Verde Ventures provides loans to businesses that can play a critical role in conserving biological diversity.

The companies Verde Ventures supports are in the best locations to improve our world. Home base for a clothing company is next to a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya and helps protect the Taita thrush and other Critically Endangered bird species that are unique to the area. Headquarters for a tourism business in the Galapagos Islands is within the fragile and valuable waters where we’re working to protect marine life.

By bolstering small- and medium-sized businesses in the most important areas for conservation, we help create jobs for local people that give them and their communities a personal and economic stake in safeguarding their natural resources.

In the Galapagos, we support a pioneering tourism enterprise that benefits the local community by providing an employment alternative to fishing, which is a major threat in the area. In Kenya, the Wildlife Works clothing factory employs 100 local women and holds sessions for communities and elders about the importance of promoting conservation projects.

Verde Ventures has invested more than $12 million in businesses that employ nearly 15,000 people in 12 countries. These partners have helped protect and restore more than 759,000 acres of key habitat and 189 globally threatened species.

For more information about Verde Ventures, visit www.conservation.org/verdeventures.

Learn about our other conservation funds.