Dane Buy Local Member Directory » Finance, Insurance & Real Estate » Envest Microfinance Cooperative

Envest provides capital to people in developing countries who normally do not have access through traditional lending institutions. Envest provides the opportunity to support both poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability and provide capital to folks working their way out of poverty. This capital is provided to microfinance institutions that lend to the disadvantaged. This not only helps those who need capital but it strengthens local financial institutions so that solutions to poverty are developed and administered by local professionals.

You may wonder how investing in a fund that offers loans through microfinance organizations in Nicaragua or another country in the developing world can represent "buying local."  The truth is, Envest is local.  We are inspired by Madisonians, have learned our business here, count on you...and hope you see the connections between supporting locally-owned businesses wherever they are.  Our guiding principle, The Natural Step, is all about the interrelationships among resource use, sustainability, social justice, equity and understanding the consequences of purchasing and investment decisions. Envest is a way to support people and projects you care about, with returns that extend far beyond the financial.

After managing two international community investment funds, the founder of Envest decided to create a specialized approach to social entrepreneurship: a fund that focuses on sustainability and environmental concerns as well as building capacity among the poor.  He learned the value of such approaches to community development first-hand in Central America, and shepherded investments from hundreds of good people into life-changing loans worldwide. Envest began as an idea in December, 2005.  Today we work in 5 countries with 11 microfinance institutions, and are hoping to increase both in the near future.