Truvalu

🌎 COP16 Outcomes: A Step forward in biodiversity protection 🌱   The #COP16 on Biodiversity held in Cali, #Colombia, concluded with significant achievements, reinforcing the global commitment to biodiversity protection. These outcomes also highlight essential challenges for impact investment companies like Truvalu, which, alongside other business ecosystem actors, are focusing on innovative models to channel investments into ventures that promote sustainable economic growth. These efforts aim to ensure equitable benefits from the global biodiversity resources, supporting fair gains for provider nations. 💰 Financing and Inclusion of indigenous and local communities   Agreements were reached to establish a more transparent and effective financial structure, enabling the flow of resources into biodiversity actions. Indigenous and local communities were also recognized as "guardians of nature," given both a voice and a leading role in conservation decisions. This strengthens their standing and empowerment at the forefront of biodiversity defense. COP16’s achievements pave the way for:   - Investment in clean and renewable technologies   - Development of sustainable and circular industries   - Protection and restoration of critical ecosystems   - Green economy growth and sustainable employment  🤝 Connections and partnerships for biodiversity   These were two active weeks filled with forums, discussions, and a Green Zone where we exchanged ideas on mobilizing sustainability investments. We also supported companies supported in projects like Rural Paz and Rutas PDETs, showcasing their potential to the visitors: @Ruta del Chocolate, INZUNAI GIFTS OF NATURE, @ChocoAmazonic, among others.  Finally, we connected with stakeholders interested in exploring joint future projects, such as the Secretariat of Economic Development and Competitiveness of the Government of Valle del Cauca, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, PROCOLOMBIA, WWF Colombia, Impact Finance, Unión Europea en Colombia, Invest Pacific, Rainforest Alliance, and more. Implementing these initiatives will bring us closer to 2030 targets, fostering a lasting impact on our ecosystems’ balance. COP16 inspired us to continue striving for a prosperous, sustainable future. Join us on this journey towards a greener future! Javier Pinzon Reinaldo Pinto dos Santos Andrés Jiménez Villegas #Biodiversidad #DesarrolloSostenible #InversiónDeImpacto #OportunidadesFuturas #FondoEuropeoParaLaPaz #RutasPDET #UnionEuropeaenColombia #MinisterioDeIndustriaYComercio #ImpactFinance #Trulab #WWFColombia #CIAT #ICCOConexion #RedAdelco #RainforestAlliance #CorpoCampo #SecretariaDesarrolloEconomicoyCompetitividad #ClimateAction #SystemicChange #Impactinvesting #Impactfinance

🌍 World Food Day 2024 🌱 On #WorldFoodDay, our colleague Machteld Ooijens had the pleasure of joining the #NetherlandsFoodPartnership (NFP) event, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security, and Nature. Over 400 global experts came together to discuss the urgent need for food system transformation in the face of a rapidly changing world. It turned out to be a great opportunity to see several old colleagues and acquaintances, and to attend interesting sessions. 💡In a workshop on "Unlocking Finance to Drive Sustainable Food System Change", moderated by Suzanne van Tilburg (Rabo Partnerships), insightful contributions from Herman Brouwer and Bart van Kranenburg highlighted the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration and system change (bringing back good memories on work done on the programmatic approach with WUR a decade ago!). The importance of long-term partnerships was underscored to make it possible to tackle complex challenges. Very recognizable for us as impact investor in emerging economies.  Raymond Beimers shed light on the role of Invest International. We also heard inspiring stories from two entrepreneurs, showing how finance can help bridge critical gaps and drive real innovation. 💡During the NFP-event there was also a valuable meet-up for mentors of the Young Expert Programme (#YEP). We are very happy to work with a YEPer, Edward M., who is doing fantastic work at our Kenya office as part of #Batch31. It was a good opportunity to meet other mentors and their organisations to exchange some experiences and ideas. A big thank you to the Netherlands Food Partnership, for an excellent organization of this event, Lisette van Benthum and Babette Bodlaender for organizing the workshop and to YEP for a good informative session! NWP (Netherlands Water Partnership), Netherlands Food Partnership, Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) | Partner in Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken).

