Partnership Awards First Grants

The Equator Ventures collaboration between Verde Ventures and the United Nations Development Programme's Equator Initiative has awarded its first grants totaling $141,180 to four enterprises.

Equator Ventures is an innovative development and investment initiative capitalized by grants and loans from resources in the public and private sector. Its mission is to provide a “blended” offer of debt finance and enterprise development support to viable small- and medium-sized businesses. These enterprises must contribute to biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction in Equator Initiative and CI priority areas.

The four grants are:

• $67,180 to ecotourism company Wildlife Adventures in Mozambique to increase its direct involvement with the island’s community through employment, training, and partnership activities that will enhance the capacity in Ibo Island’s community to commit to and derive benefit from conservation-based tourism in the Quirimbas National Park.
• $30,000 to ForesTrade Guatemala to work with 1,061 small-scale coffee producers of Mayan Q’eqchi and Poqomchí origin who are members of two Verde Ventures client coffee cooperatives (Asociación de Producción Comunitaria de la Cuenca de Matanzas and Associación de Productores Orgánicos Para el Desarrollo Integral del Polochic) to build their business capacity and improve the company’s Biosphere Coffee Program in the Biosphere Reserve of Sierra de las Minas, Guatemala.
• $29,000 to Sociedad Koyam Limitada to strengthen the company’s financial operations in Chile along with the Pehuenche Indigenous People’s capacity to benefit from reforestation and repay respective loans successfully.
• $15,000 to Rainforest Exquisite Products in Bolivia to install a monitoring system based on global positioning system technology and allow for the sustainable collection of Brazil nuts by mapping 50,000 Brazil nut trees, as well as collecting information regarding harmful hunting activities and related wildlife counts.