| Root in the News
Root Capital is featured in Financial Times and LA Times
 Last Tuesday's Financial Times article, entitled "Investors Boost the 'Missing Middle,'" features Root Capital as a leader in the growing field of SME finance. FT highlights Root Capital's "innovative model" and recognizes its work to expand the industry in order to create widespread social, economic, and environmental change
Root Capital was also mentioned in the lead editorial of last Monday's LA Times. The article highlights the need to expand agricultural credit in order to address the food crisis and singles out Root Capital for leading the way: "Innovative nonprofits such as Root Capital, which lends to sustainable agricultural projects, are showing how to fill the gap."
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Fellows Take to the Field
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Root Capital has formally launched its Root Fellows program, which introduces gifted graduate students and young professionals to the field of development finance. The aim of the program is not only to draw upon the Root Fellows' wide range of experiences, but also to help build a pool of talent that will contribute to growing this emerging field.
 In June, Root Capital and three colleague organizations in development finance - Acumen Fund, Agora Partnerships, and E+CO - convened a three-day joint training for summer fellows. The training, which took place at the offices of Lehman Brothers in New York City, served as an introduction to development finance for the 20 fellows in attendance.
Joshua Levin, an MBA candidate at New York University's Stern School, is one of this year's Root Fellows and will focus on identifying lending opportunities in Southern Africa.
"I was attracted to Root Capital because of my interests in finance, sustainable supply chains, and the global food economy," he said. "The training in New York was a wonderful introduction to four dynamic organizations in the field of development; there was a palpable feeling of excitement among the group that we are joining a new movement."
Root Fellows contribute their expertise to Root Capital for three to six months. Most recently, fellows have analyzed lending opportunities in new countries and industries, assessed methods of measuring social and environmental return on investment, and conducted field-based analysis of Root Capital's impact through lending.
Several former fellows are now full-time members of the Root Capital team, including Brian Milder (Director of Strategy and Innovation), Luis Miguel Ormeno (Investment Officer), Nate Schaffran (Regional Director, Africa), and Diego Valdivia (Investment Officer).
 Joining Josh in this year's group of Root Fellows are Fausto Gurrea and Paula Villaseņor (who have conducted a joint study on defining Root Capital's social and economic impact), Samina Jain (who has developed the pipeline for new investments in Southeast Asia), Emily Teitsworth (who conducted a study on Root Capital's impact in Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico) and Eric Tung (who is also building the investment pipeline in Southeast Asia).
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Looking Back
Diego Valdivia
Former Root Fellow
In my native country of Chile, a degree in business administration is a ticket to a desk at an investment bank, a corporate giant, or some other type of investor-oriented firm. A master's in finance only reinforces this path.
For years, my path was headed straight toward one of those desks. I completed internships with several private sector companies-a mining company, a retail company, an import-export company. In my spare time I volunteered with disadvantaged school children, but I never thought that this type of work would ever amount to more than just that: a spare time activity.
Upon completion of my master's, I traveled to South Africa and volunteered at a non-profit organization committed to overcoming the vestiges of apartheid. When I packed my bags and boarded the plane, I had no idea that upon my return, my path would take a dramatic turn.
I had previously traveled extensively in Latin America, a region not without its own development issues. However, in South Africa I was not merely on safari. I was living and working in Johannesburg, a city overwhelmed by inequality and violence after decades of oppression and exclusion. One cannot walk the streets of this city without feeling the sense of economic deprivation to which the vast majority of its citizens are subjected.
My time in South Africa, and my visits to Mozambique and Namibia while I was in the region, left me with a lingering sense of urgency. I wondered what I could do to help, not just in Southern Africa, but in my own Latin America and elsewhere. I didn't have experience in social or economic development. I had spent years preparing myself for a much different path.
However, while the knowledge and skills that I had been building over the course of my studies were originally intended for the private sector, I quickly realized that their use was not limited to that type of work. I realized that I could contribute to bringing private sector solutions to public problems. Root Capital was the ideal place to do just that.
I began at Root Capital in late October as a Root Fellow. In December, I prepared my first investment memo. I had spoken personally with the cooperative's general manager in Nicaragua, and had been struck by the sincerity with which he spoke of improving the lives of the many cooperative members. When I felt the excitement of telling him that his loan was approved, I knew that Root Capital was where I wanted to build my career. My work here is both professionally and personally fulfilling, as I am applying many of the skills I learned in my studies and acquiring new ones, while also contributing to Root Capital's positive social and environmental impact throughout the world.
After finishing his Root Fellowship, Diego was hired a full-time employee, and he now works as a Root Capital investment officer.
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To read more about this year's Root Fellows, visit our website.
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