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.
On her ten mile walk from Henley to Reading, Claire Wilkinson, NESsT UK Board Member, reflects on the importance of supporting social enterprises to weather the adversity and inequalities brought on by the global challenge. She shares her insights on the transformative nature of social entrepreneurship in empowering disadvantaged communities and encourages donations to NESsT.
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!
As impact first investors, we have a responsibility to be more intentional in our investments and recognize how gender inclusion creates the comprehensive approach that is needed given the urgency of these issues. NESsT strives to achieve gender equality within its internal operations and encourages its portfolio companies to strive for gender parity within their operations.
Gender Lens Investing is an effective strategy to alleviate poverty and reduce gender inequality. Existing gendered inequalities such as lower labor force participation and lower wages, greater unpaid care responsibilities, limited access to resources and education contribute to a gendered poverty penalty that accounts for about 5 million more women living in extreme poverty across the world.
As an impact lender, we view our business assistance as having as much of an impact on these businesses as our capital. By this summer, NESsT’s Business Assistance Facility will have provided advisory services to 20 businesses in South America. Our services focus on two main areas: financial management and social impact measurement.
Claire Wilkinson has been newly appointed to the Board of NESsT UK. She’s walking the 184 miles of the Thames Path from the barrier east of Greenwich to the river’s source in Gloucestershire. While she walks, she’s going to consider social entrepreneurship and write a blog for us. She’s hoping to encourage donations to NESsT, to raise money for social enterprises generating dignified jobs for people most in need.
Latest post: 25 June 2019
