NESsT

📢 Now LIVE: 2023 NESsT Annual Report: nesst.org 👈 In 2023, the NESsT team and the enterprises we work with remained committed to our mission of serving communities and regions that have been marginalized or neglected, navigating markets and investing at the scale needed to drive change. ✨Within these overlooked spaces, we have consistently identified and catalyzed high-potential enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe and South America that are using the tools of business to address the greatest challenges of our time. ✨ In 2023 alone, NESsT has - accelerated and financed a portfolio of 66 enterprises - created or sustained more than 27,000 quality jobs in marginalized communities - improved the lives of over 345,000 people We are delighted to launch our 2023 Annual Report, which showcases the stories of resilience and courage behind these numbers. Through this report, we invite you to hear firsthand from those deeply involved and impacted and learn about what we have achieved together. Looking ahead, we are confident that by working in partnership with social entrepreneurs, local communities, funders, investors, and policymakers, we can ensure our ambitious global goals achieve deep and effective impact. Thank you for joining us. The NESsT team #NESsTAnnualReport #impactinvesting #socialentrepreneurship #venturephilanthropy

Last week, we were delighted to hold a portfolio gathering for the NESsT - IKEA Social Entrepreneurship South America Accelerator Program in Santiago, Chile together with IKEA Chile, Colombia, and Peru 👉🏽 The event brought together portfolio entrepreneurs and representatives from #NESsT, #IKEASocialEntrepreneurship, and IKEA to welcome the new enterprises joining the program in Chile and continue building pathways toward inclusive, sustainable jobs in the region. 🇨🇱 ✨ As part of the event, portfolio social entrepreneurs toured the IKEA Open Kennedy store in Santiago to gain insight into how business decisions are made in the retail industry and hear firsthand about IKEA’s sustainable solutions. Entrepreneurs also had the chance to meet with IKEA co-workers and mentors who will accompany them throughout the acceleration program with personalized business support, masterclasses, and mentoring. “In addition to deepening existing connections and fostering new ones, events like these also support the social entrepreneurs in our portfolio to build robust and diverse networks. These networks provide crucial support to portfolio enterprises both during their time with us and afterward,” shared Gonzalo San Martín, NESsT Portfolio Director. We welcomed social entrepreneurs from Alma de Panal, AGIL, Bendito Residuo, Cooperativa Rewe, Ecocitex, Lazarillo, Incluyeme.com, NG-Seeds, Próxima Servicios, Sociedad Meliñir (Wen Kimey), and Savia Mercado Justo Thanks to speakers and workshop leaders Pablo Valenzuela from Fundación Emprender and Pía Mckenzie. NESsT team: Gonzalo San Martín Cristopher Gómez Zapata Fabian Olivares Carola Delgado Ureta This week, our portfolio gathering in Colombia took place. Stay tuned for insights!

✨We're delighted to partner with #IKEASocialEntrepreneurship to support incredible organizations like Lazarillo! 〰 ✨¡Estamos orgullosos de colaborar con #IKEASocialEntrepreneurship para apoyar a organizaciones increíbles como Lazarillo! #impactinvesting #impactfunds #socialentrepreneurship #socialenterprises #empresasagrícolas #emprendimientosocial #inversióndeimpacto #empresassociales

📣 The NESsT Refugee Employment Initiative welcomes Posh Academy, a beauty training academy that trains and up-skills refugees and other marginalized groups who face social exclusion and barriers to quality work – such as at-risk women, ethnic minorities, young people, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. So far, over 150 students from marginalized communities – 80% of whom are women – have benefited from Posh Academy’s specialized courses, with some graduates opening their own small beauty businesses and renting space from the academy. 🫱🏾🫲 Over the next three years, the social enterprise will work with NESsT and #IKEASocialEntrepreneurship to reach more marginalized people in the region, including over 100 refugees and migrants and 20 local people from excluded communities, supporting them to gain formal beauty certifications and transform informal work into stable jobs and successful small enterprises. ✨ Welcome on board, Posh Academy! ✨ Swipe to read more about Posh Academy or visit this link: nesst.org/posh-academy Dumitru Jucov Ioana Samoil Grzegorz Wach Filip Wadowski