#ChildLabourEndsHere “Work: No Child’s Business Alliance” (Save the Children Netherlands, UNICEF Netherlands and the Stop Child Labour Coalition) organized an interesting multi-stakeholder symposium in The Hague: “Child labour in supply chains and producing countries: working together for a sustainable solution”. It was moderated by Ama van Dantzig. As an impact investor, Truvalu operates on the principle of respect for human rights. In our investment process, we assess companies on their working conditions and aim to create impact on SDG 8, including SDG 8.7, a world free of forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour. Machteld Ooijens (director of Truvalu) attended this event to meet other stakeholders (NGOs, government, other businesses, academics) and to learn how forces can be joined to combat the global challenge of still a 160 million children worldwide being put to work! With almost half of them in a worst form of child labour!! The “Work: No Child’s Business Coalition” shared inspiring examples from Vietnam, Ivory Coast and India on how to accelerate progress with a combined supply chain and area-based approach, towards achieving its two main goals: children and youth free from child labour and enjoying their rights to quality education and (future) decent work). A panel (under great facilitation of Manon Wolfkamp) discussed how #EUCSDDD can boost efforts to end child labour and how much effective stakeholder dialogue between civil society organisations and companies in high-risk sectors is needed. Thanks to the organizers for keeping the prevention of child labour high on the agenda and to create a space where stakeholders could meet! And let’s (continue to) work together and end child labour worldwide! #BusinessandHumanRights #UNICEF #SavetheChildrenNederland #Kinderpostzegels #Hivos

Last but not least, what was the GirlsTakeOver Day like in our Global office in The Netherlands🇳🇱? In The Netherlands, Roselinde Verboom (20) took over the Director’s roles of Jaap-Jan Verboom and Anne Sytske Verboom (23) of Machteld Ooijens. During the day, they had various international online calls with Truvalu’s country offices, as well as with Dr. Starlin F. who shared her journey as female co-founder of the Kenyan company Ecodudu, and with Walter aan de Wiel, who is the CEO of Sevi (a company active in Kenya, enabling corporate and MSME buyers and sellers to quickly and conveniently buy stock on credit and by doing so creating impact for many women clients). Both young directors concluded that despite the differences between the four countries, many challenges and needs for girls and young women are comparable. AnneSytske and Roselinde emphasized the importance of promoting women in leadership, creating networks where women can meet and the relevance of investing with a gender lens. ”Investing in women is good for families, communities, and economies and is a business case in terms of inclusive economic growth and human capital.” Truvalu believes that investing in women isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s also a smart thing. We were honored to be part of this incredible #GirlsTakeover2024, supporting girls and young women in pursuing their dreams! Plan International Nederland #PlanInternationalNL #Wereldmeisjesdag #UNGlobalCompact #GirlsInLeadership #BreakingBarriers #IDG2024 #EmpoweringGirls #FutureLeaders #GirlTakeover #IDG2024 #DayOfTheGirl #UnitingBusiness #FinancialInclusion #SDG5 #GirlsLead

What did the Girls Taking Over Truvalu look like? Let’s go to Kenya🇰🇪 Ms. Janet Dete (22) was selected by Plan International Kenya and took over from our MD Peter Owaga. Janet is a young green entrepreneur from Mathare community, founder and CEO of Queening Afrika, a social enterprise transforming lives and protecting girls (https://lnkd.in/ej9pGxgq). During the GirlsTakeOver, she chaired a team meeting in Nairobi and exchanged ideas with the girl-directors in global office In an online call. “Looking at a business proposal through the eyes of an investor has been very insightful", she said. She likes Truvalu’s approach: closing the finance gap by providing equitable access to capital for companies, paying special attention to SMEs that are gender focused, creating jobs for (young) men and women, and promoting inclusive and environmentally friendly growth. It was a joy to work with Janet! #PlanInternationalKenya #GirlsInLeadership #BreakingBarriers #IDG2024 #EmpoweringGirls #FutureLeaders #GirlTakeover #IDG2024 #DayOfTheGirl #UnitingBusiness #FinancialInclusion #SDG5

What did the “GirlsTakeOver look like in our Latin American office? Let’s go to Colombia🇨🇴 Truvalu Colombia was taken over by MARIA JOSE MURILLO MURILLO. She took the seat of our MD Andrés Jiménez Villegas. In her call with the Netherlands office, she highlighted the need for a change in mindset in Colombian society to address the still existing barriers for (young) women. She recommended to facilitate connections between female entrepreneurs (as role models) and young girls. Maria met with Truvalu partner Trulab to explore the generation of more impact at the level of our investees, their value chains, and communities. She closed the day by visiting one of Truvalu’s investee companies in Cali (Kiero Coco) which was very insightful. She ended the day by advocating with lots of passion: “Let's continue paving the way for more women in leadership positions!”  #LiderazgoFemenino #ImpactoSocial #GirlsInLeadership #BreakingBarriers #IDG2024 #EmpoweringGirls #FutureLeaders #GirlTakeover #IDG2024 #DayOfTheGirl #UnitingBusiness #FinancialInclusion #SDG5 #KieroCoco #Trulab

