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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