All posts by : Amaz Impact Accelerator

Company presents Amazonian flavors in vegan jelly beans, cookies and nuts

THE manawara, a business specializing in the production of food from ingredients from the Amazon, opens its first point of sale in São Paulo on May 6th. O holy market, in the south zone of the capital, is the place chosen to introduce São Paulo residents to the flavors and colors of the Amazon.

Initially, 22 product options will be offered, including fruit candies of different flavors, nuts and cookies. Foods such as açaí, guarana, taperebá and cupuaçu are present in jujubes and other vegan products, without gluten or lactose.

In its production chain, the company seeks to value producers from the Amazon region. The guarana used comes from Maués, the nut comes from Assoab (Association of Farmers of Beruri), which operates in Resex Mamirauá. The flour in the cookies comes from Iranduba, the honey from Boa Vista do Ramos, the coconut flour from producers in Acre.

The business already sells its products in stores in some parts of Brazil and through e-commerce, and 70% of its customers are in São Paulo.

“Our intention is to promote an immersion in the world of colors and flavors of the Amazon. That everyone has the possibility of imagining their Amazon through the products we offer. Inside each bullet, in each box, there is a lot of care for nature and the people who live in the forest”, points out Mércio Sena, CEO of Manawara.

expanding markets

A member of the impact accelerator AMAZ portfolio, Manawara has invested in the development of products and packaging over the past six years.

The effort has been awarded with important recognitions. The company has participated in the largest food and beverage fairs in the world and Europe – Anuga and Sial. For Sial, it won the Seal of Innovation in 2020. And it was also awarded by the Brazil Design Awards with the packaging developed for fruit candies, also in 2020.

Manawara is in the final stages of shipping the first container of products to the US. Its products have also aroused interest in the Chinese market: JD, an e-commerce giant, the China Department of Commerce and a supermarket chain in Beijing with a foreign clientele have shown interest in opening negotiations.

In addition, the company closed a deal with the JHSF Fasano group, which will make the company's fruit candies available in hotel rooms in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

From 02/28 to 03/02, the first in-person workshop of the 2023 acceleration journey will take place in Manaus. Entrepreneurs from the five businesses selected for acceleration and investment – Cumbaru, Ekilibre, Impacta Finance, Manawara and Mazô Maná – will gather to review your C Models and Theories of Change and advance the impact matrix, indicators and monitoring.

During the meeting, communication will also be worked on based on the tools mentioned above, construction of narratives and use of data, also suitable for audiences and channels of interest to the business. 

“The first workshop of the 2023 acceleration journey aims to resume the work started in the selection stage, refining the thesis and impact model of the invested businesses based on what we have been working on in recent months. With the construction of an individualized action plan and connecting demands common to the enterprises, face-to-face meetings are essential to co-construct and deepen collective themes, but which require a look at the specificities of each business model", analyzes Gabriela Souza, analyst of AMAZ investments.

The journey began in January, with the holding of the first webinar aimed at connecting businesses and presenting the proposal for the acceleration journey, which will feature individual and collective moments with the aim of helping businesses to develop and improve their needs . 

Follow the unfolding of the workshop on the AMAZ networks. 

Five businesses were selected by AMAZ Impact Accelerator to receive investment and be accelerated in 2023. The last stage of the selection process – the presentation of the pitches – took place in Manaus on November 30th, during the 2nd FIINSA (Forum de Investimentos de Impact and Sustainable Business in the Amazon).

The businesses that will become part of the accelerator's portfolio in 2023 are: Cumbaru, Ekilibre, Impacta Finance, Manawara and Mazô Maná. Four of them are headquartered in the Legal Amazon and one in São Paulo.

Following AMAZ’s portfolio diversification logic, those selected work in different areas, such as recovery of degraded pastures through agrosilvopastoral systems, management of sociobiodiversity products, manufacture of natural vegan cosmetics, functional foods and vegan sweets with Amazonian raw materials , decentralized finance and web 3.0 solutions for impactful businesses.

Businesses bring diversification to the accelerator's portfolio

In the 2022 Call, AMAZ sought to further diversify the portfolio, focusing on businesses that test innovative concepts.

