South America | SDG Impact Stories

Problem

Historically, Colombia's traditional financial system has created more opportunities for agricultural companies located in urban versus rural areas. In Colombia, 6 out of 10 farmer families do not own the land they operate in. Many of them lack the knowledge, skills, and financial resources to develop and grow.

Solution

Agrapp is a web financing platform that connects investors with small and medium-sized rural projects to empower producers and develop the agricultural sector within the country and in Latin America. In addition to financial support, the company helps these farmers better structure, manage and operate their businesses.

Impact

To date, Agrapp has helped to finance over 80 small and medium-sized farmers through 400 investors. They reached 900k USD in investments for these communities, created 250 jobs, and increase farmers' income by up to 400%.

Unergy

Problem

Currently, a large part of the country's energy supply still depends on the consumption of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. Many people and businesses would be inclined to switch towards cleaner energies but they often have limited budgets and opportunities to invest in infrastructure.

Solution

Unergy strives to democratize solar energy and energy efficiency in Latin America, allowing people and companies to generate, consume and invest in clean energy. Through their digital platform, investees notably receive tips to track the energy production, reduce and monitor consumption for each of their electrical appliances.

Impact

As of today, Unergy avoided 315’000 kg of CO2 emissions. They installed over 6k solar panels and contributed to around 1.2 mio USD in solar projects financing In 2021, Unergy entered Forbes' list of the 100 best Colombian startups.

Sun Colombia

Problem

In Colombia, around 20 mio people don't have access to an internet connexion or water supply, and most of them are located in rural areas. The government notably helped to build around 100k solar home systems. However, they lack the operational technology and resources to maintain the use of Solar Home Systems (SHS).

Solution

SunCo embarked on a mission to make solar energy solutions conventional for everyone, including the most isolated rural communities. In collaboration with the government, SunCo has developed its own technology for photovoltaic irrigation, purification and desalination, autonomous telecommunications systems, solar farms, portable solar batteries, and more.

Impact

Since 2012, SunCO allowed over 54k students across 1k schools to have access to connected educational tools. They helped over 170k people gain access to clean energy, and have provided clean water to 5.4k people. SunCo is one of the most important suppliers of solar solutions in Latin America.

Paramo Snacks

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Problem

The Paramos refers to a variety of alpine tundra in South America, recognized as the world’s most diverse high-altitude ecosystem. It covers less than 3% of Colombia’s land, and yet holds 70% of the country's freshwater. The problem is, climate change and agriculture malpractices have led to significant deforestation, soil degradation, and pollution of freshwater sources, vital for millions of people in Colombia.

Solution

Paramo Snacks is dedicated to protecting the Colombian Paramo ecosystem through the development and commercialization of healthy and innovative plant-based snacks. They work hand in hand with small-scale farmers, ensuring direct purchasing at fair prices, and encouraging them to shift towards organic production.

Impact

2% of all sales are invested in reforestation and soil restoration programs. They have already planted over 35k native trees and expect to plant over 100k trees by 2023. Paramo Snacks has earned more than 8 awards, including Colombian Product of the year 2020

Impaakt

Interview

Problem

Efficiently monitoring and measuring businesses' overall impact on people and the planet is essential to accelerate change, but it’s complicated. Which metrics to use ? Should we rely on data from the companies themselves or do we make our own assessments? How do we avoid green washing and measure the real impact of a company ?

Solution

In 2018, Impaakt launched a peer-review platform to measure the true level of sustainability of major companies worldwide. Thanks to ratings and analyses made by the +20’000 certified community members, they’re building company scores with the goal to create the ultimate resource of objective, quality impact information for investors and consumers.

Impact

Since 2018, 40’000 people joined the Impaakt community. 400k ratings have been made covering the impact of over 1500 companies.

Fresh and Co

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Problem

In Chile, there are currently way too many intermediaries in the food supply chain, which is limiting revenues for small holder farmers, reducing the quality of the products, and increasing the price for the consumer. Currently, farmers only receive around 22% of the added value generated.

Solution

Fresh & Co is a digital fair trade marketplace based in Santiago, which directly connects small farmers and consumers. By directly sourcing the food from local producers, farmers earn more, the quality of products increases, and food loss as well as the consumption of single-use plastics decrease.

Impact

As of today, Fresh & Co has connected about 50 farmers with over 1.2k consumers and 60 Businesses. They contributed to raising small farmers' income by up to +40%, limiting food loss to 5% (usually 40%), and avoiding the production of 100k single-use plastic packaging.

Ecocitex

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Problem

The textile industry is one of the most polluting in the world. It accounts for 10% of CO2 emissions, 20% of the polluted water streams, and releases 500k tonnes of microfibres into the ocean every year. The social impacts of the industry are also devastating: precarious conditions for workers, indecent wages, child labor, and more.

Solution

Ecocitex sells 100% recycled textile products to more than 250 women-led businesses across Chile, with the mission to eradicate textile waste in the country. Ecocitex recycles used textiles into new materials, employing women and low-income communities in the process.

Impact

Each year, Ecocitex recycles between 60 to 70 tons of clothes, recirculating over 30’000 clothing items in the industry, and considerably reducing carbon emissions. The company regularly donates a significant portion of its recycled goods to vulnerable communities.

Gastromotiva

Problem

Today, in Brazil, with a population of 212 mio people, there are around 12 mio people without a job, and about 116 mio people suffering from food insecurity. While Brazil has made significant progress over the past 20 years, with covid, food security has become a major challenge once again.

Solution

Gastromotiva is striving to fight hunger, democratize sustainable culinary training, and support aspiring entrepreneurs in underprivileged areas of Brazil. Co-founded in 2006 by renowned chef and social entrepreneur David Hertz, the organization offers professional cooking training and mentorship to young people from low-income communities.

Impact

Gastromotiva has already trained over 6500 students, with 80% now employed or running their own businesses. Since March 2022, 2 mio meals have been distributed in 70 communities, thanks to 20 solidarity kitchens across 6 different cities. About 300 tonnes of food waste has been avoided.

Revolusolar