NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 28 /CSRwire/ – Root Capital, a nonprofit agricultural lender, today released a new issue brief detailing the financial benefits linked to conducting due diligence on the social and environmental practices of its borrowers. The release marks the first in the organization’s new Issue Brief Series. The series, supported by the Citi Foundation and The Skoll Foundation, aims to stimulate discussion about issues important to the fields of smallholder agricultural finance, small and growing business, and impact investing.

“Root Capital’s financing has transformed livelihoods for thousands of smallholder farm families in Latin America and Africa and encouraged them to serve as stewards of their natural resources,” said Sally Osberg, president and CEO of The Skoll Foundation. “The Skoll Foundation is supporting Root Capital’s new Issue Brief Series to glean best practices from their 15 years of experience using finance as a tool to generate sustainable markets and to engage other financial actors to reach even more smallholder farmers. Collaborating with social entrepreneurs like Root Capital gives us an opportunity to catalyze a financial market that will unlock prosperity for the world’s 450 million smallholders while sustaining the critical ecosystems they farm.”