“Businesses entered completely new areas for the ecosystem, such as Impacta Finance, for example, which must build and apply web 3.0 solutions that will serve other impact businesses even in our own portfolio. We also selected businesses already established in the region and with governance structures involving local leaders, always looking for ventures in which AMAZ can contribute knowledge and complementary resources, such as the development of the impact thesis, organizational structure, connections with local partners, suppliers, customers or other businesses in our portfolio”, analyzes Mariano Cenamo, CEO of AMAZ and new business director at Idesam.

Cenamo highlights the opportunity to present the pitches during the 2nd FIINSA as a bonus of this year's selection process, since during the event the businesses had intense contact with the entire ecosystem, interacting with investors, other businesses in the AMAZ portfolio, other accelerators and other actors.

For Rafael Moreira Ribeiro, investment analyst at AMAZ, this year's selection process was a little more demanding in the sense of seeking this diversity of business profiles:

“In terms of scale, business today has a smaller reach, but at the same time we have new market emergencies – we are talking about decentralized finance, recovery of pasture areas, sustainable livestock and, of course, food. These are very interesting and extremely important areas for the AMAZ focus and thesis. For the future, we imagine that this process of composing the accelerator's portfolio will continue to seek diversity and new market areas to explore, and we believe that these ventures have a high potential to boost Amazon socio-biodiversity in the coming years.”

Acceleration and investment in 2023

The five selected businesses will go through an acceleration journey that will last approximately six months, and which is formatted from the collective and individual needs of the group, programmed in co-creation between the AMAZ team and the entrepreneurs. They will also receive an initial investment of R$ 200 thousand, with the possibility of a new contribution at the end of the acceleration.

The approximate impact potential of the selected businesses, between five and ten years, includes more than 1 million hectares of preserved forest, development of more than 15 Amazonian value chains, 2,000 hectares of forests recovered, hundreds of community suppliers benefited and an increase in investment flow in the Amazon region at R$50 million.

Meet the selected ones:

cumbaru – located in Cuiabá (MT), works with the recovery of degraded pastures through the implementation of agrosilvopastoral systems and sustainable management of sociobiodiversity products. It focuses on three main chains: Baru, beef calves and milk production. It operates in partnership with small and medium-sized rural producers, providing access to resources and technical assistance for greater productive efficiency in degraded areas and reducing the pressure of deforestation.

Ekilibre Amazon – based in Santarém (PA), it is a vegan brand of natural cosmetics, with 10 years in the market, based on valuing the standing forest. Its products contain around 90-96% of forest inputs, sustainably harvested by communities in western Pará. 

Impact Finance – Impacta Finance – headquartered in Jundiaí (SP), it is a startup of disruptive solutions focused on accelerating the 3D economy (digital, decentralized and decarbonized) through blockchain technology. The company designs web3 projects so that impactful businesses can transform their socio-environmental interventions into digital assets, which can be exposed to global investors through a regenerative finance index.

manawara – headquartered in Manaus (AM), it is a brand of vegan, gluten-free and lactose-free sweets, produced from Amazonian raw materials. It has a portfolio of gummy candies, biscuits, cereals and nuts. It has a rapid growth strategy for the coming years, which includes a structuring of raw material suppliers based on agroforestry and extractive production.

mazo maná – headquartered in Altamira (PA), its proposal is the production and sale of functional foods with inputs from sustainable and community extractivism in the Amazon, focusing on the domestic market and exports. The business model also includes the development of the Payments for Environmental Services platform. 

Photo: Rodrigo Duarte

In October, 10 finalist businesses from the 2022 Business Call participated in the pre-acceleration workshop offered by AMAZ in partnership with Sense-Lab.

The workshop took place in a jungle hotel in Iranduba, Amazonas, in a three-day immersion in which entrepreneurs were focused on thinking about their businesses and connecting with their peers who work in the Amazon region.

The AMAZ and Sense-Lab teams worked on Model C with male and female entrepreneurs, including building an impact and business matrix.

O Model C  works from two tools that have been used to model socio-environmental impact businesses – Business Model Canvas and Theory of Change -, and proposes an approach that respects, values and feeds off of both with the purpose of contributing to mature impact businesses, guiding and encouraging business and impact to be thought out together. 

Gabriela Souza, investment analyst at AMAZ, considers the pre-acceleration as a key moment to really understand how the accelerator can contribute to business development: “It was a very important moment for the AMAZ team, to get to know entrepreneurs in practice , monitor how they are evaluating the development of the business model and the impact model and connecting with the support they expect from us along the acceleration journey.”

