I believe that what Root Capital has done for the coffee growers of Tanzania can also be replicated in the Philippines (or most likely, there are already ongoing business models here of the same kind). Our government, in partnership with local and foreign social entrepreneurs, should take a serious look into this socio-economic development shift. It should give its strong support to this economically-empowering initiative. Helping marginalized communities is for the interest of everyone because economically-able citizens become even more responsible stakeholders who will do their best to keep their communities safe and secure for everybody. After all, who would want to destroy the peace and not enjoy the fruit of their labors?
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Meet Willy Foote. William Foote was an investment banker during the Latin American growth years of the early 1990s. After the peso was devalued in 1994, he spent two years in rural Mexico studying and writing about the financial crisis and its effects on rural people and the environment. He founded EcoLogic Finance (now Root Capital) to provide loans of between $25,000 and $500,000 to small and medium-sized enterprises working in sustainable agriculture and fisheries, wild-harvested products, certified wood and ecotourism. Since inception, Root Capital has made 550 loans valued at over $120 million to rural producers in Latin American, African and South Asian countries, with a 99 percent repayment rate. Its has also provided financial training to 55 grassroots businesses representing 27,000 small-scale producers.
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