INTERVIEW: Founded in the 1990s to support emerging civil society in eastern Europe, NESsT remains focused on helping high-impact organisations to grow and avoid grant dependency. We find out how the investor is going one step further to track its own impact – and how a new fund hopes to challenge LGBTQIA+ discrimination.

The two separate partnerships will study local, NESsT-backed enterprises to inform policy recommendations and drive more meaningful impact in the region

In the summer of 2021, Penn International Impact Consulting (PIIC), a pro-bono, student-run consulting club from the University of Pennsylvania, began a year long-partnership with NESsT Amazonia, offering business consulting services to two social enterprises in NESsT Amazonia’s portfolio that produce native Amazonian seeds — ASCAMPA (Associação Comunitária Agrícola do Rio Urupadi) and ASSOAB (Associação dos Agropecuários de Beruri).

Every two years, NESsT gathers qualitative data through in-person Dignified Employment surveys — these interviews provide rich insights into the quality of jobs created by its portfolio. In 2021, we surveyed around 10% of the total population impacted by our portfolio enterprises – 388 individuals who live across six countries, including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Poland, and Romania.

Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Impact investments are made in both emerging and developed markets and target a range of returns from below market to market rate, depending on the investors’ strategic goals.

NESsT and R20 Green Fund for Women (R20-GFW) joined forces to support the development of the bioeconomy and to improve women’s social and financial inclusion in the Andes-Amazon region. By bringing gender-smart financial resources directly to local business solutions that hire women and sustainably extract and process resources native to the Amazon, the partnership seeks to chart a climate-safe future for the world while ensuring the economic empowerment and equitable growth of local indigenous communities.

The partnership between Agrosolidaria and Natura sheds light on a new model for corporate responsibility and demonstrates how local and global corporations can play an active role in guaranteeing the quality of their supplies but also conserving the environment and supporting the communities of their suppliers.