FAST
Created in 2007, the Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST) is a member driven, non-profit international organization headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Its current membership base (over 100 members) represents Small and Medium Enterprise producer organizations, commercial and socially-oriented lenders, development focused NGOs, and other sustainable trade stakeholders.
Small and medium sized enterprise (SME) producers have been identified as one of the most important drivers of economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. Sustainable SME producers are growing in number and are key drivers behind a global transition to sustainable trade. Currently, a major barrier facing the continued growth and development of SME's is the unmet need for external finance. Since entry into sustainable markets typically requires additional capital investment - many producers in developing countries simply cannot afford to invest in the transition.
FAST's mission is to facilitate a global collaborative effort among its members to ensure continued growth of the sustainable trade sector. This is made possible by increasing the number of producers in developing countries who can successfully access affordable trade finance and longer-term loans, tailored to their business needs as they enter sustainable markets.
The SCI's role in the development of FAST dates back to 2003, when discussions among members of the SCI's Sustainable Coffee Partnership identified improving producer access to finance as a key strategy in achieving its core objectives of enabling the adoption of more sustainable practices across commodity markets. The SCI took the lead in convening FAST stakeholders at the Specialty Coffee Association of America's annual conference in 2005 and 2006 and continued to lead the process, along with steering committee participants, until FAST's formal establishment as a non-profit organization in 2007. Currently, the SCI and FAST work collaboratively on a number of projects.
Read more about this topic: Sustainable Commodity Initiative, SCI Projects, Finance For Sustainable Trade
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