Seasonal greetings from Somaha Foundation!

Somaha Foundation looks back on an eventful year. In 2024, the foundation deepened existing partnerships and initiated new projects that brought fresh momentum to its work. In addition, the Somaha focus theme – impact – was worked on intensively.  

The second SOMAHA ROUND also took place. In addition to networking with Somaha’s funding partners, the Impact Investing vehicle, Balim Investments (BALIM), which was founded together with HEKS and iGravity, was presented. BALIM finances small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on agriculture and aims to generate a positive social and environmental impact as well as a financial return.  

Another highlight of 2024 was holding a dedicated session on Impact Investing at this year’s SwissFoundations Symposium. Questions about impact investing were discussed with a wide range of participants and specific investment opportunities with equity or debt capital in BALIM were presented.  

Another key milestone was the expansion of the Somaha team in the area of localization, as well as a change in the Foundation Board: Somaha Foundation said goodbye to Tobias Jaag, member of the Board of Trustees from the very beginning and welcomed Jörg Gasser as a new member.   

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the Somaha funding partners: Swiss Red Cross, Terre des hommes, AsyLex, Helvetas, PeaceNexus, Aqua Viva, Brainforest, Forum Biodiversität, Pusch – Praktischer Umweltschutz, PHSG Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen, Crowd Container, Pro Lutra, IG Wilde Biene, Verein Biodiversität Jetzt!, Verein StadtNatur, Wilde Weiden Schweiz, J’aime ma Planète, Fondation arboRise, Verein FUNK, proQuercus, Autonomous River Cleanup, rrreefs.