IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
RuralWorks Partners, LLC
Clean Technology, Alternative Energy & Climate Change
Sustainable Agriculture
Job creation and workforce developmentFirm Overview
RuralWorks Partners is an impact investment firm created to address the growing wealth and opportunity gap in rural America. The Firm is a joint venture between Community Reinvestment Fund , a Minneapolis-based national non-profit CDFI established to improve lives and strengthen communities through innovative financial solutions, and Conduit Capital, an impact investment manager catalyzing scaled solutions for social and environmental change. The goal of the emerging Fund is to provide essential growth capital to rural businesses that contribute to the economic wealth and resilience of rural communities and the environment. Investments are focused on the agribusiness and food industries, including sustainable agriculture, waste upcycling and the circular economy, and local and regional food system development, among others. The Firm’s emerging Fund is licensed by the USDA to operate as a “Rural Business Investment Company” (RBIC) and to partner with LP investors committed to the success of rural America.
Years of Operation: Less than 3 years
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
To generate rural community wealth and resilience by investing in scalable rural businesses that create quality jobs and environmental benefits for their community and the planet.
RuralWorks seeks to provide integrated capital to rural growth-oriented businesses while generating an appropriate risk-adjusted return. Intended impacts include creating increased economic mobility, generating community wealth, and building a more equitable and resilient rural economy. The Firm’s strategy of partnering with local economic and community development entities to deliver capital access, employee empowerment and community advancement supports the emerging Fund’s intended impacts. There is an increasing awareness of the important role that rural businesses play in tapping the potential of rural economies. With less than 1.5% of venture capital going into rural communities, the time is now to help businesses scale in a manner that creates quality jobs and generate thriving and resilient rural communities.
The Firm is equally owned by Conduit Capital US, Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of Conduit Capital, Limited (CCAP), a sponsor of impact investment funds and Community Reinvestment Fund, USA. (CRF), a national non-profit community development financial institution (CDFI). This unique ownership partnership gives RuralWorks access to extensive networks throughout the US and abroad. The Fund’s community-based investment strategy is based in collaboration with strong and cohesive rural community development enterprises located in communities with economic ecosystems that promote economic opportunity. Through working closely with these combined networks, the RuralWorks Team anticipates collaboratively sourcing, supporting, growing, and ultimately exiting private equity and equity-like investments in local small- and medium- sized enterprises in a manner that supports both the Fund’s financial and impact goals. It is the first USDA licensed Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC) that is explicitly designated an “impact fund”.
Investment Example
As an Emerging Fund, with a recent first close, there are no executed investments at the time of this application.
Leadership and Team
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Skip Wyer – Chief Investment Officer, Investment Committee Member More Info
Skip is RuralWorks’ Chief Investment Officer and member of the Investment Committee. Skip brings over 35 years of finance and investment management experience, creating and deploying a broad range of debt and equity investment structures across numerous industries, markets and cycles. Skip founded and ran Linea Capital where he supported businesses in the sustainable agriculture, clean tech and real estate sectors. Skip was earlier a portfolio manager at Värde Partners where he managed a $600 million private equity portfolio and before that a member of Cargill’s venture capital division where he focused in food and agriculture related technology investments. Skip lives and works in rural Vermont. |
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Robert Zulkoski – Founding Partner, Board Member, Investment Committee Member More Info
Bob is a founding partner, Board Member and Investment Committee Member of RuralWorks. He brings over 40 years of global finance and fiduciary investment management experience. As a leader, Bob has held executive positions at large firms such as Kidder, Peabody & Co, GE Capital, Colony Capital, and Oaktree Capital. As an innovator, Bob has been a founder of investment firms such as Conduit Capital, Conduit Connect, and Pangaea Capital Management Pte. Ltd. And as an entrepreneur/mentor, Bob has played a lead role in a number of other successful business start-ups as a personal investor, advisor and/or board member. |
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Louisa Schibli – Chief Engagement Officer, Investment Committee Member More Info
Louisa is RuralWorks’ Chief Engagement Officer and a member of the Investment Committee. She is the co-founder of Milk Money Vermont, an online equity crowdfunding platform connecting everyday Vermonters to Vermont businesses looking to raise capital. She was a 2019/2020 fellow at the Just Economy Institute, focusing on the support of financial activists and use of different forms of financial, social and natural capital to generate positive social and environmental change. She’s also a founding member of the Vermont Women’s Investor Network (VTWIN) that supports female investors, founders and local innovation ecosystems. She was a 2021 Vermont Leadership Institute graduate While living in Switzerland for 12 years and earlier in her career, she worked in physical commodities trading at Glencore. |
Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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At RuralWorks Partners, our investment approach is rooted in a systematic commitment to impact. We purposefully seek out companies where social and environmental impact is woven into the fabric of their products or services. Our process is rigorous, with deal sourcing and due diligence that align with our areas of impact. We focus on Employee Empowerment, fostering quality job creation and promoting broad employee ownership and Community Advancement, working to expand connectivity and commitment to local communities and. Additionally, we emphasize the Environmental Stewardship of a company and its impact on its local community as well as global climate change. In every investment opportunity, we strive to make a positive difference in both the business and the community in which it operates in.
We assess a company's commitment to social and environmental sustainability within its own organization. This includes evaluating their employee empowerment, diversity and inclusion efforts, environmental stewardship, and overall corporate responsibility. We seek out companies that align with our values and are dedicated to sustainable practices within their operations. By examining a company's intrafirm sustainability practices, we ensure that our investments contribute to holistic and lasting positive change, not only in the products or services they provide but also in how they function as responsible corporate citizens. This approach allows us to make investments that have a more profound and meaningful impact on society and the environment.
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
Learn More
801 Nicollet Mall Ste 1700 West, Minneapolis, MN 55402 USA
Apply for the IA 50 2022
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