GenEM Foundation

Simeulue is a beautiful and remote Indonesian island reliant on fisheries and farming for its livelihood. The island is in a fight to sustain the livelihoods of its farmers and fishermen and to avoid extractive solutions of deforestation and turning to big palm oil producers. In May, GenEM trustee Xing Hu visited Aluan, a producer of high quality coconut oil on the island of Simeulue. Aluan, as the largest buyer of coconuts on the island, is helping to maintain the livelihoods of farmers sustainably, through linkages to premium organic buyers across the world. The next phase in Aluan’s journey is to address the issue of aging coconut trees on the island. Did you know that coconut trees can produce 80-100kg of coconuts per year in their prime, but only 20-40kg per year as they age? At current prices, most coconut farmers will make less than half of Indonesia's minimum wage from their aging trees. Aluan is piloting programs to encourage farmers to replant coconut trees by providing up-front incentives, and prevent dramatic declines in coconut production on the island in the coming years. This will likely be a bumpy ride, but with significant livelihoods and environmental impacts in this valuable ecosystem. We at GenEM Foundation are proud to be a supporter of Aluan.

There's been a little buzz about UN Bee Day. To celebrate all things apiarian, we wanted to highlight GenEM's newest investee Swahili Honey and salute the work of pollinators and artisanal beekeepers in Tanzania's Southern Highlands, bringing honey and beeswax products to our tables

'How do we boost the incomes of micro-entrepreneurs in Africa?' is a critical question for tackling poverty. Grow Movement's work since 2009 has opened up a new pathway, now validated by a Randomised Control Trial in Uganda presented this week by Prof Pradeep Chintagunta at @chicagoboothschoolofbusiness. Coaching boosts the bottom line. A few video calls with a volunteer with a business background to talk through challenges and opportunities increases the earnings of micro-entrepreneurs by 27% on average. The magic seems to be in giving the confidence to pivot and prompting improvements in marketing. (The effect is strongest on untrained entrepreneurs, and women entrepreneurs do better paired with women coaches.) Not many low-cost livelihoods interventions at the base of the pyramid add $400 a month to revenue, $100 to profit, month in month out. How do we scale this one into more emerging markets and make mentoring mainstream?

The GenEM Foundation has had a busy February sourcing projects at global conventions in Nuremberg and Nairobi. At Biofach, goodies abounded at Europe’s largest organic trade fair, and dreams of export success, hindered by lack of funding, danced in the minds of small-scale producers in Emerging Markets. At Sankalp, Africa’s largest social investment shindig, we met a dynamic lineup of 20 game-changing social businesses with income uplift opportunities galore, courtesy of farm aggregation and cold chain rollout, the magic of “cow cupids” to boost livestock quality, premium sustainable fish, weedkillers in fungi form, eye-glasses for the world, pots of honey, and top-notch early care at the base of the pyramid. But here’s the kicker. Despite presenting golden opportunities, these companies continue to face dragon-sized hurdles: capital constraints among consumers and producers, and financial institutions with terms as thick as a phonebook and costs to match. We’re rolling up our sleeves to bridge the gap and channel concessionary capital to firms which can transform lives.

Fantastic to see our Project Reviewer, Paul B, fossicking for gold alongside artisanal miners in Kenya in a project supported by GenEM Foundation using blended finance to improve livelihoods. We hear the evening beers flowed almost as extensively as the gold.