Daily Archives: August 17, 2023

Photo: Disclosure Navegam

In July of this year, the navigate, an AMAZ portfolio company, was recognized as one of the expanding businesses in Brazil by the Exame Business in Expansion Ranking 2023 , an initiative by EXAME, BTG Pactual (from the same EXAME control group) and technical support from PwC Brasil. 

The survey considers the evolution of Net Operating Revenue (NOR) from one year to the next, in five categories, according to the companies' revenues. Navegam was classified in the category between R$ 2 million to R$ 5 million, among 59 companies from different regions of the country. 

The complete list brings 335 companies from 22 states, representing the five regions of the country, and is a form of recognition for businesses, as those selected have demonstrated that, with efficient management, opportunity analysis and new strategies, they managed to advance in the market. 

“We ranked 22nd out of 59 companies, growing 82%. Entering this ranking, which is already the largest entrepreneurship ranking in Brazil, is very important for Navegam, especially because we are from the Amazon. We show that here we have the structure to undertake and, above all, to grow and create jobs. Showing Brazil the notoriety and work we are doing today is very important. More and more we need to give visibility to the system of innovation and entrepreneurship that we have here in the Amazon. This recognition brought visibility and also many good contacts,” analyzes Michelle Guimarães, partner and Chief Governance Officer (CGO) at Navegam.

The growth of 82% was well planned. The company closed 2021 with revenues around R$ 1.2 million, and reached 2022 with R$ 2.2 million. The company doubled the number of customers and reach, proving the thesis that working with logistics in the Amazon is essential. 

The expectation for 2023 is to have revenues up to three times greater than in 2022, due to the entry of large customers such as TV Lar, a traditional retail company with more than 50 years in operation. Today, Navegam is responsible for all of TV Lar's logistics in the interior of the state of Amazonas.

Company started the year 2023 heated

Navegam ended 2022 with a significant investment contribution, and the first half of 2023 was marked by the start of the operation of the platform for tracking and monitoring production chains, with the carrying out of a pilot project with the Apuí Agroforestry Coffee. The platform was even awarded by HackBrazil, at the Brazilian Conference, in Harvard, ranking second among about 300 Brazilian startups. Nevegam was the first to represent Amazonas at the event.

“We are doing this pilot, finishing all the adjustments, understanding how the platform will behave, so that we can replicate it with other industries. We have data that, in the state of Amazonas alone, we have 21 types of productive chains mapped. We are talking about around 90,000 small producers in the state. Our idea is to focus more and more on this product [platform], mainly with public-private partnerships, so that we can understand how this ecosystem can improve. That's our big goal with the platform. It is yet another business front that we are opening, mainly focused on social impact and sustainable development,” says Michelle.

Navegam, which today has more than 30 employees, started working with the digitization of river crossings, offering e-commerce, but during the course of the process, in conversations with the people who offered the services of the vessels and with retail customers, soon the potential of logistics leapt to the eye. Many companies needed to improve their deliveries to the interior of the Amazon, and so Navegam expanded its operations to this front. “Today, logistics is our main business. As we don't have roads, we depend on the rivers, this front brings very good opportunities,” analyzes the company's CGO.

Today, Navegam has more than 70 vessels registered in the system, covering all destinations in Amazonas and also some destinations in Pará. Ticket e-commerce makes life easier for people, but also provides information on interurban mobility. The company is building data intelligence to understand consumer behavior, including travel frequency, most searched places, busiest cities, etc. A very rich object of study to improve fluvial mobility.

To manage all this, it adopted SAP Business One (B1), software for small and medium-sized companies that allows it to coordinate operations, consolidate data and ensure more agility, reducing costs and maintenance, standardizing processes and improving performance. It is the first company in the North region to use the tool. The implementation of the project is in charge of H&CO, a multinational group in the field of tax consultancy. 

“With the implementation of the SAP system, and because it is now the largest management system in the world, we will have more and more credibility with future investors and partners in relation to our data and management. The implementation was strategic, aiming precisely at this growth with other markets. It makes it much easier to check our numbers,” adds Michelle.

Photo: Latimpacto Disclosure

AMAZ is present at two major events held in August: the Impact Minds 2023 Conference: Stand Together 2023, from Latimpacto, an ecosystem builder that stands out for increasing the flow of human, intellectual and financial capital for impact in Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Glocal Experience Manaus 2023, which takes place in the historic center of the capital of Amazonas, with the proposal to promote dialogues, meetings and culture to think about new tomorrows from a local and global perspective.

Through Latimpacto, AMAZ is part of the Pan-Amazônia group, which seeks to promote spaces for dialogue for connection and shared learning between financial organizations operating in the region. This group promoted three online sessions on the themes 1. Conceptualizing the bioeconomy in the Amazon, 2. Advancing the bioeconomy based on doubts and certainties about investments and enterprises, and 3. What remains to be done and developed? Building the path to a positive, inclusive and sustainable bioeconomy in the Amazon.

