Biography
Willy Foote is founder and CEO of Root Capital, a nonprofit that offers farmers around the world a path to prosperity by investing in the agricultural businesses that serve as engines of impact in their communities. Since its founding in 1999, Root Capital has provided more than $2 billion in loans to nearly 1,000 agricultural businesses in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and improved the lives of 10 million people in smallholding communities. Willy is a Skoll Entrepreneur and an Ashoka Global Fellow. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2008 and was a 2012 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. He served for nearly a decade on the Executive Committee of the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE). Willy holds an MS in development economics from the London School of Economics and a BA from Yale University.
Expertise
Arresting DeforestationClean EnergyEconomic OpportunityEnvironmental SustainabilityFinancial ServicesLivelihoodsPeaceResponsible Supply ChainsSmallholder ProductivitySustainable MarketsYouth Job Skills
Regional Focus
Central America, Eastern and Southern Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, West and Central Africa
