Sustainable coffee production requires both access to credit and the ability to manage finances. Unfortunately, affordable credit and education are not easy to come by in most coffee-growing communities. Root Capital is pioneering finance for grassroots businesses in rural areas of developing countries by providing capital, financial education, and market connections to small and growing businesses that build sustainable livelihoods and transform rural communities in poor, environmentally vulnerable places. By providing small-scale coffee farmers with affordable credit and financial education, Root Capital has been a key link in our supply chain for over eight years.

FY ’08 Highlights:

• We converted an outstanding $100,000 loan to Root Capital permanent working capital (thereby enabling them to attract more unrestricted capital as well).
• At the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in September 2008, we announced a five-year, $450,000 commitment to help expand Porvenir Financiero (PorFin), Root Capital’s financial education and training program for leaders of rural producer cooperatives. This grant, our largest to date at the time of its announcement, embodies our long-term commitment to coffee-growing communities.

Highlights from the PorFin program include:

• Delivery of 120 workshops with cooperative leaders throughout Latin America, covering topics such as internal credit management, financial management, training of trainers, business basics, financial operations, organizational management, and strategic planning, reaching over 13,000 coffee farmers.
• Certification of 45 trainers to provide financial literacy courses.
• Training of 55 producer organizations for training and assistance in developing action plans to implement improvements such as automated accounting systems, preparation and use of basic quarterly financial statements, and formal production planning.