The ultimate goal of this series of meetings is to develop the 1st paper with recommendations for governments and capital providers on the state of the bioeconomy in the region, which will be released at the Impact Minds Conference.

Gabriela Souza, responsible for accelerating business and institutional management at AMAZ/Idesam, will participate in the conference as part of the thematic panel on “The frontier of the bioeconomy and opportunities in the Pan-Amazon”, together with Aline Souza (SBSA Advogados), Márcia Soares ( Fundo Vale) and Maurício Verkooijen (NESst). The event, which takes place from the 28th to the 30th of August, is aimed exclusively at funders and impact capital mobilizers.

“Participation in this group has been very rich in strengthening AMAZ's presence in the ecosystem, enabling the connection with actors and potential national and international partners that have similar and/or complementary actions to ours and exchange of experiences and learning. The Conference will be an opportunity to bring this group closer together, mainly pan-Amazonian actors, but also to expose the work we have been doing for investors who are not yet adept at or far from the thesis – we will compose the academic agenda in a conversation with Nesst, Fundo Vale and SBSA to discuss the frontiers and opportunities of the bioeconomy in the Amazon”, analyzes Gabriela.

The Amazon Program at Casa Floresta em Pé will also be present at the Latimpacto conference with a stand to present the initiative and sell products.

Glocal Experience for the first time in Manaus

THE glocal defines itself as a platform for ideas and actions to fulfill the 2030 Agenda, based on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The first edition took place in 2022, in Rio de Janeiro, and was attended by thousands of people, offering content, workshops, workshops and cultural attractions.

In 2023, in addition to taking place once again in Rio de Janeiro, Glocal arrives in Manaus with the same format, with free access to activities and with the intention of being a catalyst for the union of different sectors, initiatives and people in the search for solutions for achieving the 2030 Agenda. The movement's premise is to think globally and act locally, encouraging various pacts for the implementation of the SDGs.  

In the capital of Amazonas, the Glocal Experience will take place from the 26th to the 28th of August, with activities at Largo São Sebastião (Show Stage and Espaço Criança), Palácio da Justiça (Impact Stage / Challenges and Solutions Stage / Hands-On Space), Hall of Hotel Juma Ópera (Glocal Stage) and at Teatro Amazonas (Shows: Encontro das Águas and Encontro dos Bois de Parintins).

Rafael Moreira, responsible for business selection at AMAZ/Idesam, participates in the event composing the panel “Business with Impact: The Challenges of Generating Profit and Positive Impact”, which will take place on 08/27, from 12:00 to 13:00, in the Salão do Hotel Juma Opera.

“The Global Experience Manaus event echoes AMAZ's own way of acting, seeking to integrate international, regional and local actors into a broad agenda with the purpose of keeping the forest standing, conserving and benefiting traditional populations and communities, integrating to actors of the most varied forms of social action. Specifically in this agenda, we will talk about the challenge of integrating impact and profit.”

Photo: Rodrigo Duarte

Entrepreneurs from Ekilibre, Cumbaru, Manawara, Mazô Maná and Simbiotica Finance met in Manaus in early August for the last face-to-face meeting of the 2023 acceleration journey to work on two focuses: scale and growth, as well as a diagnosis of the journey to acceleration.

The programming focused on the first focus included conversations on governance and challenges in leveraging investments in businesses in the Amazon. Participants worked on planning fundraising rounds, building individual roadmaps, reviewing and refining pitches and collective exchanges. And they had the opportunity to participate in a pitch day, presenting their businesses to investors, financiers and impact ecosystem partners.

The second focus, analysis of the acceleration journey, came as a diagnosis of what was developed from the development plan outlined with the businesses at the beginning of the journey and preparation for the next phase of the relationship with the accelerator, when these businesses will be monitored by the team responsible for monitoring the implementation and monitoring of the journey of each one of them while they are part of the portfolio.

“This workshop brought a diagnosis of the acceleration journey, but also aimed at the next steps. The presence of financiers, investors and ecosystem partners created a safe environment for validating the business strategy, on what demands still exist, what support can be given and what questions need to be asked to find better answers", analyzes Gabriela Souza, coordinator of acceleration from AMAZ.

Gabriela recalls that the business journey began while still in the selection process, with due diligence and pre-acceleration, when the AMAZ team began to understand the demands, bottlenecks and points of support they needed. Based on the investment plan, the acceleration directed support on individual fronts, with strategic advice from partners and also from Idesam and AMAZ, based on experience in previous journeys.

Mariano Cenamo, CEO of AMAZ and new business director at Idesam, highlights the development of companies throughout the program's acceleration stages and next steps:

“We are in a very interesting moment, where companies are starting to make successive rounds of attracting new investors to take a new leap in growth. This workshop that we are holding now is one of those steps, where we help to structure a growth plan and AMAZ can make an additional capital contribution aimed at leveraging new direct investments. One of the great expectations is precisely this, to be a catalytic capital that can leverage more and more capital from private and philanthropic investors or even from research and development for business growth.”