Yurik Ostroski, from Sense-Lab, highlights the quality of the entrepreneurs who participated in the pre-acceleration: “For us it is a very good exchange, because we learn a lot about the local reality, the contexts of these challenges and bring a bit of tools. It is an extremely rich construction.”

The monitoring specialist at Fundo JBS pela Amazônia, Sâmera Adães, accompanied the pre-acceleration journey: “For me it was enriching, mainly to understand a little more about the dynamics, difficulties and the whole process that these businesses are going through, and also the power to somehow, who knows in the future, contribute a little more for them to develop.”

Model C: thinking about the business and the impact

Photo: Rodrigo Duarte

The construction of impact and business models based on the workshop focused on Model C seeks to deliver value to all these businesses, whether or not they are selected for the acceleration journey.

“I think that for the first time I am able to really think deeply about my business, and the tools presented add a lot of value to what we are doing. They put us in a situation of contesting some ideas, but always in a proactive way,” analyzes José Mattos Neto, from Via Floresta

Priscila Almeida, from Amazônia Smartfood, highlights the broader view of business impacts: “Through pre-acceleration, we are able to identify, visualize and create opportunities for other impacts that we were not identifying.”

For Vicente Tino, from Tree Earth, the concepts brought by the pre-acceleration and the exchange with other entrepreneurs were very important: “It made me take time to think about my business, and to think together with a team that is focused on improving the Amazon."“AMAZ, I think, more than any other partner that we may have, allows us to have direct access to what is being done on the ground, in the forest, and this is very important for my business”, says Rafaela Romano, from Impact Finance.

Connection between businesses is a strong point in pre-acceleration

The pre-acceleration offers male and female entrepreneurs the opportunity to get to know other businesses operating in the Amazon region, providing an environment for exchange and trust between them.

Individual challenges and solutions can help to shorten paths from the exchange of experience. Often, partnerships arise at this stage of the selection promoted by AMAZ.

Exchange, learning and individualized attention are three points highlighted by Mércio Sena, from Manawara: “You leave the world you are immersed in all the time, and often understand that those pains are yours alone. But here we find others who go through the same pain. This pre-acceleration also gives us content that enables understanding and other views, and in addition to this collective construction, we have individual attention with regard to doubts and clarifications specific to our business.”

Kairós Canavarro, from Ekilibre Amazônia, and Manuela Paim, from Moda Paimm, agree with Mércio and point out that in this connection it is always possible to find in other businesses some strategy or solution to boost your own business and also establish partnerships.

For Valéria Moura, from Deveras Amazônia, the opportunity to be part of an innovation system in the Amazon, together with other businesses that work for this socio-biodiversity economy to grow, makes a lot of difference in thinking about the future of your business.

For Pedro Nogueira, from Cumbaru, the diversity of businesses present in the pre-acceleration period brought a rich experience of contact with other things and realities not yet known and of learning.

“We are observing synergies between the businesses and also managing to deepen the understanding of the impact models. We have discussed a lot about what our impact is, how to structure this and create indicators, and it is great to be able to count on the knowledge of Sense-Lab and the AMAZ team on this journey”, analyzes Marcelo Salazar, from Mazô Maná.

Illustration: Rakel Caminha

On the 29th and 30th of November, the city of Manaus will host the 2nd FIINSA (Forum on Impact Investments and Sustainable Businesses in the Amazon).

Entrepreneurs, investors, civil society organizations and other actors that make up the impact ecosystem in the region will come together to discuss paths, opportunities and challenges for the development of the Amazon impact ecosystem, the bioeconomy and the future of the largest tropical forest on the planet.

The program is concentrated in five thematic tracks: Structuring the ecosystem; Financing and access to capital; Communities; Entrepreneurship challenges; and R&DI (Research, Development and Innovation). There will be two days of debate and reflection on paths, solutions and opportunities for the bioeconomy and impact businesses in the region.  

Thematic workshops, project launches, pitch sessions, a market with sustainable products from the Amazon and partner stands complete the program.

Entrepreneurs from AMAZ's portfolio participate in thematic panels on challenges to impact business growth, better investments, community-based tourism, forest restoration, Web 3.0 in the Amazon, among other topics.

