Former Oxford Saïd student Carla Koffel is helping safeguard the Amazon’s future after being 'fired-up' in the classroom
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Saïd Business School is shining a light on some our prominent female alumni, to celebrate their achievements and inspire a new generation of social entrepreneurs.
Carla Koffel is one such alumna. Having a successful legal career, Carla decided to undertake the Social Finance Programme and Oxford Fintech Programme, at Saïd Business School, back in 2014. It was here where Carla was inspired to take action, and where she was to meet her future co-founders.
In 2019, along with her former classmates, she launched the Amazonia Impact Ventures or ‘AIV’, an impact investor committed to protecting and regenerating the Amazon rainforest and improving the livelihoods of the Amazon's forest communities. Since its inception, it has been helping to bring about real change in protecting the Amazon and its people. And they’re not stopping there. Over the next five years they aim to protect more than 1,000,000 hectares of rainforest, reaching more than 200,000 people.
Ahead of this year’s International Women’s Day, Carla reflected on AIV’s journey and discussed what International Women’s Day means to her.
Q: What led you to founding the Amazonia Impact Ventures?
A: Stopping the destruction of the world’s forests is one of the biggest problems of our time and if solved, will have such a wide-reaching, positive impact on climate change, biodiversity, health and livelihoods. People from indigenous and forest communities are best placed to manage and protect the Amazon rainforest, yet face many challenges in doing so. The AIV founders come from very different professional backgrounds including conservation, finance, legal and commodity trading and we felt we could work together to try to address some of these challenges.
The market for de-forestation free commodities and food being produced in harmony with the forest is growing fast, creating great opportunities for smallholder farmers and producers to be part of the Amazon bio-economy. AIV is working to support small producers with things like increasing access to markets and the finance they need, whilst improving support for the protection and regeneration of the forest.
Q: What are you most proud of achieving so far with AIV?
A: For me, the relationships we’ve formed with communities and co-operatives across Peru and Ecuador which have led to us to mobilising loans of almost $1.8 million for rural businesses. The finance we provide is impact-linked to incentivise improved land use and restoring the forest. These rural businesses are working with more than 700 farmers and their local communities to protect and improve the land use of more than 130,000 hectares of farm and community-forest land.
By establishing a close working relationship with the cooperatives, farmers and communities we can understand what they really need. We are helping to connect businesses with buyers such as specialty coffee. We are also improving communities’ knowledge of deforestation levels, best sustainability practices on land use, agroforestry, regenerative agriculture and adaptation to climate change.
Q: When it comes to protecting the Amazon rainforest, there must be moments of great frustration and setbacks; how do you navigate those and push forward?
A: There is always a lot to learn from the setbacks. It always helps to take the time to understand the perspectives of others who are involved, ask lots of questions and try hard to avoid making assumptions about why something is happening, or not happening. I find it helps a lot to work with people who see things differently and approach situations differently to me. Together we have more chance of having the information, skills and energy required to problem solve and to stay positive through the tough times. Staying focused on the ultimate goal really helps me to stay motivated and keep going. And a good long walk – preferably up a mountain or along a beach - also helps me put the immediate challenges into perspective as bumps not failure.