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What can a social enterprise that helps India’s smallholder dairy farmers earn more and lower their carbon emissions learn from a team of Swiss Re volunteers?
Human food systems are not only one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions but also the single biggest driver of biodiversity loss. Pollution, habitat degradation and overextraction of natural resources are pushing ecosystems past their limits. When species disappear and landscapes lose their natural functions, the systems that provide food, clean water and livelihoods to billions begin to break down.
Innovative enterprises have begun to address these challenges in the world’s most endangered ecosystems, protecting nature while improving lives. Once up and running, however, nature-based businesses often get stuck in the “missing middle”: too advanced for start-up incubators or short-term grants yet not mature enough to attract larger institutional investment. To help de-risk this stage of development, the Swiss Re Foundation not only makes grants directly to social entrepreneurs but increasingly works with partners that provide innovative forms of support, such as risk-pooling or outcome-linked financing. One such partner, Terratai, provides tailored resources, expertise and investment that enable early-stage nature-positive businesses operating in Indonesia’s most endangered ecosystems to scale and grow until they can attract institutional capital. Its suite of solutions features Jembatan, a working capital facility based on revolving loans. We began funding Jembatan as well as Terratai’s overall operations in 2023.
With a focus on biodiversity loss related to food production, Terratai links its support of nature-based solutions to outcomes such as reduced deforestation, improved soil and water quality, habitat conservation and species protection. Among the first ventures to join its portfolio were Forestwise, which incentivises communities to protect rainforests by creating global markets for wild-harvested ingredients, and Pandawa Agri Indonesia, whose innovative technology enables farmers to reduce their use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers.
Our support of Terratai’s investments in these two ventures has shown that flexible working capital can effectively bridge the gap between early-stage innovation and larger-scale investment in market-based approaches to protecting nature.
Bridging the missing middle
In this video, terratai Founder and CEO, Matt Leggett, shares the central role of biodiversity in the origin and vision of terratai, founder and representatives of terratai backed and Foundation supported enterprises, Forestwise and Pandawa Agri Indonesia, Dirk-Jan Oudshoorn, Zaki R Bakran and Junia Anindya respectively, explain their goals and learnings from driving nature-based solutions in the region, while Yordanus Jang Dasen, member of local community reinstates his commitment to protecting natural forests.
