Producing high-value wild forest products for the global food and cosmetics industries to contribute to stopping deforestation

  Geography

The Netherlands (HQ), South East Asia

  Sector

Wild forest production


Company overview

Forestwise produces unique, high quality organic and Fairtrade certified ingredients harvested from the Indonesian rainforest by local communities. Forestwise’s main clients are in the international food and cosmetics industries. The company has successfully introduced organic and Fair for Life certified illipe butter to the global market, which is currently sold in four continents. This has resulted in strategic alliances with firms such as Lush, IMCD, DKSH and Premier Specialties. Forestwise also provides a high level of traceability and transparency throughout its supply chain. Its local presence allows the company to work closely with the communities and to guarantee the sustainability of its products.

Impact

  • Provide additional livelihoods to local communities through the harvest of rainforest products. Through its work Forestwise supports the protection of over 200,000 hectares of rainforest, storing over 20 million tons of carbon;
  • Contract 740 families in Forestwise’s supply chain for the collection of illipe nuts and increased their annual income by 16%, reaching an estimated 2,500 beneficiaries, both men and women. The factory has created 20 full-time jobs;
  • Develop new forest sugar production units through the fund raise. Through this it can provide full-time jobs for 125 farmers and 10 factory workers per forest sugar production unit. Besides, Forestwise also provides electricity for 200 households with a kinetic power plant.

COMPANY OVERVIEW


CommodityIllipe butter, arenga sugar, buah merah oil, kukui nut oil, virgin coconut oil
Annual revenue (USD)201k – 500k
Employees 11 – 50
Years in operation 2 – 5

FUNDING ASK


Amount (USD)1.1m – 5m
InstrumentDebt
  

Use of funds

CAPEX and OPEX for scale-up.
Investing in scaling up facilities
and additional processing equipment to manufacture technical ingredients based on customer demand.


CONTACT INFORMATION


https://www.forestwise.earth


This company is part of the Pipeline Accelerator Newsletter – a partnership between the Partnerships for Forests and the Blended Finance Taskforce. Click here to read the full Pipeline Accelerator Newsletter.

Please note that the showcased companies have not undergone a financial screening, with only an initial impact screening done through the pipeline providers and ourselves based on the initial information provided by the companies. Due to this, we will not be liable for any of the presented information and strongly encourage prospective investors to perform a financial and impact due diligence before investing.