Ecoenterprises Partners III

About

Ecoenterprises Partners III (Ecoenterprises) is a women-owned and led fund that invests in women-owned and led afforestation, reforestation, aquaculture, ecotourism and sustainable agriculture and forest management businesses in Latin America. These investments actively contribute to the creation of sustainable livelihoods, sustainable use of natural resources, ecosystem preservation and climate risk mitigation

Approach and impact

Ecoenterprises engages with its portfolio companies to hire women at all levels and invest in their wellbeing, enhancing access to quality jobs while promoting sustainable forest and land management practices. The fund has committed to use at least 15 per cent of its capital, or four individual investments, to fund SMEs that are owned or led by women entrepreneurs. At the same time, the management team is confident that women employees can constitute 50 per cent of all jobs created and supported by the SMEs financed, as well as jobs along the supply chain.

So far, Ecoenterprises has completed the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Gap Analysis Tool, and will continue focusing on building its capacity to promote equal opportunities policies and practices through its portfolio companies. With EIB, FinDev Canada, and Dutch development bank FMO support, the fund manager is set to undertake a qualitative assessment of employment opportunities offered with a focus on women employees, tracking women in management roles across its portfolio of companies. About 83 per cent of senior investment professionals are women (well above the 2X Criteria threshold of 25 per cent in the financial sector), and where the two owner-principals are women.