For the elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization, a philanthropic impact investor based in Zurich with hubs in Johannesburg and Mexico City, 2025 was one of the most successful years since its inauguration. Over the past three years, both its investment activity and its capacity to inspire philanthropic investors to engage with elea have almost doubled. With close to 50 colleagues and a global network, elea is on track to realize its vision for 2030 and triple its impact as compared to 2022.

elea achieved this success despite an ever more challenging environment: Ethics and globalization are facing headwinds today. Values such as honesty, fairness, and integrity are coming under increasing pressure. Well-established structures and institutions have become vulnerable to an extent that one would not have considered possible just a short time ago. “Through our work, we are convinced that ethically sound entrepreneurial solutions are one of the most effective responses to the challenges of our time and that they can be particularly effective in fighting absolute poverty. Our focus is on innovative, market-oriented models that involve local communities in the development of solutions and enable them to actively shape their future,” states Andreas Kirchschläger, Founding Partner & CEO of elea.

15 investments in impact ventures

elea once again made an important contribution to financing 15 ventures with diverse impact models and inclusive value chains. In Mexico, Toroto works closely with Indigenous communities to regenerate their forests and soil. The sale of emission certificates finances these initiatives and improves livelihoods. MazaoHub supports smallholder farmers in Tanzania with AI-supported soil analyses and provides suggestions for crop selection, fertilizer use, and agricultural practices. Komerce trains young Indonesians for customer service roles and connects them with small retailers who use Komerce’s digital solutions to grow their online business.

Exits underscore the sustainability of the elea model

In 2025, elea was able to successfully work on exits. Such exits prove the viability of both the elea model and the impact ventures. At B’Ayoba in Zimbabwe, elea initiated a gradual exit, whereby its own shares will be returned to the founder step by step until 2028. At two other ventures in our portfolio, elea is close to finalizing the sale of a part or all our shares, respectively, thereby participating in value creation and freeing up capital, which will be reinvested.

Diversification of the philanthropic investor base

“Our model is well received by philanthropic investors and is particularly popular with younger generations, who wish to engage in philanthropy in an innovative, more entrepreneurial way,” explains Peter Wuffli, Founder & Chairman of elea. In recent months, elea has strengthened its existing commitments with strong partners such as Livelihood Impact Fund, a foundation based in the United States, and further diversified its investor base by welcoming numerous new partners. For example, together with a group of Singaporean philanthropic investors, elea launched a three-year initiative that strengthens the impact-investing ecosystem in Asia, as well as its own presence in the region. Initial investors from Southeast Asia have already made financial commitments.

Back to media releases