About Us

Get to know us

Truvalu.enterprises is a Netherlands-based impact investment company that actively participates in the development of agri-SMEs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. We partner with high-growth potential agri-SMEs to provide them with Growth Capital, Business Development Support, and Market Access, allowing them to substantially increase their value. Our aim is to build competitive, inclusive agri-businesses and fair value chains for social impact and economic returns. We also ensure that the business provides consumers with fair products.

The investment size varies between € 250,000 and € 500,000 per company. The business development support provided by Truvalu.enterprises is concentrated on improving key areas of the business, such as operational processes, marketing, and sales, financial administration, corporate governance, human resource management, procurement, ICT, and communications. Other than these, the company’s business operations are expanded by introducing its products and services to local and international networks of clients, business partners (distributors, retail companies), and export partners.
In Bangladesh, Truvalu.enterprises started its operations in 2017. The investment amount ranges between €250,000 and €500,000. We have managed to invest in diversified SMEs that produce agro products such as dairy, poultry, jute products, coir, and coco pith producers, pulse processing business, crab fattening, and many others. As agriculture is the largest employment sector in Bangladesh, providing employment to 40.15% of the working population, this industry has the most impact on the macroeconomic objectives. Yet, many SMEs do not have the required capital to remain competitive in the market. In such an environment, Truvalu.enterprises has created the opportunity to improve the economic condition of many agricultural entrepreneurs.
Truvalu's advisory services focus on areas such as financial management, business planning, operational efficiency, corporate governance, marketing and sales, technological advancement and impact management. Other than these, Truvalu expands the company’s business operations by introducing its products and services to local and international networks of clients, business partners (distributors, retail companies), and export partners. Truvalu is very committed to creating opportunities for gender lens investing in Bangladesh. In 2023 Truvalu organized an informative seminar on “Opportunities and Prospects for Gender Lens Investing in Bangladesh” in collaboration with Biniyog Briddhi and with support from the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh. Follow-up activities will take place later this year.

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Mission

Truvalu.enterprises invests in early-stage agri-businesses with excellent potential to create local jobs, global networks, and a sustainable impact combined with economic returns.

Vision

Our vision is to build competitive, inclusive agri-businesses and sustainable value chains in emerging markets in South and Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America for social impact, economic returns and to provide consumers with fair products.

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Goals

SDG 2

Zero Hunger

This goal focuses on ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. This would be accomplished by progressively improving land and soil quality and ensuring sustainable food production systems, thus doubling agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers (especially women and indigenous people).

SDG 8

Decent Work and Economic Growth

By investing in scalable agri-food SMEs and training staff and business development experts, Truvalu contributes to:

  • Creating sustainable employment for both qualified and unqualified workers
  • Increasing knowledge and skills in the workforce
  • Promoting market-based solutions that further improve the sector's productivity and added value
  • Building local ecosystems for business development and investment services
  • Building brands for international markets that can also be adopted in local markets

SDG 12

Responsible Production & Consumption

Truvalu.enterprises only invests in agri-SMEs that adopt responsible sourcing models, purchasing supplies from a large network of smallholders (growing to at least 500 farmers per SME during the investment period). It adopts a fair pricing model for its branded products by equally sharing the price premium in international markets between value chain actors.

Meet our expert team

Bangladesh Team

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Sharawwat Islam, CFA

Managing Director

With more than 18 years of experience in the financial sector of Bangladesh, Sharawwat is leading Truvalu Bangladesh as the Managing Director. She joined Truvalu.enterprises in 2018 from her passion to work with impact investments. She is responsible for overseeing the impact investments, local and foreign advisory services, entrepreneurial capacity development programs, and implementation of the country strategy. She also represents Truvalu in the Boards of investee companies. Sharawwat is a CF...
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Anwar Mostafa Sarker

