Whole Planet Funding Announcements

Learn more about our 2024 funding announcements that support new organizations providing income-generating opportunities for entrepreneurs around the world.

Check back throughout the year as we’ll continually update this page with new funding announcements! 


 

Africa Works | Mozambique

Whole Planet approved a new project for Kasperick Foundation: a 3-year, $300,000 grant to support Africa Works to continue their expansion efforts into rural communities where microentrepreneurs have few options to access affordable business financing. The grant will help Africa Works grow their active community group loan borrowers in the satellite regions by about 1,623 clients.
 
*This is a Kasperick Foundation project administered by Whole Planet.

 

BOMA | Ethiopia & Kenya

Whole Planet approved a $57,375 grant to BOMA to support BOMA’s cross-country implementation research to generate lessons learned and best practices in implementing climate adapted Rural Entrepreneur Access Project in Kenya and Ethiopia.This grant complements Whole Planet’s active project of $630,792 which supports BOMA’s entrepreneurship program in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.

Whole Planet also administered a new project for Kasperick Foundation: a 3-year $900,000 grant for BOMA Kenya which will fund business start-up support for 1500+ participants of their graduation program. This grant contributes to BOMA’s global goal of reaching 3 million people by the end of 2027.


 

BRAC Myanmar | Myanmar

Whole Planet approved a 3-year $600,000 grant to BRAC Myanmar to reach 2,181 new borrowers through their Inclusive Finance business loan product which is designed to be accessible for persons with disabilities.


 

Camino Verde | Peru

Whole Planet approved a 3-year, $150,000 grant to Camino Verde in Peru to provide agroforestry input packages to subsistence farmers living in the Amazonian River Basin. These agroforestry packages include fruit and nut tree seedlings for food security and Rosewood tree seedlings for income generation. The seedlings purchased will be sourced from a Seed Collection network of indigenous and forest-dwelling women.


 

Engishon | Tanzania

Whole Planet approved a $4,500 grant to Engishon to help strengthen and grow their financial inclusion program for pastoralist communities in rural Tanzania. The funds will contribute to various key initiatives, including marketing and branding for staff and offices, piloting SMS services for client and loan repayment management; and logistics support for monitoring and evaluation activities.

This grant complements Whole Planet’s active project of $50,000 which supports Engishon’s business loans for savings groups in northern Tanzania.


 

Environomica | Colombia

Whole Planet approved a 3-year, $233,717 grant to Environomica to provide agroforestry input packages to Wiwa communities living in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountains. Environomica will support participants to plant and maintain coffee, cocoa, fruit, and forest trees and, eventually, to sell their products to local cooperatives.


 

FANSOTO | Senegal

*This is a Kasperick Foundation funded project administered by Whole Planet.

Whole Planet approved a new project for Kasperick Foundation: a 3-year, $350,000 grant to support FANSOTO, a social microfinance institution in Senegal that was started by Whole Planet’s network partner EdM (Entrepreneurs du Monde).


 

Farmline Global | Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Burkina Faso

Whole Planet approved a $600,000, 3-year no-interest loan to support Farmerline with their expansion from Ghana into Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Burkina Faso. Whole Planet’s contribution would be leveraged to provide over $1.8 million of agriculture input disbursements for 1,324 farmers. With Whole Planet’s support, Farmerline can ramp up their most accessible and entry level loan product, include more women farmers and reach sustainability as a social enterprise.


 

FondoMás | Mexico

Whole Planet approved a $24,500 grant to FondoMás which will allow them to carry out a banking campaign for all 100 of their technicians, to help them get a bank account linked to a checkbook and a debit card, to facilitate transfers and payments with their village banks, made up of coffee farmers.

This grant complements Whole Planet’s active project of $300,000 to support group loans to coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico.


 

FOOP | Sierra Leone

Whole Planet approved a $57,735 grant to FOOP to significantly enhance FOOP’s work and directly benefit farmers by expanding and refining its initiatives, and by strengthening its monitoring and evaluation systems. This grant complements Whole Planet’s active project of $300,000 which supports agriculture inputs and mechanization services distributed on credit to smallholder farmers through FOOP’s Service-Delivery Unit (SDU). Specifically, the funds will establish a “Greenhouse Female Training Centre” to support access to quality seed varieties and training sessions for women farmers. Funds will also support growing the personnel and systems needed to offer stronger impact measurement.


 

Fundación Paraguaya | Paraguay

Whole Foods Market Foundation has forgiven $200,000 of an outstanding loan of $300,000, with Fundacion Paraguaya, to fund this a new grant project. The $200,000 will support Fundación Paraguaya to donate Micro Franchise Kits to new Women’s Committee members with no business experience and living in a highly vulnerable state. By joining the Committee, they would gain business experience, training, begin to save money and generate income, and then eventually begin taking loans alongside their fellow members.


 

FUNDER | Honduras

*This is a Kasperick Foundation funded project administered by Whole Planet.

Whole Planet approved a new project for Kasperick Foundation: a $400,000, 2-year grant for FUNDER, a nonprofit with decades of experience promoting rural business development in Honduras. This project would support FUNDER’s new Food Security Loan: which provides loan capital to Village Banks that produce beans, corn, and coffee. FUNDER encourages the farmers to invest in “green” and efficient technology that boosts productivity, i.e., solar units for drying coffee and machines for planting seeds. This project would also support FUNDER’s Commercial Triangulation Loan: which provides working debt capital to small businesses and cooperatives that have existing market linkages for coffee, beans, cacao, corn, and dairy products.


 

GGEM Farming | Malawi

Whole Planet approved a $57,735 grant to help fund GGEM‘s pilot initiative to research, multiply, distribute, and seed bank alternative grains like sorghum, known for their nutritional value and drought resistance.