What did the Girls Taking Over Truvalu look like? Let’s start with Truvalu Bangladesh 🇧🇩 The Truvalu office in Bangladesh proudly joined hands with Plan International Bangladesh to celebrate the International Day of the Girl. The 18-year-old Priyanka took over the role of Managing Director Ms.Sharawwat Islam. Priyanka, an aspiring singer and future entrepreneur, stepped into the shoes of our MD, gaining valuable insights into leadership and decision-making. From meetings at the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh to connecting with our global team, Priyanka demonstrated the power and potential of young women when given the chance to lead.💪🏾✨ At the end of her visit, she felt very motivated: “I want to become a successful entrepreneur, so that I can help children in need; those who couldn’t fulfill their dreams due to financial constraints, like I couldn’t fulfill mine,” says Priyanka. #PlanInternationalBangladesh #TruvaluBangladesh #SwissinBD #GirlsInLeadership #BreakingBarriers #IDG2024 #EmpoweringGirls #FutureLeaders #GirlTakeover #IDG2024 #DayOfTheGirl #UnitingBusiness #FinancialInclusion #SDG5 

International Day of the Girl: a TakeOver in four Truvalu offices! Every year, to celebrate 🌎👩🏾👩🏼International Day of the Girl (Oct. 11) 👱🏻♀️🌎 , GirlsTakeOvers give girls and young women all over the world the opportunity to step into the roles of senior business leaders for a day. We are proud to support this inspiring initiative of Plan International to give young women the platform they deserve. 5 young women took over the global management of Truvalu. An amazing and inspiring day for all of us! Please follow our next post on LinkedIn to see what the TakeOvers looked like and watch this short impression! Truvalu believes that investing in women isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s also the smart thing. We are committed to keep investing with a gender lens and supporting gender focused entrepreneurs! We were honored to be part of this incredible #GirlsTakeover2024, supporting girls and young women in pursuing their dreams! Let’s honor the voices, talents and dreams of girls and young women everywhere! #GirlsInLeadership #BreakingBarriers #IDG2024 #EmpoweringGirls #FutureLeaders #GirlTakeover #IDG2024 #DayOfTheGirl #UnitingBusiness #FinancialInclusion #SDG5 #SwissinBD Plan International Nederland UN Global Compact Network Netherlands #PlanInternationalNL #Wereldmeisjesdag #UNGlobalCompact 

We are excited to announce the 🌟launch of OneTrueSOL🌟- a groundbreaking collaboration between OneTrueValue (One to Watch & Truvalu) & SOLshare for powering a new era of energy solutions for Bangladesh’s commercial and industrial sectors. OneTrueSOL aims to decarbonize the fashion supply chain by working with companies and brands to reduce their GHG emissions through reliable, timely and profitable solar solutions. We express our sincere gratitude to the Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE) for providing us with an opportunity to make a public launch at the Bangladesh Climate Action Forum and to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh for providing us a booth to showcase promotional materials for OneTrueSOL and the Access to Green Financing (A2GF) for Enterprises programme to interested participants. Do reach out and join us to decarbonize the fashion industry!🌍💡 Sebastian Groh Willem Grimminck Sharawwat Islam, CFA #OneTrueSOL #OneTrueValue #SOLshare #Truvalu #TruvaluBangladesh #OnetoWatch #Decarbonization #ClimateAction #SustainableFuture #BangladeshClimateActionForum2024 #BangladeshApparelExchange #BangladeshNetherlandsPartnership #GreenFinancing #A2GF

💡A partnership for women economic empowerment💡 At Truvalu, we are passionate about empowering SMEs, with a special focus on supporting women-led and gender focused businesses. We’re thrilled to have been part of the momentous partnership between CBI - Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries and SBM Bank Kenya The CBI WEE Project is set to reach and engage women entrepreneurs at all stages of their journey, equipping them with tools for export success. From raising awareness to providing training and mentorship, this project promises to open new doors for women in business. Here is to a more inclusive future for women SMEs! Private Equity Support Limited Diana Gichaga Tim Spaans Judith Arends Peter Owaga