Head of Finance, Administration & HR

An accounting professional with more than 9 years of experience, Anwar has been handling the overall financial, accounting, administrative, and HR affairs of Truvalu as well as assisting SMEs to establish proper financial management and internal control systems. Before joining Truvalu, he worked for a leading audit firm in Bangladesh, where he served for more than 30 client engagements of the firm. He also worked for a leading IT company and an apparel manufacturing company in senior managerial ...
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M. G. Shaon, CFA

Senior Investment Associate

Shaon is a Senior Investment Associate at Truvalu and leads the investment team in Bangladesh. He is responsible for deal origination, due diligence, investment analysis of prospective SMEs, and investment execution as well as for providing co-entrepreneurship and business development support to clients. Before joining Truvalu, he worked for a leading Bangladeshi investment bank and a private equity firm. Shaon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Department of Finance...
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Mohammad Hossain Aala

Investment Associate

Hossain is an investment associate at Truvalu. He has more than 5 years’ experience in the investment industry. As a part of Truvalu’s investment team he is responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence, investment analysis and portfolio management. Before joining Truvalu, he worked for a large asset management company in Bangladesh and managed investments in 3 different sectors. Hossain completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA...
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Anuj Kumar Mondal

Senior Officer MEAL & Programmes

Anuj is a key team member of Truvalu Bangladesh. He is responsible for tracking project progress and results- how the projects are advancing to the set objectives and goals. He also contributes to project data management, capturing learning and imparting insights for better management decisions. For over the last 5 years, he has been leading the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning section of different organizations. With an excellent academic background in Social Science and his...
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Prosonno Hasda

Monitoring & Evaluation Officer

Prosonno works as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Truvalu Bangladesh. He helps to track the performance and evaluate the results of Truvalu
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Nuzhat Tabassum Turee

Communication Officer

Nuzhat is a communications professional with expertise in advocacy, content strategy, and stakeholder engagement. Currently, she serves as a Communications Officer at Truvalu, where she leads branding and outreach efforts for key initiatives such as Access to Green Financing for Enterprises and Gender Lens Investing. With a strong background in developing impactful campaigns and building strategic partnerships, she holds a Master’s in Communication and Journalism. Her previous roles at the Cen...
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Mostofa Yousuf

Business Consultant (BDS Officer)

Mostofa is a Business Consultant (BDS Officer) at Truvalu, where he excels in identifying potential SMEs across Bangladesh. He provides both general and tailored business development support to SMEs, enhancing their capacity building and financing/investment readiness. Mostofa holds a BBA degree from the Department of Business and Technology Management at the Islamic University of Technology.
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Md Ifthaker Hosen

Finance & Administration Analyst

Md Ifthaker Hosen is a Finance & Administration Analyst at Truvalu Bangladesh, responsible for managing all finance-related functions alongside administrative and HR tasks. Before joining Truvalu, he held a managerial position at an IT company, which provided him with a diverse skill set. He also has extensive experience in auditing, accounting, and advisory sectors, having delivered comprehensive services to over 20 companies. His areas of expertise include financial reporting, internal audit, ...

Global Team

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Jaap-Jan Verboom

Executive Director

Jaap-Jan is founder and executive director of Truvalu. Jaap-Jan started his career as an IT entrepreneur, after which he worked as a regional manager for ICCO in Central and East Africa. He started with Truvalu in 2014, initially under the name Agribusiness Booster, in partnership with ICCO and supported by a/o Woord & Daad and Argidius Foundation. In 2020 co-founders and supporters exited the company and fund and Jaap-Jan further continued the business. Jaap-Jan is a pioneer and combines entr...
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Maarten Hasselman

Investment Officer and Managing Director, Kenya

Maarten holds a Master in Global Business and Sustainability and has experience and interest in social venturing and impact investing. He is a hands-on conceptual thinker and with his analytical skills he loves to dive deep into business cases to understand the potential of a company.
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Andrés Jiménez

Managing Director, South America

Andres has more than 15 years of experience in implementing technical assistance in the areas of Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) development, as well as support of agriculture international negotiations, inclusive businesses and supporting government and community institutions.