News
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Reflections on 2025, Looking Ahead to 2026 with ...

As NESsT enters a new year, NESsT CEO Chad Sachs reflects on the organization’s growth, the resilience of the social enterprises we support, and the collective impact made possible by NESsT’s extensive community of supporters.

Reflections on 2025, Looking Ahead to 2026 with NESsT's CEO Chad Sachs
Violet, Poland
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CoopTech Hub: Strengthening Communities through ...

By prioritizing privacy, autonomy, and collective governance, CoopTech Hub – an innovative tech cooperative that recently joined the NESsT Violet Fund – is supporting Polish organizations and communities to work together securely, transparently, and independently.

CoopTech Hub: Strengthening Communities through Accessible, Inclusive Technology
Amazonia, Brazil, Bioeconomy, Latin America
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From Territories to Global Decisions: ...

Indigenous Peoples remain largely underrepresented in global decision-making spaces — revealing a contradiction between their leading role in protecting nature and their absence from the forums where environmental and economic policies are defined. This exclusion is no coincidence: it reflects historical, linguistic, financial, and political barriers that limit the access of those who live in and protect the territories to the tables where the future of biodiversity and the economy is decided.

From Territories to Global Decisions: Communities at the Forefront of the Socio-Bioeconomy
Amazonia, Brazil, Colombia, Event, Latin America, Peru
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Heading to COP30: Strengthening the Voices and ...

Beginning next week, NESsT will participate in COP30 Brazil, in Belém, Pará — a historic conference that will place the Amazon at the center of global climate discussions and mark the largest Indigenous presence ever recorded in UN negotiations. We will be there alongside entrepreneurs from our Amazon portfolio, bringing experiences born in the territories and showing that the most effective climate solutions come from those who live in and protect the forest.

Heading to COP30: Strengthening the Voices and Solutions of Amazonian Territories
Violet Fund, Portfolio, Poland
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How 4 Starlings Is Scaling Its Business While ...

Small businesses often thrive on a friendly, family-like atmosphere. As they grow, maintaining that sense of closeness and shared purpose can become challenging. For 4 Starlings (4 Szpaki in Polish)—the first company in the NESsT Violet Fund portfolio—the solution lies in inclusion. By fostering a workplace where everyone’s voice is heard, 4 Starlings has managed to keep its authentic, connected culture even as the company expands.

How 4 Starlings Is Scaling Its Business While Staying True to Its Values
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Why financing for the Amazon matters to everyone: A conversation with NESsT's Cairo Bastos, Program Manager in Brazil

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Why financing for the Amazon matters to everyone: A conversation with NESsT's Cairo Bastos, Program Manager in Brazil

COP30, held in Brazil and hosted in the Amazon for the first time, marked a turning point in global discussions on climate and development. Against this backdrop, NESsT has been working more intentionally to bring local realities from the Amazon into global debates around access to financing. We spoke with Cairo Bastos, Program Manager at NESsT Brazil, about his key takeaways from Belém, what it takes in practice to build development models rooted in local territories, and why financing for the Amazon is a topic that concerns taxpayers and citizens more broadly.

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The Lirio Fund reinvests in organic cooperative COAS to ensure steady income for close to 600 smallholder producers in Junín, Peru

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The Lirio Fund reinvests in organic cooperative COAS to ensure steady income for close to 600 smallholder producers in Junín, Peru

Cooperativa Agraria Sonomoro del Vraem (COAS) joined the NESsT Lirio Fund in 2023 and has since received a revolving capital line of credit and a term loan to scale its cacao production, ensure steady income for its cacao producers, and strengthen its commitment to conserving local biodiversity. Based on the cooperative’s strong track record of sustainable operations in a volatile market, in 2025, NESsT renewed the cooperative’s revolving credit loan, ensuring it can continue to pay local producers for raw cacao while meeting the rising global demand for high-quality cacao. 

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Greenbox and Cuencas secure repeat investments from the NESsT Lirio Fund to continue strengthening rural livelihoods in Peru through sustainable agriculture

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Greenbox and Cuencas secure repeat investments from the NESsT Lirio Fund to continue strengthening rural livelihoods in Peru through sustainable agriculture

In 2025, the NESsT Lirio Fund extended repeat loans to Greenbox and Cuencas del Huallaga, reflecting our continued commitment to these enterprises’ business models and impact. Operating in regions where farming families have few income livelihood options and often turn to illicit crops and environment-damaging monocultures to generate quick income, these enterprises offer sustainable livelihood alternatives through sustainable, organic agriculture and meaningful technical assistance. 

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Why Mentorship Matters for Social Entrepreneurs: A Win-Win Relationship

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Why Mentorship Matters for Social Entrepreneurs: A Win-Win Relationship

In this interview, we speak with Mihai Cepoi, Chief Everything Officer, Jobful, and IKEA co-worker Rumen Mihaylov, Insights Capability Leader, Inter IKEA Group, whose exchange grew out of the NESsT - IKEA Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program in Central and Eastern Europe. What began as a structured mentoring relationship quickly evolved into a space for honest dialogue and shared learning.

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Rebuilding livelihoods through opportunity and belonging: Olena’s story with Women’s Entrepreneurship Foundation

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Rebuilding livelihoods through opportunity and belonging: Olena’s story with Women’s Entrepreneurship Foundation

Rebuilding a life in a new country often means navigating an unfamiliar job market, learning a new language, and living on limited resources while searching for a way to make income. After leaving Ukraine and arriving in Poland, Olena faced these challenges while trying to secure stability for her family. Through Women’s Entrepreneurship Foundation (WEF), she connected with several programs designed to support displaced women navigate these new systems and access clear pathways to quality jobs and entrepreneurship.

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The NESsT Lirio Fund Invests in Federación Campesina del Cauca, a Long-Standing Coffee Cooperative in Colombia

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The NESsT Lirio Fund Invests in Federación Campesina del Cauca, a Long-Standing Coffee Cooperative in Colombia

For over 50 years, FCC has worked to improve the livelihoods of small farmers in an area of Colombia greatly affected by armed violence. The NESsT Lirio Fund extends a revolving working capital line to this long-standing federation of coffee growers, complementing the strategic support it receives as part of the NESsT Acceleration Portfolio.

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From Territories to Global Decisions: Communities at the Forefront of the Socio-Bioeconomy

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From Territories to Global Decisions: Communities at the Forefront of the Socio-Bioeconomy

Indigenous Peoples remain largely underrepresented in global decision-making spaces — revealing a contradiction between their leading role in protecting nature and their absence from the forums where environmental and economic policies are defined. This exclusion is no coincidence: it reflects historical, linguistic, financial, and political barriers that limit the access of those who live in and protect the territories to the tables where the future of biodiversity and the economy is decided.