Telling the “story behind the product” to create empathy with the consumer was the challenge that the socio-environmental impact businesses had to face, at the end of the second Workshop of the PPA Acceleration Program, held in Belém (PA) between the 24th and 26th of April. After two days of discussion and exercises focused on marketing, sales and brand positioning, the 15 accelerated companies participated in a communication workshop for sustainable business, facilitated by the producer O2 Filmes.
The ventures had the opportunity to prepare a presentation for the production company's team of specialists, telling a story that could show the social and environmental impact of their businesses and thrill the consuming public. Having the internet as the main current means of communication with customers, Janaína Augustin, from O2 Filmes, was able to offer an immediate return to Amazonian entrepreneurs, attentive to all the tips.
For Augustin, in addition to knowing how to sell the product, impact businesses need to sell a story, and the internet can be a good ally, especially due to its high reach and low cost. “The first communication has to be on the cell phone. Studies on the consumption time of content show that 70% is done by cell phone, in a fast way”, highlights Augustin.
Rafael Potiguar, from Peabiru Produtos da Floresta, was one of the people who left the workshop transformed. According to Potiguar, the meeting helped him to position himself more as a person who works with the Amazon, including exchanging ideas with other more experienced businessmen.
“We have a sense of who we are as a company, but we have difficulty in communicating and showing our differential to other people. We work with riverside producers, we have a whole story behind us, but the challenge is how to show this to other people and raise interest in the product”, emphasizes Potiguar.
With ten years of existence, 100% Amazônia has also felt the reverberation of the lessons of monitoring the Acceleration Program in the company's daily activities, including the feeling that drives its operations in the region. “I see that what unites us is the affection we have for the Amazon, both in terms of welcoming and loving, but also in terms of affecting. All our work impacts the environment and our forest, and we have a responsibility to preserve it”, emphasizes Alves.
Focused on positioning, relationship with consumers and on creating the universe of brands, the 2nd Workshop of the PPA Acceleration Program was an aid to help entrepreneurs to “package” the identity that highlights these businesses and show the positive impact that they come generating in the environment and in communities in the Amazon.
“We were able to see the birth of several exercise insights among entrepreneurs. When they start to think of their customers as characters, it becomes easier later to think of a market strategy”, observes Ana Bastida, from the coordination of the Acceleration Program.
About the Acceleration Program
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 during 2019 and includes workshops and workshops, mentoring, legal and accounting advice, scholarships and the feasibility of coworking spaces for startups and selected entrepreneurs in its portfolio. In addition to this second workshop held in Belém, two more meetings should take place in Manaus (AM) and Santarém (PA).
PPA was created with the objective of leading the construction of innovative solutions for sustainable development in the Amazon with companies and the private sector, prioritizing investments in businesses with a social and environmental impact. In practice, PPA acts in the incubation and acceleration of entrepreneurs, in carrying out strategic studies to expand investments and through partnerships between companies, communities and governments.
The Program is coordinated by the Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon (IDESAM), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).
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