"For women in business, there’s so much talk about having 'imposter syndrome'. I would love to retire that word forever because I often think it’s a way of telling people, women especially, that if they don’t know everything, they don’t really belong." - Kirsten Dueck, NESsT CEO On the latest episode of Pioneers Post Good Leaders Podcast, NESsT CEO Kirsten Dueck shares her career journey from art history and ESG-driven philanthropy to impact investing, and talks about how overcoming imposter syndrome as a woman in leadership has been both "freeing and empowering." 🎧 Listen to the full episode to hear what keeps Kirsten up at night, why she believes in getting “granular” with impact measurement, and her commitment to going deep as well as broad in supporting entrepreneurs using the tools of business to address the great social challenges of our time: https://lnkd.in/gbJjRYZh #womeninleadership #womenleaders #impostersyndrome #impactinvesting #NESsT Kirsten Dueck Tim West

Recently for #WorldRefugeeDay, we read on LinkedIn Social Impact: “Refugees are an untapped yet highly skilled talent pool.” Below are quotes from the #IKEASocialEntrepreneurship blog "Inclusive and equitable recruitment: Unlocking the talent potential of refugees" that appeared for #WorldRefugeeDay last week, which are closely linked to this statement: 💬 “From our experience, employers look at hiring migrants or refugees or people with disabilities, or other vulnerable groups, as charity. This is not only patronising (which it is) but it also shows a lack of understanding of the potential of a professional to impact an organisation,” says Mihai Cepoi, founder and CEO at Jobful. “In my experience, people who have gone through struggles in different ways are a huge untapped definition of talent, of being super professional and impacting the organisation. We know that these are potentially spectacular talent.” ➡  Blog:  https://lnkd.in/gpY2-KaZ In this piece you can read more about this Romanian impact startup that is challenging the job market status-quo, bringing inclusive solutions that make life better for vulnerable communities and all professionals. 〰 Jobful is a part of NESsT’s Refugee Employment Initiative launched in 2022, in partnership with #IKEASocialEntrepreneurship and #CiscoFoundation. The initiative provides financing and business assistance to a cohort of impact-driven enterprises in Poland and Romania that offer refugees long-term employment support, including quality job opportunities, career training, and additional wraparound services (read more about the initiative at the link in the comments).

We are delighted to share that NESsT is extending its support for Indigenous-led enterprises in the Amazon. 🌳 🌿   🤝 With support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, NESsT will provide additional business and financial assistance to a group of IPLC-led enterprises that contribute to the #bioeconomy and conserve the environment. Our continued efforts in the region remain focused on amplifying the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in preserving biodiversity and fostering sustainable economic development through entrepreneurship. The initiative – also backed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) – will build upon NESsT’s work in the region to engage with key Indigenous organizations that have a deep understanding of the needs of local communities and are crucial to the growth of local businesses. ➡️ Find out more in our latest blog 🗞 :  https://lnkd.in/gRB4tB4x ➡️ Read more about the NESsT Amazonia Initiative here: nesst.org/nesst-amazonia #Amazon #bioeconomy #climatechange #localcommunities #indigenouscommunities Mauricio Verkooijen Ricardo Díaz Hart Juan Pablo Manrique Margarita Briceño Malaga Andrea Molestina M. Photos credits: Daniel Martínez, WWF Perú & Manglar TV, WWF Colombia

We recently welcomed nine new enterprises to the NESsT - IKEA Social Entrepreneurship South America Accelerator Program (read more 🔗 link in the comment ⬇ ). As part of the NESsT portfolio, social enterprises will gain access to a network of IKEA co-workers for long-term business assistance. Entrepreneurs will benefit from individual #coaching and #mentoring sessions to scale and grow their businesses, plus #masterclasses that provide in-depth lessons on a wide range of subjects to enhance their knowledge and skill sets. This support enables them to develop important soft skills and leadership abilities essential for business success 🚀 📊. 📺 Watch this video where Bernardita Correa Diaz, Sustainability Leader at IKEA Chile, Peru, and Colombia, welcomes our nine new enterprises in South America! 〰 NESsT’s partnership journey with #IKEASocialEntrepreneurship and IKEA began in 2021 with the launch of our accelerator program in Latin America, supporting 17 enterprises  🇧🇷 🇨🇱 🇨🇴 🇵🇪. Building on the success of this program, the partnership expanded to Europe in the same year to support enterprises in Poland 🇵🇱 and Romania 🇷🇴. In 2023, NESsT and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship extended their partnership in South America to invest in 22 additional high-potential social enterprises in Chile, Colombia, and Peru poised to create and maintain 2,500 formal, fairly compensated jobs while strengthening their environmental practices and sustaining the planet. #impactinvesting #acceleratorprogram #southamerica

