Initiating the activities of the Acceleration Program for Partners for the Amazon Platform, members of 15 Amazon impact businesses met from February 18 to 20 at the Impact Hub, in Manaus, and began working on theories of change and indicators for their projects.Developed in partnership with Sense-Lab and Social Move, a Workshop on Innovation in Business Models and Construction of Impact Indicators presented the Model C to the entrepreneurs participating in the Program, encouraging each one of them to work at the same time in the design of the business and the impact management chain, in an integrated manner. As a group, the entrepreneurs advanced in the individual modeling of their businesses, while interacting with each other in possible doubts and similarities. These startups, located in municipalities in the states of Amazonas and Pará, have also initiated connections and exchanges that can provide new business opportunities. “Our objectives in these days of the workshop were to build a logical narrative, refine the business vision and its integration with impact, and define key indicators for each one of them. A vision of the success of each business, but also a joint vision of what all this will generate as a Program”, says Antônio Ribeiro, from Move Social. How do Antonio de Lima Mesquita and Nubia Mireya Garzon Barrero, from startup Ecopanels from Fibra do Fruto do Açaí, the moment was also one of co-creation. The duo describes the construction process throughout the workshop as a great differentiator for the business, which at the same time encourages that, at the same time that everyone thinks about their own venture, they share visions with other entrepreneurs.Tainah Fagundes, from the company Da Tribu, points out that the experience has been important for businesses to be able to take a special look at the impact: “The impact is the blind spot, we generate it and it doesn't measure, it doesn't touch. And this is a tool [the Model C] that comes to give us a direction. I was happy because we are with Move and Sense-Lab, who are outstanding professionals focused on impact businesses, and not to encourage the preparation of a business plan for a traditional company. We are having an experience of really looking at different businesses. And for them it is also a learning experience, to understand a little about the Amazon, which is very peculiar. It's a two-way, adding way”. For Andreas Ufer, from Sense-Lab, the call to work with the acceleration of these businesses by adopting Model C since the beginning of the process contributes to the quality of the Program throughout the year, while also helping to validate the tool itself. . “The potential for this is huge, in two directions. First, in terms of building a robust alternative to the Amazon, and second, how this vision can infect the rest of the impact business movement. And it also has a different view for us, because the Amazon has a different context, we have here a learning experience on how to deal with all of this”.Antônio Ribeiro, from Move Social, who got to know several of the businesses that participate in the Program throughout the Social Investment Forum and Impact Businesses in the Amazon, in November of last year, considers the holding of the workshop in the Program as a kind of continuity of the established relationship, and highlights the privilege of experiencing and being able to be close to a process of transformation in the Amazon. “This also requires us to study more, learn more about the specific realities. And it has been very good to see people here giving themselves to this construction, opening up to reflect based on the logic that we are proposing”.Although the group of entrepreneurs participating in the PPA Acceleration Program has different profiles, they are also aware of its strength as a kind of showcase able to inspire similar initiatives, catapulting a new economy for the region.
“It is the first time that such a strong group of entrepreneurs and startups has come together to solve socio-environmental problems in the Amazon from their own businesses. The solution to the deforestation of the forest involves the development of innovative solutions for the region's economy. The Amazon needs a new economy. And this economy starts now”, says Mariano Cenamo, co-founder of Idesam and executive coordinator of PPA.The PPA Acceleration ProgramThe impactful business ecosystem in the Amazon is simmering. There are more and more initiatives to include riverside communities, indigenous peoples, quilombolas and family farmers in production processes, in new markets and processes. These businesses promise to leverage a new economy in the region, against deforestation and predatory activities and valuing socio-biodiversity.In 2018, the Partners for the Amazon Platform (PPA) held its first Business Call, receiving 81 entries. Of these, 15 were selected to participate in the PPA's Incubation and Acceleration Program, which will take place during 2019 and includes workshops and workshops, mentoring, legal and accounting advice, scholarships and the feasibility of coworking spaces for startups and entrepreneurs selected in its portfolio.During the acceleration program, the entrepreneur may apply for scholarships or logistical support (cost of travel and accommodation) to participate in conferences, fairs, courses or training events that have the potential to contribute or significantly leverage the development of their company.
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