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

smallholder farmers

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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.