🌱 Indigenous and local voices lead NESsT’s call to strengthen global funding to the Amazon bioeconomy. This week NESsT releases an extensive study and set of recommendations aimed at unlocking access to financial resources for Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in the Amazon.   Drawing on insights from more than 40 in-person interviews with smallholder farmers, community members, and leadership teams, the report outlines the financing and growth challenges of ten NESsT Amazonia enterprises and their impact on local communities, and identifies nine actionable recommendations to support impact-focused investors to improve the targeting, accessibility, efficacy, and efficiency of their investments. 💡The report also takes lessons learned from NESsT’s work accelerating 50 enterprises in the Amazon basin and examines opportunities for donors and investors to engage with and learn from IPLCs to foster a bioeconomy that strengthens local livelihoods and conserves the biodiverse environment. 💫 Thank you to everyone who contributed to the publication for their commitment to a thriving, sustainable, and inclusive Amazon bioeconomy with voices of IPLCs at its center. 💫 Access the full set of recommendations in English: https://lnkd.in/dWMEjhjz and in Portuguese: https://lnkd.in/d-XfdWQG -- 🌱 A visão dos povos indígenas e comunidades locais é a base do estudo realizado pela NESsT que defende um maior financiamento global para a  bioeconomia amazônica. A NESsT divulga um conjunto de recomendações destinadas a destravar o acesso a recursos por parte dos Povos Indígenas e comunidades locais (PICLs) que atuam na bioeconomia da Amazônia.   Com base nos aprendizados de mais de 40 entrevistas presenciais com pequenos coletores, agricultores, membros de comunidades e líderes de negócios, no Brazil, Colômbia e Peru, o relatório aborda os desafios de financiamento e de amadurecimento de dez negócios que integram a iniciativa NESsT Amazônia e seu impacto nas comunidades locais. O relatório oferece nove recomendações práticas aos investidores, com o objetivo de  facilitar o acesso ao financiamento para iniciativas locais e garantir que seus investimentos sejam mais eficientes, eficazes e efetivos. 💡O relatório também aproveita as lições aprendidas com o trabalho da NESsT acelerando 50 negócios na bacia amazônica e examina as oportunidades para doadores públicos e investidores privados se envolverem e aprenderem com os Povos Indígenas e comunidades locais (PICLs), a fim de promover uma bioeconomia resiliente que fortaleça os meios de subsistência locais e conserve o ambiente biodiverso. 💫 Obrigado a todos que contribuíram com a publicação por seu compromisso com uma bioeconomia amazônica próspera, sustentável e inclusiva, com as vozes dos PICLs no centro. 💫

This #WorldRefugeeDay, we’re sharing the story of Ludmila and Anatolyi who, together with their adult daughter, left their homes in search of safety and stability following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.  For Ludmila and Anatolyi, fleeing Ukraine meant leaving behind their jobs and livelihoods. Upon arrival in Romania, the family began their job search via Jobs for Ukraine – an employment platform created by Jobful for people affected by the war in Ukraine. 💬 “We knew that if we came to Romania, we wanted to find a job,” shares Ludmila. Shortly after, they both secured quality jobs at Box Elyte, where they have worked for the past two years. 💬 “Box Elyte is like a family. Sure, people come and go, but its foundation remains strong. Here, we work alongside a team of people we trust, which is essential,” says Anatolyi. Read their story here: https://lnkd.in/dnnAjTkT  〰   👉🏼 Box Elyte manufactures premium, eco-friendly cardboard chocolates and pastry boxes. The socially-impactful enterprise provides quality jobs to marginalized individuals, including migrants and refugees from Ukraine and Asia and local women from low-income families, at its production plant close to Timișoara. 👉🏼 Jobful is a Romania-based digital solutions agency that supports youth, refugees, and migrants to find quality jobs. More than 10,000 refugees have registered on its platform Jobs for Ukraine to access verified job opportunities in Europe and abroad. Both enterprises are part of the NESsT Refugee Employment Initiative launched in 2022 in partnership with IKEA Social Entrepreneurship and Cisco Foundation. The initiative provides financing and business assistance to a cohort of impact-driven enterprises in Poland and Romania that offer refugees long-term employment support, including quality job opportunities, career training, and additional wraparound services. Yves Pauwels Mihai Cepoi Diaconu Simona Dumitru Jucov Ioana Samoil Grzegorz Wach Filip Wadowski Tirza Voss Kim Humby Charu Adesnik #NESsTRefugeeEmploymentInitiative #CiscoFoundation #IKEASocialEntrepreneurship #impactinvesting #impactfunds #socialentrepreneurship #socialenterprises #employment #worldrefugeeweek #worldrefugeeday