Gender-inclusive agriculture: Root Capital
Our direct impact investments in Root Capital, a nonprofit social investment fund, help deliver credit and financial training to food producers in Africa and Latin America that provide reliable economic opportunities to women.
Launched in 2012, the Women in Agriculture Initiative enables female producers in poor, environmentally vulnerable places to improve their production and incomes to invest in the food security and nutrition of their families, invest in their children’s health and education, and participate more actively in community decision-making. It also empowers female business leaders and employees to grow their careers and businesses through targeted investments and training.
Root Capital’s gender-lens investing focuses on industries that traditionally source from and employ large percentages of women. Its work to date has supported over 420,000 women who farm or gather wild-harvested crops such as shea nuts, women coffee producers who cultivate organic shade-grown coffee and sell fair trade beans, and women staple food farmers, including 65 entrepreneurs and 11,000 employees.