Monthly Archives: May 2025

Text: Maxi Media

Photo: Rodrigo Duarte

Model C, an essential tool in business modeling developed through a partnership between Move Social and Sense-Lab, has gained a “version 2.0”. AMAZ, the largest impact accelerator in the North Region, has been using the methodology since the beginning of its trajectory to support forest entrepreneurs in the construction of strategies that generate real impact. There are more than 17 accelerated businesses and 14 invested, which together help in the preservation of more than 633 thousand hectares of forest and support 750 families in 56 municipalities in the Amazon.

The new version was launched during Impacta Mais 2025, held in March with the support of AMAZ, Grupo Boticário, Fundo Vale, Instituto Sabin and ICE. The C Model contributes to the modeling and strategic management of businesses, both to understand the intentions of businesses in the ideation stage and to build a diagnostic image of those already in operation. To this end, it integrates the Theory of Change with the Business Model Canvas.

Mariano Cenamo, CEO of the accelerator and founder of the Amazon Conservation and Sustainable Development Institute (Idesam), was one of those responsible for the review. He shares a little more about how the accelerator uses the tool.

“MOVE and Sense-Lab have been extremely important partners for AMAZ since the beginning of our strategy development up until the present moment. […]. On our side, it has been very good for planning the business acceleration process, that is, we apply it in the pre-acceleration workshop, when a diagnosis and planning is carried out with the businesses that are in the final phase prior to the pitch day, where we make the investment decision, and there we can have a good overview of the business model and the construction of the impact thesis. The businesses finish the pre-acceleration workshop, the last phase of selecting those that we will accelerate, presenting the Model C,” explains Cenamo.

The versatility of the tool, which is also useful at other times in the process of accelerating and monitoring business, and extensive dialogue with the ends in the construction of more improved versions were also highlighted by the manager as a differential in Model C.

“It is a very useful tool that we want to continue using and improving. We have even suggested some points for further development of Model C, which as the business advances we feel can be used to go into fundamental details such as, for example, governance strategy and tactical-operational plan”, adds the CEO of AMAZ.

The accelerator has 21 impact businesses in its portfolio. One of them is MOMA, which develops natural cosmetics from original inputs from the Amazon rainforest, contributing to the preservation and regeneration of the ecosystem's natural resources.

Founder Vivian Chun shares that the tool has been used since the beginning of activities, also helping in planning the next steps.

“It is a tool that helped us comprehensively design the entire business in its different aspects – the market, the production chain, what we offer as a differential, how we are compensated, in relation to the impact as well, what is the soul of the business, what we want to achieve as a purpose, etc. […]. This perspective that the C Model provides is very important to revalidate what is making sense for the business, what strategies we followed or did not follow, whether the partners are firm, whether the result we expect is consistent with what happened”, explains the founder of MOMA.

Revision
The revision of the model was motivated by changes in the field of socio-environmental impact since its launch, in the language and methodological approach, adaptation for more individual uses and for more complex businesses. As explained by Antonio Ribeiro, consulting partner at Move Social.

“We started by listening to people in the impact field, seeking to gather input on the practice with Model C. With this input, we carried out a broad review of the tool, and arrived at a preliminary proposal and guidelines for testing. Then came the testing phase with stakeholders, in different territories, seeking to identify possibilities for additional adjustments. Finally, we arrived at this version 2.0, which is now public and accessible”, he details.

More than 500 impact businesses, 14 accelerators, 10 investors and catalysts, eight universities and at least ten training courses currently use Model C in Brazil.

Version 2.0 of the tool is available for download, free of charge, in Portuguese, Spanish and soon also in English: www.modeloc.co.

Text: Maxi Media

Photo: Disclosure

AMAZ Aceleradora de Impacto is participating in the “Inova Amazônia Summit”, which ends this Friday, the 23rd. In the track that is addressing topics on technology and information, we will present socio-environmental impact solutions that are underway.

The event takes place in Macapá (AP) and brought together several actors from the ecosystem over three days to discuss solutions with socio-environmental impact.

Isis Arébalo, New Business Analyst, will represent AMAZ in the panel “Everything new again: The Power of Local Communities to Generate Innovations and Impact on the Forest”, which will be held in the Macapá auditorium, at 5:30 pm this Friday.

The event will present practical examples of innovation led by Amazonian communities that combine traditional knowledge and technologies to respond to the region's social, economic and environmental challenges.

Isis Arébalo highlights that the creation of public policies and partnerships with companies can boost community-based businesses with a real impact on the forest, but those who live in the forest must take the lead.

“The importance of the topic lies precisely in recognizing that the sustainable development of the Amazon is only possible with the strengthening of those who live in and know the territory”, emphasizes the AMAZ analyst.

More about the event

The “Inova Amazônia Summit” is promoted by the Government of the State of Amapá, in partnership with the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae). Over three days, the event aims to bring together more than five thousand people, including students, investors, entrepreneurs, startups, experts and government representatives.

The program includes workshops, lectures and panels to discuss bioeconomy, innovation, tourism, traditional communities, investments, technology, impact entrepreneurship, social inclusion and other topics related to the development of the Amazon. Registration is free and can be done through the link: https://agenciaamapa.com.br/noticia/30417/sebraeap.beevent.com.br/evento/inova-amazonia-summit.

Text: Vinicius Souza, for Maxi Media

Photo: ForestiFi Disclosure

The selection process received hundreds of applications from around the world and was supported by leading organizations such as Microsoft Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact, ChangeNOW and Techstars. 

An approach that helps to keep the forest standing, through blockchain technology, and connects rural production systems to sustainable investment markets. This is the great differentiator of ForestiFi, a fintech that tokenizes Amazonian bioeconomy assets supported by AMAZ Aceleradora de Impacto, which was elected as one of the most innovative sustainability startups in the world by Change 100, the global campaign of We Make Change. 

