Focused on Amazonian businesses, the initiative accounts for more than double the number of subscribers compared to 2018
The PPA 2019 Business Call received 201 applications in just over a month. It is more than double compared to last year's edition, which had 81 entries.
performed by Partners for the Amazon Platform (PPA) with technical support from Pipe Social, the Call is aimed at entrepreneurs, startups, organizations, community-based businesses, networks of people/collectives, institutions and companies at an early stage focused on forest conservation, biodiversity enhancement and sustainable development in the Amazon.
The initiative received entries from all regions of Brazil, with a large concentration in the north of the country – 30% of those enrolled are from the state of Amazonas and 26% from Pará, and there are also proposals from Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Tocantins, Amapá and Acre. The Call opened the possibility of registering initiatives from other regions, as long as they assumed the commitment to start operations in the Amazon in the next six months.
The registered businesses operate in the areas of sustainable agriculture and livestock (24%), sustainable forest management and production (23%), environmental products and services (20%), education for environmental conservation (9%), climate change mitigation/adaptation (4% ), waste/waste treatment with benefits for rural populations and communities (14%) and monitoring/fighting illegal activities (1%).
Most of the initiatives are in the organization phase to gain scale, but there are projects in all phases, from ideation, validation, prototyping, pilot, traction, pre-scale and scale.
The businesses are also related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with greater concentration in the number 12 SDGs (Sustainable Production and Consumption), 08 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 13 ( Action Against Global Climate Change) and 02 (Zero Hunger and Sustainable Agriculture).
For Mariano Cenamo, Director of New Businesses at the Amazon Conservation and Sustainable Development Institute (Idesam) and Executive Coordinator of PPA, the result of the Call surprised not only the quantity, but also the diversity of registered businesses: “The quality and stage of development of these businesses are amazing. We had from very small and promising businesses of associations and community cooperatives of rural producers, startups at an early stage, with extremely innovative ideas, to well-established companies, with revenues above R$ 5 million, working with key value chains to promote development sustainable development in the Amazon. It was a very big challenge to select the businesses that will go to the next phase of the selection process, but we are sure that the result is already extremely impactful”.
Anna Tonnes, Acting Director of USAID/Brazil, believes that the increase in the number of subscribers to the Call is a clear sign that the impact business environment is thriving and there is a search for opportunities by entrepreneurs: “There has always been doubt if in remote areas such as the Amazon, initiatives like this would make sense. The results are there and they say yes. For USAID/Brazil, it is a privilege to be part of the Partners Platform for the Amazon and to contribute, through the PPA Business Call, to the sustainable development of the Amazon and the conservation of its biodiversity”.
Of the total of 201 registered, 36 businesses were classified for the next phase of the Call – which includes interviews and visits to the projects – and compete for participation in business rounds with investors for financial support of up to R$ 800 thousand and vacancies in the PPA Acceleration Program, which includes on-site thematic training, personalized mentoring, coworking, legal, accounting, marketing and branding advice, in addition to scholarships for participation in training and events.
The sum of the annual turnover of the registered businesses gives a value of around R$ 44 million, and the total investment demand of the registered businesses is R$ 187 million. Of the 201 deals, 47% signed up to participate in the Acceleration Program and in the business roundtables.
For Livia Hollerbach, from Pipe.Social, the increase in the number of registered businesses brings “more opportunities to foster a sustainable forest economy and more innovation to face social and environmental challenges in the Amazon region. And for the Impact Business sector, we celebrate the strengthening of the northern region of the country, which is beginning to attract the attention of investors and organizations that support impact entrepreneurs. An important achievement of the PPA platform that can and should inspire initiatives in other regions of Brazil.”
The PPA 2019 Business Call is an achievement of the PPA, coordinated by Idesam and financial support from USAID, CIAT, Instituto Humanize and Fundo Vale. It has a partnership with Pipe Social, Amazon Entrepreneurship Center, Centro de Vida Institute (ICV), CERTI Foundation, Amazon Network Foundation, FIIMP, NESsT, Sitawi, ICE and Conexsus and support from the following companies and organizations: Natura, Peabiru Institute , Amazon Conservation Team (Ecam) Bemol, DD&L, Whirpool Cervejaria Ambev, Beraca, Agropalma, Abrapalma, Althelia and Grupo Rede Amazônica.
Add a Comment