GIIN Investors' Council founding member Root Capital is profiled in this article on the New York Times Opinionator blog, which looks at solutions to social problems and why they work. Root Capital provides loans to agricultural cooperatives in developing countries. The products - including vanilla, coffee, nuts, and cocoa - are often sold with the familiar "fair trade" labeling in US and European stores.
From original story:
"We've all seen the ads for fair trade coffee with the beautiful photos of villagers hand picking coffee cherries in exotic regions around the globe. Fair trade is one of those ideas that's always in the air, but we don't often consider what it means. What does it really take to connect rural producers in the developing world with consumers in wealthy countries - so that everybody benefits?
"...What [Root Capital Founder Willy Foote] found was that the missing link between small producers in the developing world and middle-class consumers who like to buy their morning coffee at Starbucks is a special kind of banker. That's why, in 1999, Foote founded Root Capital, a not-for-profit organization that helps environmentally sustainable grassroots businesses gain access to capital, skills and markets...
"... Root Capital has lent $235 million to 305 rural businesses in 35 countries, with a 99 percent repayment rate, and it is poised to triple its annual lending by 2013. The businesses that Root Capital has financed - producers of such things as coffee, cocoa, nuts, cotton, fruit, timber and artisan goods - support 400,000 households, or well over a million people."