25 Years of Biodiversity Impact Investing in Latin America, Empowering Communities with a Women-Run Fund | Tammy Newmark, EcoEnterprises Fund (#026)

SRI360 | Socially Responsible Investing, ESG, Impact Investing, Sustainable Investing

In this episode, I am speaking with Tammy Newmark, CEO and Managing Partner of EcoEnterprises Fund. Billed as ‘An Investment Fund for Nature’, EcoEnterprises Fund has pioneered investing in small businesses in Latin America that preserve the integrity of natural capital while contributing to local economies and biodiversity.

Originally an “East Coast Girl”, Tammy completed her undergraduate studies at Smith College in Massachusetts in the US. Following her studies, a desire to move to New York and her mother’s serendipitous cocktail party meet led to Tammy working at JP Morgan Chase, which was her first step into the world of finance. Tammy then went on to study for an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, before moving to Washington DC, where she worked for the International Finance Corporation.
Tammy has been a pioneer and a leader in the impact investing space for over thirty years, and in this episode we join her impact journey, starting at the IFC, moving on to a start-up venture fund, the Environmental Enterprises Assistance Fund, then to Technoserve and finally The Nature Conservancy, where the EcoEnterprises Fund was first launched by Tammy in 1998, before spinning off as an independent women-run investment manager in 2010.
In this episode, we discover more about EcoEnterprises Fund, their mission and why they focus solely on Latin America. We hear about their typical investor profile and what attracts them to natural capital. We discuss EcoEnterprises Fund’s investment process and the screens and due-diligence used when verifying investments and why they only invest in companies that have working partnerships with local communities, to ensure a vested interest among all stakeholders for the long-term sustainability of natural resources.
Tammy provides some real-life examples of companies that the EcoEnterprises Fund have invested in and how they have made an impact. We talk about potential problems with transparency in supply chain, impact washing, and of course, no episode would be complete without my rapid-fire questions.

I really enjoyed this insightful discussion with Tammy, and I hope you enjoy it too!
About the SRI 360° Podcast: The SRI 360° Podcast is focused exclusively on sustainable & responsible investing. In each episode, Scott Arnell interviews a world-class investor who is an accomplished practitioner from all asset classes. In my interviews, I cover everything from their early personal journeys—and what motivated and attracted them to commit their life energy to SRI—to insights on how they developed and executed their investment strategies and what challenges they face today.
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Chapters

1. Episode introduction. (00:00:00)

2. Tammy talks about her undergraduate studies in New England and studying for an MBA at Wharton Business School. (00:03:31)

3. We hear about Tammy’s early career, starting at the IFC in Washington DC following her MBA, to her jump to the Environmental Enterprises Assistance Fund, moving on to Technoserve and then the Nature Conservancy. (00:04:23)

4. How a desire to move to New York and a serendipitous cocktail party meeting led to Tammy working at JP Morgan Chase, following her undergraduate studies. (00:09:07)

5. Tammy gives us an overview of the EcoEnterprises Fund, ‘An Investment Fund for Nature’ and describes what her role as CEO entails. (00:13:23)

6. We hear the reasoning behind EcoEnterprises Fund’s focus on Latin America. (00:16:06)

7. We discuss why investors are attracted to natural capital as an asset class. (00:19:47)

8. Tammy provides a real-life example of how a company that EcoEnterprises has invested in, ‘Sambazon’, contributes to the preservation and conservation of the Amazon region. (00:22:04)

9. Tammy shares how, when selecting investments, they look for external certification regimes that add value to companies, (such as Fairtrade, for example), to ensure equitable value within the supply chain. (00:29:22)

10. We discuss the potential problems of a lack of transparency within supply chain and Tammy shares her opinion that more widespread certification and protocol is ensuring increased transparency and traceability of ingredients. (00:31:10)

11. Tammy shares EcoEnterprises Fund’s preferred investment structure and how they look for structured exit mechanisms to ensure they get their money out. (00:33:26)

12. We hear more about the type of investors that EcoEnterprises Fund attracts. (00:34:32)

13. We discuss EcoEnterprises Fund’s investment process and the screens and due-diligence process used when verifying investments. (00:35:53)

14. Tammy shares some real-life examples of the companies in their portfolio, describing how they have made an impact. (00:39:05)

15. We discuss why mainstream capital is overlooking the type of investments that EcoEnterprises Fund makes. (00:47:58)

16. We look at whether EcoEnterprises Fund’s investor profile has changed over time. (00:50:40)

17. Tammy tells us about the book she co-authored, ‘Portfolio for the Planet’, which EcoEnterprises published in 2011, based on lessons they learned from Fund I. (00:53:55)

18. We discuss the implications of large players like HSBC and BlackRock coming into the natural capital space and to what extent impact washing exists in this space. (00:57:25)

19. The single most important challenge in the VC sustainable investment space. (01:03:02)

20. What Tammy knows now about sustainable investing that she wishes she’d known when she set up the EcoEnterprises Fund in 1998. (01:05:59)

21. Tammy gives her advice on how to break into the VC sustainable investment space. (01:10:44)

22. We discuss the almost all female investment team at EcoEnterprises Fund and whether this is part of their USP. (01:14:25)

23. Tammy tells us about the 2X Challenge and their involvement in this initiative to invest in the world’s women. (01:16:50)