Happy Holidays! Here is a quick summary of our newest deals approved by the Verde Ventures Investment Committee!
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About Us Verde Ventures provides support for small- and medium-sized businesses that contribute to healthy ecosystems and human well-being. Our investments deliver environmental, socioeconomic and financial benefits.
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We’ve added a new geography to our growing portfolio – Madagascar! We recently approved two new deals there in Cocoa / Chocolate and in Vanilla / Cashew nuts export, and a new coffee deal in Mexico!
GIE Sahanala is a hybrid, multipurpose company established in 2010 to provide alternative economic incomes to rural communities in two key conservation corridors in Madagascar. Sahanala principle products are conventional, organic or Fair Trade certified Vanilla and cashew nuts.
Sahanala provides important alternative income opportunities for rural populations in the priority Madagascar hotspot to sustainably utilize natural resources and realize economic returns from natural assets. Sahanala and Fanamby, an environmental nonprofit organization member of the GIE, work together to empower local communities to care for their natural habitat while enhancing their livelihood with additional revenue stream. Sahanala’s activities in 6 regions of Madagascar provide:
• disincentives to the local communities for clearing new land for hillside rice production
• support for the buffer-zone around the reserves and natural parks surrounding the villages
• corridors between several important protected areas
• a sustainable, non-extractive alternative source of income to local communities
GIE Sahanala directly employs 140 people. Of whom 80% are women, and 90% live in economically deprived rural areas of Madagascar. It directly impacts over 1,175 households.
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Operating in the regions adjacent to the Tsaratanana Nature Reserve in Northern Madagascar, Madécasse partners with local farmers to provide an economic justification for the provision of sustainably grown cocoa. In addition, as is evidenced by the firm’s intervention in Anjiabory, Madécasse is also committed to assisting farmers to move up the cocoa value chain by building local capacity to dry and store cocoa, reducing their vulnerability to product spoilage.
The cultivation of cocoa in this region of Madagascar contributes to a wide variety of ecosystem services, including: preventing erosion, promoting topsoil formation, preserving hydrological cycles, ensuring carbon sequestration, and providing buffer habitats and corridors for the region. This cultivation system also supports slope cover and forests acts as a buffer against cyclone damage including flooding and landslides. Preservation of the ecosystem in those regions is critical to provide the adequate climate for food crops to grow.
While Africa produces over 70% of the world’s cocoa, source countries typically receive less than 1% of the total supply chain value. Madécasse seeks to change this dynamic, not only by ensuring the farmers receive higher returns through increased capacity, but also by producing and packaging product in Madagascar for export, thus generating and securing jobs. While still an issue, unlike other sectors such as tourism, this supply chain is less influenced by country risk issues.
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Beneficio Custepec S.A. de C.V. is a family owned company that collects, processes, and commercializes the entire production of an aggregation of farms encompassing 3,379 ha. Due to their geographic location, the Beneficio Custepec farms serve as connectivity areas for the complex of biosphere reserves and terrestrial priority areas that contribute to the conservation of Sierra Madre de Chiapas. In addition, these coffee estates preserve remnants of intact forest in strategic sites and reforest buffer areas to contribute with watershed management and protection of water reservoirs that cross the farm. The company signed a 99 year conservation agreement, constituting the biggest private reserve in Mexico with an area of 1,181 ha. The production areas (1,136 hectares) are dedicated to produce shade-grown coffee, using native species to sustain healthy ecosystems, support greater biodiversity and demand less water and agricultural supplies.
The farm hires workers during different stages of the year, employing 150 permanent workers (9% women); and 1,034 temporal employees for the harvest season that spans December to April. Approximately 435 workers are Mexican (25% women); and 599 are foreign workers (34% women). Some of the main achievements in conservation efforts done by the company are:
• Private conservation agreement to protect 1,181 ha of forest. Further protected and reforested areas within the property also exist.
• Water consumption in the milling house process is only a 30% of the industry standard, becoming more efficient in the practice than traditional producers.
• Implementation of water treatment systems and monitoring to avoid watersheds pollution.
• Use of hydroelectric energy as main source for the farm operation.
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Verde Ventures invests in small- and medium sized businesses that are strategically placed to contribute to conserving Earth’s biologically richest and most threatened areas. Verde Ventures support has enabled our partners to help protect and restore more than 761,106 acres (308,009 hectares) of important lands. Verde Ventures business partners also employ more than 15,000 local people in 13 countries. The Verde Ventures business philosophy is based on our steadfast belief that economic opportunity and responsible stewardship of the Earth are at the core of successful conservation.
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Photo Credits: Sahanala, Madecasse, Beneficio Custepec
Header Photo:
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