Also during the event, the pitches of the finalist businesses of the 2022 AMAZ Call will be held, one of the final selection stages for the acceleration and investment journey.

“FIINSA is the union of everyone involved, from those at the cutting edge, working in the deep Amazon, to those who can present viable ways to guarantee the growth and financing of sustainable projects and products. It will be a large and important meeting, addressing the problems and solutions to ensure more and more prosperous businesses, but mainly, businesses that help us protect the Amazon rainforest and reduce the impacts of climate change", commented the new business director from Idesam (Institute for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon) and CEO of AMAZ impact accelerator, Mariano Cenamo.

The 2nd FIINSA is carried out by the Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon (Idesam) and Impact HUB Manaus. It is co-produced by AMAZ impact accelerator, Bioeconomy Priority Program (PPBio), Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS) and A Concertation for the Amazon.

Sponsored by Fundo Vale, Instituto Clima & Sociedade (iCS), Partnerships For Forests, UK Government, Amazon Investor Coalition, Sabin Institute, JBS Fund for the Amazon, Americanas SA, SAP, GBR, Coca-Cola, Swarovski, MJV and Cooperation German GIZ, and support from several partners such as Rede Amazônica and Fundação Certi.

To participate, you must register in advance. Entries will not be accepted during the event. For further information and registration, visit the website of the 2nd FIINSA. 

Photo: Nareeta Martin/Unsplash

In celebration of the Amazon Day, September 5, the Amazônia em Casa, Floresta em Pé Program promotes, as in the last two years, activities to promote and encourage the consumption of sustainable products from Amazonian sociobiodiversity. 

Throughout the month of September, consumers will be able to easily discover and buy products that help keep the forest standing and generate income and work for the Amazonians. 

The month of September starts with the campaign Biomes at a click, prepared by Mercado Livre and of which the program is a part. The Amazon, together with the Caatinga, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes, are part of the campaign, which is made up of 80 brands and around 900 sustainable items. 

“By strengthening the commercial strategy and giving visibility to these businesses, we contribute to generating income and conserving the sociobiodiversity of these biomes”, says Laura Motta, Senior Sustainability Manager at Mercado Livre. “We want to combine the knowledge of the forest, which generates wealth and environmental protection, with the knowledge of the Free Market in marketing and logistics to boost the positive impacts of these entrepreneurs, often unknown to most Brazilians.”

Mariano Cenamo, director of new business at Idesam and CEO of the impact accelerator AMAZ, highlights that “the Amazônia em Casa, Floresta em Pé program and Mercado Livre, since 2020, have been leading efforts to open new markets for Amazon business, facing logistical challenges and access to unique markets in the region. And this movement now extends to other biomes by the Free Market.”

In all, 27 brands in the program participate in the activities in September, offering their products to consumers throughout Brazil. In addition to the presence at the Mercado Livre store, influencers will be activated throughout the month to expand publicity about the brands and their positive impacts.

The brands offer jellies, tucupis, chocolates, peppers, oils, butter, jambu cachaça, candles, biocosmetics such as shampoo, conditioner, soap, among others. 

Products can also be purchased at Instituto Chão, in the city of São Paulo, where tastings will be held on September 3rd and 10th and discounts are offered throughout the month.

“In the month of the Amazon, we join all efforts, we as entrepreneurs, the free market and shopkeepers, to bring the best of the biomes and the standing forest to the home of Brazilian consumers. Valuing biodiversity can be, above all, delicious and innovative based on the incredible products we have today”, highlights Paulo Reis, partner at Manioca.

About the Amazon at Home, Floresta em Pé Program

Created in 2020, the market access program Amazon in Casa Floresta in Foot It is coordinated by the Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon (Idesam), by AMAZ Acceleradora de Impacto and by Climate Ventures and aims to unlock market access for producers of Amazonian sociobiodiversity.

Its supporters are Mercado Livre, the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America, Fundo Vale, GIZ, CLUA, Instituto humanize and Instituto Clima e Sociedade.

The initiative seeks to bring together strategic actors and act collaboratively to overcome bottlenecks and increase sales and market access for these ventures to innovative and interesting forms of marketing.

In May, a practical training program began with the 34 projects selected in the most recent edition of the initiative's business call, held between March and April of this year. The journey offers practical classes, individual mentoring and face-to-face meetings, in addition to having provided participation in NaturalTech 2022, the largest natural products fair in Latin America.

