“Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart;
then because of this the Lord your God will bless you
in all your work and in everything you put your hand to."
Dueteronomy 15:10
We are pleased to share good news! Talanton has completed two investments this quarter. Both will impact thousands of jobs in the months to come, which is especially encouraging news given how the COVID crisis is impacting jobs across Africa, the United States, and the rest of the world.
Talanton is adding team members and building new partnerships in Africa. We continue to generate high-quality deal flow with a robust selection process - even during the pandemic - through our networks and ministry partners. Since mid-May, we have added five strong business opportunities to the investment pipeline and our current investment businesses continue to deliver superior triple bottom line value. We are seeking additional funding to move forward with some wonderful new opportunities with mission-aligned growth stage companies in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. This certainly has been an unprecedented time for our world due to COVID. And while it has impacted our business, we are grateful that God enables us to actively and steadily move forward to achieve our mission.
TWO NEW JOB-CREATING INVESTMENTS!
Kentegra Biotechnology Holdings LLC is a Kenyan based biotechnology firm that produces pyrethrum pale refined extract, an active ingredient from the chrysanthemum flower for use as an effective organic pesticide. The chrysanthemum flowers grow best in Kenya because of the higher altitude, volcanic soil and equatorial environment to produce the highest-grade pyrethrum flowers. The chrysanthemums are perennials and flower twice per month for 10 months of the year. While the pesticide is toxic to insects, it has low to no toxicity to humans and is approved for use on organic farms.
With the equivalent of “COVID passports”, Kentegra continues to work and their smallholder farmer partners continue to receive payments for the dried pyrethrum flowers that they produce.
This investment in Kentegra currently supports 120 daily casual workers, 48 full-time workers and 3,000 - 5,000 smallholder farmers plus their families and communities, with growth plans to add tens of thousands more farmers and impact 100,000 lives in Kenya in coming years.
Long Miles Coffee (LMC) was Talanton’s first investment in July 2019. Proving our concept, they repaid their initial short-term working capital loan. We worked with LMC founders and owners, Ben and Christy Carlson, to establish a new longer-term loan to fund their expansion in Burundi by 50% and begin to replicate their specialty grade coffee model in Uganda.
COVID has not diminished coffee demand on a global scale in the niche market that LMC serves, and demand for their specialty grade coffee remains high. The local team can continue to operate under the country’s guidelines and farmers are collecting specialty grade prices during this challenging economic time.
This investment in Long Miles Coffee currently supports 36 full-time jobs, 250 seasonal jobs, 2,500 – 5,000 smallholder farmers plus their families, and yields positive impact in 38 communities.
EXCITING INVESTMENT BUSINESSES IN THE PIPELINE
To date, we have carefully screened 55+ faith-driven, growth-stage businesses with revenues of $500k - $5MM in East Africa, many of which are in various stages of due diligence. Additional financial support will enable us to create more jobs to help lift people out of poverty by accelerating the funding of additional pipeline business opportunities. Our current top five client prospects include:
Award Winning Agriculture Processing, Transportation and Distribution Company
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporter with GLOBALG.A.P. (Good Agricultural Practices) Certification
High Quality Dairy Products Company Operated Primarily by Deaf Employees
Company Providing Technology-Enabled Mobility Solutions for Public Mass Transportation
Manufacturer of Food Approved Lubricants with World-Class Certification
IMPACT METRICS
Talanton is committed to evaluating prospective investment businesses against established impact metrics, which include and go beyond financial returns. As part of our extensive due diligence process, we look for a “return on investment” in three domains including financial, social, and spiritual.
To assess impact, we have developed eleven metrics that we obtain from each company. These universal measures are aggregable and supplemented with narratives of the effects that are unique to each firm.
The following chart lists these eleven metrics, with each mapped to the primary stakeholder receiving benefit. Click on the chart to see a larger version.
OTHER NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS
Prisca Muyodi, Founder and CEO of Educor, and her team continued to educate 350+ children by creating and delivering physical learning packs to students after the Kenyan government shut down schools with only one day’s notice due to the COVID pandemic. Because of your ongoing prayer and financial support through Talanton, Prisca has continued to pay 60 teachers and staff during the absence of any payroll protection plan in Kenya and will be able to continue education via online instruction. Going forward, online learning capabilities can enable Educor to educate children in additional communities at a lower cost.
Investing in mid-sized businesses can be a strategic and often essential way to mitigate the risks associated with human trafficking and forced labor. Talanton commits to rooting out human trafficking or slavery in any prospective or active investment company. We are expanding our focus to find ways to alleviate these horrendous crimes.
We hope you and your families are healthy and safe. Please let us know how we can pray for you. God's Blessings, David and The Talanton Team P.S. To learn how you can partner with Talanton to create jobs and help lift people out of poverty, please contact me directly or visit https://talantonllc.com/contact.
Create Jobs • Bring Hope • Transform Lives