Supporters, investors and financiers attended the workshop

The last meeting of the acceleration journey was attended by Sâmera Adães, from Fundo JBS pela Amazônia, Liz Lacerda and Isabela xxx, from Fundo Vale, as well as Marcelo Forma and Ilana Minev, investors in the accelerator.

The four participated in the pitch day with the businesses, listening carefully to the presentations and suggesting adjustments, highlighting strengths and opportunities.

“For us, at Fundo JBS pela Amazônia, it is a pleasure to be part of this second round of business acceleration. For me, who followed this group back there, since the selection, it is particularly rich to see the maturity they reached and the contribution that AMAZ itself brought to this with the Theory of Change and the impact approach, and to know that they are getting ready now to receive the follow on. We are open for whatever they need and we continue to follow AMAZ”, analyzes Sâmera.

Liz Lacerda and Isabella Zicarelli, from Fundo Vale, highlight the cooperation that businesses establish with each other as one of the greatest differentials in the process of accelerating AMAZ, in addition to the environment of trust created between them, with openness and transparency.

“For Fundo Vale, created to support impact initiatives, it is very interesting to see how this resource is being invested in the acceleration program. Being part of this program generates a mattress of confidence for these businesses, of stability, a structure that is not merely an institutional support. AMAZ places itself in this place of making connections and making use of its entire history, of all the team's connections, whether here in the Amazon or throughout Brazil, to support the business. The contract that the fund has with AMAZ is one of the only ones with an extended term, so it is a real bet for the fund in this acceleration program format. We have many expectations, there are many results being delivered, and we continue to co-create this program”, defines Liz.

For Isabella, “AMAZ helps Fundo Vale with one of its main challenges, which is deciding where to place patient capital, which is catalytic, in order to leverage more impact. The accelerator is one of the long-term initiatives that we support, and it will be a very successful case at the end of the cycle”.

Entrepreneurs highlight connections and a safe environment for exchanges and construction

The recognition of the importance of the connections provided by AMAZ and its network for business growth is unanimous among the entrepreneurs, who also highlight the validation with the impact ecosystem for going through the acceleration process and integrating the accelerator's portfolio, as a kind of 'seal of trust'. In addition to financial and impact modeling and communication support.

“Cumbaru arrives at the end of the acceleration much more prepared for the next steps that lie ahead. The main values that AMAZ brings to us are the connection with investors, support in the financial modeling of our business and impact modeling. We also had support with our communication, an important point in which we needed to advance”, defines Pedro Nogueira, CEO and co-founder of Cumbaru Parcerias.

Airam Correa Marçal, partner of Mazô Maná, reinforces the importance of participating in the AMAZ network to strengthen the business: “Throughout this process there was learning, our business today is undoubtedly more prepared. The contact with other entrepreneurs also strengthened us a lot. Being with an institution like AMAZ, and with this group of investors, sort of supported the story of Mazô Maná and everything we were looking for. We are going to embark on a stronger growth journey now, improve the portfolio, ensure financial resilience, while also going on an international journey.”

Marcelo Salazar, also founder of Mazô Maná, highlights the accelerator's contribution to modeling the interface between productive forest systems with communities and payment for social and environmental services and carbon: "We had several conversations, we evolved in this strategy, we managed to close the first partnerships along these lines, and I think that was the main thing we sought in this acceleration. The selection of AMAZ also encouraged other investors and partners with whom we were already talking, and it certainly also made a difference for the last investors that we brought to Mazô. We are in the final stretch of launching our first product and we are going to really put the company on the market.”

Paula Palermo, founder of Simbiotica Finance, also points out the recognition of a business with an impact given by AMAZ as fundamental to participating in the ecosystem: “For us it is very important to be involved with the projects, to have access to resources and to that seal of quality of impact that AMAZ and Idesam bring. It is a recognition for us in this territory, and what opened the most doors.”

For Kairós Canavarro, CEO of Ekilibre Amazônia, the new opportunities brought by the accelerator in the fields of investors and markets have broadened the company's horizons. “Today I believe much more in the company, I have a much better network of contacts and I can see with more reality what I want to achieve, which is to make the company generate a lot of income in the communities, to be a reference in the national and international market. The acceleration represented for me openness, network, vision of the future and choice.”

“It was great to meet people who share the same goals, and what's better, people who are extremely qualified to do what they do, and who can be trusted. As a business, we went from five products to 25. We went from a franchise project to a point of sale already operating, six franchises already signed to start operating in the coming months and four more to be signed by the end of the year. The acceleration was a mix of a lot of learning – impact, commercial value, business growth”, says Mércio Sena, CEO of Manawara.

The different business profiles, while bringing many challenges to the acceleration journey, have demands that are connected. They operate in different markets, but face the same entrepreneurship challenges in the Amazon.

“That's why this richness of the acceleration journey is a collective stage, with many exchanges, where they manage to have a safe environment to validate strategies, potential partnerships and creative business models, which can bring a better impact result. This journey does not end here. The businesses remain in our portfolio for a few years, so that we can achieve the expected impact result and also their development as major players in this ecosystem”, concludes Gabriela Souza.