The announcement was made during “ChangeNOW”, the largest global event for solutions for the planet, in Paris. The selection received hundreds of applications from around the world and was supported by leading organizations, such as Microsoft Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact and Techstars. The list of all the selected candidates is available on the website: www.wemakechange.org/change100. 

“This recognition comes to validate the work we have been doing with ForestiFi over just over a year of operation, in which we have developed this alternative investment mechanism in the bioeconomy production chains in the Amazon,” says co-founder Macaulay Abreu. 

Founded in 2023 in the state of Amazonas, the platform tokenizes Amazonian biodiversity products such as guarana and chestnuts and guarantees transparency, greater efficiency, lower costs and security in transactions. 

Forestifi offers a platform where investors can purchase sociobiodiversity asset tokens. The amounts directly benefit rural production systems and contribute to the recovery of degraded areas, while also earning interest for those who invested. 

Since the beginning of its work, the platform has already tokenized native cocoa, managed pirarucu and wild guarana, moving almost R$500 thousand. In April, in partnership with Zeno Nativo — another startup supported by AMAZ —, ForestiFi transformed 1,850 kilos of Amazonian nuts into digital assets, raising R$114.7 thousand that benefited more than 50 extractive families in the Acará River region (PA). 

As one of the Change 100 startups, the startup will be connected to strategic resources, support programs and a global network of more than 50,000 remote volunteers, including experts from companies such as Standard Chartered Bank, PA Consulting and Grundfos. In addition, ForestiFi is preparing to connect more investors to sociobiodiversity production systems. “Our focus is on expanding the number of available assets and facilitating access for new investors to these products, strengthening organizations through the purchase of tokens. In addition, by the end of this year, we intend to launch a new version of the platform, with new investment models focused on production chains”, adds Abreu. 

AMAZ support 

Since the beginning of 2025, ForestiFi has been one of the startups supported by AMAZ, the main accelerator of socio-environmental impact businesses operating in the Legal Amazon. Currently, the business is in the “Traction” phase, a period in which the company focuses on accelerating results in the market, such as attracting customers and increasing revenue. 

AMAZ operations leader Gabriela Santos praises the election as a milestone for the regional ecosystem. 

“We are generating impact at the cutting edge and, at the same time, being able to reinforce the bioeconomy as a vector of innovation in the Amazon. AMAZ and Idesam [Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon] work to strengthen and shed light on solutions that are being developed locally and can be replicated as success stories, which requires continuous and close support in the long term, from investors and partners,” he highlights. 

About ForestiFi 

ForestiFi is an impact investment platform that connects investors to sustainable Amazon supply chains, using tokenization technology to ensure traceability, liquidity, and transparency. It has already structured tokens linked to products such as native cocoa, managed pirarucu, and wild guarana. 

Text: Maxi Media and GIFE Disclosure

Photo: GIFE Disclosure

The AMAZ Impact Accelerator coordinated by Idesam will be at the 13th Congress of the Group of Institutes, Foundations and Companies (GIFE), the main event on philanthropy in Latin America, which this year welcomes 185 speakers, experts and leaders from the sector, civil society organizations and government representatives in more than 30 activities.  

The program starts this Wednesday (7) and runs until Friday (9) with the theme “Deconcentrate: power, knowledge and wealth”. 

Gabriela Santos, operations leader, will be AMAZ’s representative at the event. She will contribute to the panel “The Value of Standing Forests: Bioeconomy and a New Development Paradigm for People, Climate and Nature”, which will take place on Friday, the 9th, from 9 am to 10:30 am. 

“The Bioeconomy agenda is still emerging in the [philanthropy] sector. In the year of COP30 [30th United Nations Climate Change Conference], where all eyes are on the Amazon, our participation is of great importance to, first of all, occupy these spaces, bringing light to the climate emergency beyond adaptation actions, but as a call for mitigation. What can we do today to support and strengthen organizations that are already working in territories essential to the maintenance of our environmental, social and cultural riches in the Amazon”, explains the operations leader at Amaz. 

The panel was jointly designed by the Arapyaú Institute and the Climate and Society Institute (iCS), in order to convey the reality of the Amazon territory and how it is possible to engage beyond the South-Southeast axis. 

Other experts who work in the region will also be present: Cleiciane Marques, a riverside resident, mobilizer of the Chestnut Collective and executive analyst of the Iratapuru Fund; Braulina Baniwa, indigenous researcher of sociobioeconomy in the Amazon and co-author of the publication “Indigenous bioeconomy: ancestral knowledge and social technologies”; Hélia Félix, farmer and technical manager of the Cacauway chocolate factory; and Débora Passos, manager of Project Management and Strategic Planning at the Arapyaú Institute. 

Schedule  

During the three days, the program will include debates, panels and exchanges of experiences. Among the topics covered are: bioeconomy and traditional communities, tax reform and ISP, collaborative philanthropy and food systems, plural education, ethical use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the power of Big Tech and the leading role of youth.  

One of the main personalities invited to the Congress, activist, filmmaker and philanthropist Abigail Disney spoke at the opening plenary “International situation and Brazilian context – after all, what kind of country do we want?”. At the age of 64, Abigail inherited a fortune of 10 million dollars left by her great-uncle Walt Disney at the age of 21. It is estimated that, of her current wealth of around 500 million dollars, she has donated more than 70 million dollars to causes related to vulnerable women.  

Highlighting the importance of women in society and in philanthropy, Abigail stated that Private Social Investment can, in a structured and coordinated manner, “change the reality of a country”, together with the capillarity of government actions. She also emphasized that in order to have “deconcentration of wealth and wisdom”, power cannot be limited only to those who have resources. “What if we all choose to live with the same importance?”, she reflected.