NESsT announces today that Grzegorz Wach has been named NESsT Country Director of Poland, reflecting the impact investor’s expanding acceleration of social enterprises that create dignified jobs for individuals from excluded communities, including refugees, migrants, women, at-risk youth, the LGBTQIA+ community, and others facing systemic barriers to economic opportunity.
NESsT announces today that Ioana Samoil has been named NESsT Country Director of Romania, highlighting the impact investor's deepening focus on accelerating Romanian social enterprises that create dignified jobs for individuals from excluded communities, including refugees, migrants, women, at-risk youth, the LGBTQIA+ community, and others facing systemic barriers to economic opportunity.
In May 2025, we were delighted to host an in-person meeting in Olsztyn, Poland, bringing together NESsT portfolio enterprises, partners from IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, and members of the NESsT regional and global teams.
When structured effectively, blended finance can connect entrepreneurs who need support with investors who care about impact. To make this model easier to understand, NESsT has created an infographic that clearly shows how blended finance works in practice and highlights its role in the Amazon impact ecosystem. This visual tool breaks down complex financial ideas into simple language, making it valuable for entrepreneurs, policymakers, partners, and anyone interested in advancing the Amazon bioeconomy through innovative financing.
NESsT announces today that it has joined the Sustainable Connections Institute (Conexsus), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in AmazonBeEco, an unprecedented four-year initiative to support the sociobioeconomy in the Pan-Amazon region.
85 million people in Latin America live with a disability, yet only 10-20% participate in the workforce. Four social enterprises in the NESsT - IKEA Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator are building inclusive workplaces across Latin America.
To connect women to decent employment in well-paid sectors, while helping employers to become more gender inclusive, NESsT partnered with portfolio company Mamo Pracuj to create Talenti - a job-searching platform tailored to the employment needs of women.
In Latin America, at least 430,000 tons of waste is produced daily, yet only two percent of total waste is recycled. Four social enterprises in the NESsT - IKEA Social Entrepreneurship Latin America Accelerator are reshaping unsustainable production and waste management patterns across Latin America. A circular economy model that reduces waste allows the region to preserve its biodiversity by offering opportunities to create regenerative value from its abundant natural resources.
In Latin America, while the participation of women in the labor market increased in recent years, women are still overrepresented in low-income or non-remunerated household work. Two social enterprises in the NESsT - IKEA Social Entrepreneurship Latin America Accelerator run training programs designed to help women land salaried employment, freelancing opportunities, and micro-entrepreneurship -- the choice is theirs!
Como primeiros investidores de impacto, temos a responsabilidade de ser mais intencionais em nossos investimentos e reconhecer como a inclusão de gênero cria a abordagem abrangente que é necessária dada a urgência destas questões. NESsT esforça-se para alcançar a igualdade de gênero dentro de suas operações internas e incentiva as empresas de sua carteira a lutar pela paridade de gênero dentro de suas operações.
Como um financiador de impacto, consideramos nossa assistência comercial como tendo tanto impacto sobre esses negócios quanto sobre nosso capital. Até este verão, NESsT's Business Assistance Facility terá fornecido serviços de consultoria a 20 empresas na América do Sul. Nossos serviços se concentram em duas áreas principais: gestão financeira e medição do impacto social.
As mulheres são fundamentais para aliviar a pobreza em países emergentes e de baixa renda. NESsTAs atuais empresas do portfólio da KPMG são 51% de propriedade de mulheres e 44% das equipes de gerenciamento sênior são compostas por mulheres. Ao trazer uma lente de gênero para seus negócios, as empresas baseadas na comunidade têm um desempenho mais eficiente e eficaz e são capazes de alcançar um impacto maior.
