Ecuador’s Journey: Impact Through Community Visits and Events
- Jun 12
- 2 min read
Thursday, 12th June 2025
By Paula Perrelli dos Anjos
Last week in Ecuador, the team at Amazonia Impact Ventures (AIV) embarked on a journey that went far beyond finance spreadsheets. The trip began with a visit to Wiñak, a long-standing partner association of Indigenous peoples from the Amazon, and culminated with our managing director and co-founder, Aldo Soto, meeting with a potential partner purchasing from small producers’ associations like Wiñak. This promises to secure a commercial contract for exporting their rainforest harvests, providing lasting economic opportunities for the communities.
During the Ecuador trip, Aldo Soto also took the opportunity to attend CLIIQ, a pivotal summit in Latin America’s impact investing sector. Held in Quito, the event brought together industry leaders to promote solutions for the region. This marks the second time AIV has participated in CLIIQ, where Aldo sat on a panel alongside renowned impact finance leaders, Chad Sachs (CEO, Nesst) and Michelle Arévalo-Carpenter (Co-Founder, Impaqto Capital).
The panel session titled “Impact Debt: Boosting Social Enterprises in the Andean Region” was moderated by Carmen Ruiz-Mateos, the impact investing director at Boosting Opportunities. The conversation underscored innovative strategies for advancing sustainable finance.
“We had the opportunity to share how effective our impact-linked loans are in enhancing the finance and impact at the cooperatives,” detailed Soto.
AIV brings a wealth of experience working with communities in the Amazon and remains committed to understanding real-world challenges and seizing opportunities as they arise.
“We are a fund that was born from witnessing the needs of the communities in the forest,” added AIV Co-founder.
Expansion of the Produce
To visit Wiñak, Aldo Soto took a lengthy journey to Archidona, in the Napo province. He drove for nearly four hours along winding roads, mountainous terrain and high-altitude areas at almost 3,000 meters above sea level. He passed through forest reserves known to be the habitat of the Andean Bear, a species known by many children in the UK as Paddington Bear.
“By being in Ecuador, I instantly knew I wanted to visit the site and the new production area that was built recently,” confirmed Soto.
Founded in 2010, Wiñak is made up of 598 Kichwa farmers, with 351 women among them. This cooperative transforms agricultural practices into sustainable livelihoods, producing cacao, cassava, plantain bananas, and guayusa leaf.
AIV has already provided two loans primarily focused on guayusa, cassava and plantain. Deeply rooted in traditional agroforestry practices, the Kichwa people manage their land to support biodiversity and maintain sustainable methods. Most of the cooperative production is exported to the US market.
This is one more example of AIV’s unique, hands-on approach to impact investing: immersing themselves in the local realities while maintaining a profitable financial proposal.
Learn more about:
#CLIIQ2025 #ImpactInvestment #Agroforestry #IndigenousPeople #NonTimberForestProducts #EventEngagement #BeingPresent
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