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

Latin America

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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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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.

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Heading to COP30: Strengthening the Voices and Solutions of Amazonian Territories

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Heading to COP30: Strengthening the Voices and Solutions of Amazonian Territories

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.

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Reflecting on the NESsT-IKEA Social Entrepreneurship 2025 Retreat

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Reflecting on the NESsT-IKEA Social Entrepreneurship 2025 Retreat

In May 2025, we were delighted to host an in-person meeting in Olsztyn, Poland, bringing together NESsT portfolio enterprises, partners from IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, and members of the NESsT regional and global teams.

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NESsT Joins Conexsus, IDB, and Green Climate Fund to Scale Enterprises from the Sociobioeconomy Across the Pan-Amazon Region

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NESsT Joins Conexsus, IDB, and Green Climate Fund to Scale Enterprises from the Sociobioeconomy Across the Pan-Amazon Region

NESsT announces today that it has joined the Sustainable Connections Institute (Conexsus), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in AmazonBeEco, an unprecedented four-year initiative to support the sociobioeconomy in the Pan-Amazon region.

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NESsT Announces Partnership with Sweden to Transform South America’s Green Value Chain

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NESsT Announces Partnership with Sweden to Transform South America’s Green Value Chain

Sweden joins as a donor to NESsT’s long-standing South America acceleration program, enabling the program to increase the number of enterprises it supports and to expand its efforts in Colombia, Peru, and into Brazil.

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Women’s Month Feature: NESsT portfolio entrepreneurs who are leading social change through business in South America and Central and Eastern Europe

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Women’s Month Feature: NESsT portfolio entrepreneurs who are leading social change through business in South America and Central and Eastern Europe

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we are spotlighting the stories of three women entrepreneurs at the helm of enterprises in the NESsT portfolio in Central & Eastern Europe and South America.

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How Streamlining Funding Application and Reporting Criteria can Improve Financing Accessibility for Grassroots Initiatives in the Amazon

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How Streamlining Funding Application and Reporting Criteria can Improve Financing Accessibility for Grassroots Initiatives in the Amazon

In this blog, we speak with bioeconomy entrepreneurs to better understand the challenges they face when applying for funding from multiple sources. Read it now to learn how complex application criteria and reporting demands impact their businesses and explore actionable recommendations for how the funding community can help ensure more equitable, inclusive access to financing.