Programs: Root Capital
Announced:
November 12, 2010
Category:
Providing Small & Growing Businesses with Access to Financing & Business Services
Fund Amount: $1,440,000 Grant & $600,000 Loan
In this video, learn more about the importance of access to financing
for one Root Capital loan recipient, coffee cooperative COOPCAB.
See more in the Root Capital Photo Gallery.
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund grant of $400,000 and program-related investment of $600,000 to Root Capital was awarded to provide loans for promising Haitian small and growing businesses, largely in rural agricultural areas. Following its success, the Fund awarded a second grant of $1,040,000 to Root Capital to continue providing financing and support for growing businesses in Haiti.
Using purchase orders as collateral, Root Capital links businesses to the financing, management skills training, and markets they need to build successful businesses.
Root Capital has made loans to a series of clients who, with access to financing, are thriving. Some of these businesses include
- COOPCAB, a Haitian coffee growers cooperative;
- HB Plant, a mango exporter;
- Tropical Trading, a mango and cacao export business;
- CariFresh, a mango distributor; and
- Metal Art, a handicrafts designer and exporter.
Program Update
The Coopération des Coopératives des Planteurs de Café de l’Arrondissement de Belle Anse (COOPCAB) received the first Haitian Root Capital loan of $150,000. The loan went towards supporting a cooperative of 4,000 Haitian coffee growers, and helped to jumpstart what was once a thriving coffee-export business.
According to Mr. Nelson, manager of COOPCAB, in a Wall Street Journal article:
I knew the coffee from Coopcab was one of the finest in the world but now I have the validation of that because I see the reaction of everyone," said Mr. Nelson speaking in French, through a translator.
And people are beginning to pay attention. La Colombe Torrefaction, a coffee roaster with cafes in New York and Philadelphia, is helping COOPCAB expand:
La Colombe is in the process of helping Coopcab get certification from the Rainforest Alliance, and it is helping the cooperative reach out to coffee brokers and wholesalers to encourage further trade.
COOPCAB has thus far been successful in setting up export deals around the world, and thousands of Haitians are now employed in this effort.
Click here to purchase Haitian coffee through La Colombe.
Why We Invested in Root Capital
Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's grant and PRI loan to Root Capital reflects our focus on long-term reconstruction and the creation of economic opportunity — especially in support of small and growing businesses.
Transforming Lives and Livelihoods
With support from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Root Capital will work to:
- Empower small and growing businesses to move toward a successful future, investing in equipment, meeting orders, and providing employment.
- Increase rural prosperity and build sustainable livelihoods in poor, environmentally vulnerable places by supporting small and growing businesses.
- Pave the way for the transition of Haitian businesses to the formal economy and for a long-term future marked by hope and prosperity rather than aid-dependency.
About Root Capital
Founded in 2000, Root Capital is a nonprofit social investment fund. It has disbursed loans totaling $368 million to small and growing businesses in Latin America and Africa.While Root Capital is heavily focused on sustainable agriculture, its portfolio also includes handicrafts, eco-tourism, and fisheries. Root Capital has a cumulative and superb-repayment rate of 98% from its borrowers. The record has earned Root Capital not only the recommendation of highly-regarded firms and institutions, including Dalberg Global Development Advisors and the Inter-American Development Bank, but also financial support, including grants and program related investments, from both the Bill and Melinda Gates and Rockefeller Foundations. Learn more at www.rootcapital.org.
