Root Capital
Bond
Social investment fund providing credit to rural businesses
Root Capital is a nonprofit social investment fund that grows rural prosperity in poor, environmentally vulnerable places in Africa and Latin America. We seek to maximize the positive social and environmental impact of our work through a three-pronged strategy: finance, advise, and catalyze. Our approach includes lending capital, delivering financial training, and strengthening market connections for small and growing agricultural businesses.
Since its founding in 1999, Root Capital has loaned more than $399 million to more than 463 grassroots businesses in 30 countries. Maintaining a 98% repayment rate from our borrowers and a 100% repayment rate to our investors, we have reached nearly 500,000 rural small-scale farmers and artisans. We seek to catalyze a new, thriving financial market serving agricultural businesses that generate long-term social, economic and environmental sustainability for small-scale farmers and their communities around the world.
Summary
Root Capital is a nonprofit social investment fund that grows rural prosperity in poor, environmentally vulnerable places in Africa and Latin America by lending capital, delivering financial training, and strengthening market connections for small and growing agricultural businesses (SGBs).
We accept both senior and subordinated debt investments. We on-lend these investments to rural SGBs that, in addition to providing stable incomes to their small-holder producers, also generate positive social and environmental benefits for their communities.
Social Impact
Providing capital to SGBs, especially those not reached by commercial lenders, we address market failures through an innovative lending model, applying value chain finance tools in new areas of the supply chain. Leveraging global market demand for sustainable products, we provide credit to SGBs that is secured against assignment of payment for their future sales to buyers in North America and Europe.
Over the past 10 years, we have been uniquely positioned to meet the needs of rural SGBs through:
- An effective lending model & systematized risk management system
- Regional office structure & streamlined loan evaluation system, enabling us to respond to clients efficiently
- Local field staff with experience working as managers of rural SGBs and who understand the markets in which we operate