Today, 34 brands are part of the movement.

Photo: Publicity/Amazon at home Standing forest

From June 8th to 11th, 32 trades of the movement Amazon at home Forest standing participated in Naturaltech, the largest natural products fair in Latin America. It was the movement's first participation in a face-to-face event.

Held in São Paulo, the fair is an opportunity to exchange experiences between producers, retailers and end consumers, bringing visibility and contributing to expanding the presence of products in the market. According to the fair's organization, 35,600 people visited the fair during the four days it took place.

Gathered in a stand of almost 100 m², the brands offered visitors to the fair unique experiences of flavors and cultures of the Amazon. Tasting sessions, happy hours, product launches and lectures were promoted.

Chocolate with native cocoa, agroforestry coffee, chestnuts, juices, guarana, food supplements, farofa, tucupis, jellies, peppers, sauces, oils, fish, biocosmetics, handicrafts, accessories, among other natural products, were distributed throughout the space and gave life to the booth.

Two products were launched during the event: a mango chutney with Assisi pepper, created in partnership by chef Carla Pernambuco and the company SoulBrasil; and Nióc, a crunchy, lactose-free cassava snack in very Amazonian flavors – tucupi, assisi pepper, garlic vine and jambu -, by the Manioca brand.

Three lectures were promoted during the fair: “Amazônia em casa Floresta em pé – the challenge is to bring the forest to you”, with the participation of Ana Brito (Asproc), Paulo Reis (Manioca), Laura Motta (Mercado Livre), Floriana Breyer (movement Amazon at home Flowers standing) and Carla Pernambuco (Chef do Carlota); “Science and innovation in the food culture of Vitória Régia and other bioactives from the Amazon”, with Dulce Oliveira (Deveras Amazônia); and “What do your choices nourish? How do they drive an innovative, prosperous Amazon that brings solutions for a more sustainable world?”, with Artur Coimbra (Na'kau), Sandra Amud (Assoab), Sarah Sampaio (Amazônia Agroflorestal), Ramon Morato (Instituto Piagaçu) and mediation by Louise Lauschner (Idesam and Inatú Amazônia).

Results and perspectives

4,627 products were sold, totaling R$ 137,854.20. But the expected results transcend these achievements, as Naturaltech is also focused on retailers. The movement is already in talks with spaces, fairs and markets that are interested in having a space dedicated to Amazonian brands.

“Participating in Naturaltech was an unprecedented moment in the journey of the Amazon at home Forest standing. We were able to combine our physical sales and online sales strategies. It was the first moment that we were able to bring together our entire portfolio of Amazonian brands with their representatives and products, offering a showcase of innovation and impact to the market. It was a moment that brought together integration among the members, visibility to the market, an environment for sales to the final consumer and commercial contacts on a larger scale", evaluates Floriana Breyer, manager of partnerships at the Amazon at home Forest in Foot.

Guilherme Faleiros, coordinator of the market access program by AMAZ and Idesam, highlights the public's notorious interest in consuming, more and more, products with a purpose: “During Naturaltech, the movement's brands were able to tell their stories, while at the same time that the public realized that the Amazon has greater value potential when standing. It is these allies that we seek to sensitize with the movement Amazon at home Forest standing.”

 Paulo Reis, one of the organizers of the movement's participation in NaturalTech and entrepreneur of Manioca and Amazonique, believes that, given the importance of Naturaltech, opening space for the participation of the Amazon is to put the region on the map of consumers and retailers: “The answer was immediate response: we had wonderful feedback from customers, who tried the products out of curiosity or for the cause, and were delighted with the taste and quality of our products”.

about the movement

Created in 2020, the movement Amazon in Casa Floresta in Foot It is coordinated by Idesam (Institute for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon), by AMAZ Acceladora de Impacto and by Climate Ventures, and its purpose is to unlock market access for producers of Amazonian sociobiodiversity.

Its supporters are Mercado Livre, the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America, Fundo Vale, GIZ, CLUA, Instituto humanize and Instituto Clima e Sociedade.

The initiative seeks to bring together strategic actors and act collaboratively to overcome bottlenecks and increase sales and market access for these ventures to innovative and interesting forms of marketing.

In this video you can feel a little of the atmosphere of participation in Naturaltech: