges—-feeding the future, preserving the planet, and securing peace-—we need to focus on 2.5 billion people. That’s the number who are dependent on small-scale farming for their livelihoods. Many of them are feeding the rest of the world, yet they are not getting enough to eat. Many live hundreds of miles from accessible markets, without the roads to reach them.
Root Capital not only helps finance these farmers, but provides agronomic and business advisory services specifically tailored to help them with the threats from a changing climate.
We love Root Capital’s blended model of investments and grants. We believe that the smartest route to prosperity is to work with the economy, and want to supporting capital engines that make the world a better place. Our initial funding directly supports climate advisory services for farmers and we have expanded into general operation and capacity building support.
Impact
Smallholder farmers are already experiencing the devastation from a changing climate. They are increasingly at the mercy of extreme temperature, unpredictable rainfall, crop diseases, and changing growing conditions. Root Capital is working with agricultural enterprises to scale climate action in rural communities by helping farmers understand and address their specific climate risks.
Our grant gives farmers the technical assistance they need to thrive in their changing climate.
Updates (2022-2023)
Shockwave, in collaboration with another funder, has provided $200,000 additional capital to Root to support farmers in Nicaragua with climate-smart advisory services and digital business intelligence. Coffee Is Nicaragua’s largest export and comprises more than 20% of their agriculture GDP. Without major changes, few areas of the country will be viable for coffee growing in 15-20 years. Investing in digital infrastructure provides data as a tool to build resilience and is a key to enabling inclusive livelihoods across the country.