This grant complements Whole Planet’s active project of $600,000 which supports GGEM Farming’s input loans for smallholder rice and legume farmers.


 

Grassland Association for Agricultural Development | Cameroon

Whole Planet approved a 3-year $600,000 grant to support Grassland Association for Agricultural Development (GAAD). GAAD provides agriculture inputs on credit, climate smart extension training and a market for smallholder farmers in Cameroon. Whole Planet’s contribution would finance the cultivation of maize, millet and soybean on 3,655 hectares of land by 2,707 smallholders.


 

Jiro-Ve | Madagascar

Whole Planet approved a $12,500 grant to Jiro-Ve, whose mission is to use a franchise model to bring affordable, clean, and quality lighting to areas without reliable energy sources in Madagascar.

This grant complements Whole Planet’s active project of $300,000 which supports Jiro Ve’s solar product rental business serving off-grid and rural communities in Madagascar.


 

Local Act | Thailand

Whole Planet approved a $38,611 grant to support Local Act in Thailand. Local Act seeks to empower their farmers to make their own business investment decisions with capital from revolving funds managed directly by the farmer groups. Since many of the farmers are still managing a high debt burden, Local Act proposes seeding these revolving funds with sufficient capital for investments, after which farmers will continue to manage, save, and contribute towards the funds independently.


 

Munafa | Sierra Leone

Whole Planet approved a $350,000, 3-year grant to support Munafa, a microfinance insitution in Sierra Leone started by Whole Planet network partner, Entrepreneurs du Monde. Whole Planet’s contribution will provide over 5,966 microloans for small enterprise and agriculture production in 2 branches (Moyamba and an additional branch to be opened in a rural region of Sierra Leone).


 

myAgro | Cote d’Ivoire

Whole Planet approved a $57,735 grant to myAgro Cote d’Ivoire to help scale their agriculture finance solution to Côte d’Ivoire with an overall goal of serving 500 farmers in 2024.

This grant complements a total of $1.25 million which has been disbursed by both Whole Planet & strategic partner, Kasperick Foundation, to support women smallholders in Senegal and Mali.  Whole Planet is thrilled to accompany myAgro in their West Africa expansion with funds for the Cote d’Ivoire pilot. 


 

myAgro | Senegal, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire

Whole Planet approved a $750,000 subordinated loan to myAgro to purchase agricultural inputs for the farmers it serves across Senegal, southern Mali, and its newly launched pilot in a limited number of peri-urban and rural villages in Cote d’Ivoire. myAgro’s digital layaway platform enables farmers to save little-by-little for climate-smart packages of agricultural inputs and training so they can improve their food security and income.


 

Pollinate Group | Nepal & India

Whole Planet approved $195,183, 3-year grant to support Pollinate Group’s implementing partners in Nepal and India (Kalpavriksha & Pollinate India). The contribution will support the purchase of stock (solar lamps, cooking appliances, sanitary items) for the microbusinesses of over 1,100 entrepreneurs in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya Chitwan, Kailali and Bardiya.. 


 

Sampurna Financial Services | India

Whole Planet approved a $300,000, 8-year subordinated PRI loan to Sampurna Financial Services (SFS) in India. Whole Planet’s contribution will provide over 11,000 microloans for small enterprise and agriculture production in 7 new branches.


SOS Amazonia | Brazil

Whole Planet approved a project with new partner SOS Amazonia (SOS), a Brazilian nonprofit whose signature program equips subsistence and smallholder farmers, living in deforested and degraded areas of the Amazon, to implement Agroforestry Systems. This 3-year $300,000 grant would allow SOS to pursue 3 interrelated activities: (1) purchasing seeds from Seed Collectors (2) providing Personal Protective Equipment to new Seed Collectors; and (3) Establishing Community Nurseries with subsistence farmers.


Smiling Through Light | Sierra Leone

Whole Planet approved a $10,000 grant to Smiling through Light. This will have a catalytic effect by enabling them to undertake several high-impact activities including investments in both digital and physical PayOps sales infrastructures, facilitating the launch of a new hub and helping to expand their footprint and sales channels.

This grant complements Whole Planet’s active project of $50,000 which supports the procurement of solar products that are distributed to customers using the PAYG (pay as you go) credit.


Swahili Honey | Southern Highlands Region of Tanzania

Whole Planet approved supporting Central Park Bees Limited (doing business under the brand name Swahili Honey) with a $300,000 no-interest loan to scale their beehive loans to an estimated 898 small-scale beekeepers in the Southern Highlands Region of Tanzania.


Trickle Up | India

*This is a Kasperick Foundation project administered by Whole Planet.
 
Whole Planet approved a new project for Kasperick Foundation: a 3-year, $900,000 grant to support Trickle Up a global nonprofit organization partnering with women in extreme poverty to build economic opportunity and inclusion. This grant will serve 1,200 women from vulnerable tribal groups in Jharkhand, India, enabling them through the Graduation Approach, to forge resilient pathways out of poverty.
 

Upendo Honey | Kigoma, Tanzania

Whole Planet approved a $234,000 no-interest loan for Upendo Honey to scale their pre-harvest financing program to an estimated 5,800 small-scale beekeepers in Western Tanzania.


Village Enterprise | Uganda

*This is a Kasperick Foundation project administered by Whole Planet.
 
Whole Planet approved a new project for Kasperick Foundation: a $900,000 grant that would fund the business start-up capital for an estimated 20% of their growth goal–13,500 new participants (4,500 new businesses) across 9 cohorts in the Soroti region of Uganda through Village Enterprise.