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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:

Photo: Gabriela Souza/AMAZ

Entrepreneurs accelerated by AMAZ were in Apuí, Amazonas, at the end of June, to learn about the work carried out with family farmers in the production of Café Apuí Agroflorestal.

The objective was to promote an immersion in the local reality, addressing peculiar aspects of agroforestry production, the relationship with farmers, as well as proven methodologies of ATER (Technical Assistance and Rural Extension) in the Amazon, logistics, productive flow and measurement of impacts generated.

The immersion was planned to meet the needs of three of the six businesses accelerated this year by AMAZ: INOCAS, Floresta S/A and Mahta. In addition to the entrepreneurs, members of the AMAZ and Idesam team were present, responsible for the coffee production chain and for Amazônia Agroflorestal, a company created to facilitate the commercialization of socio-bidiversity products.

“The objective of this activity was to bring together businesses that are related to agroforestry production and contact with small producers, in addition to contractual issues involving this universe as well. Café Apuí Agroflorestal is a successful case that we were able to present to them, in loco, from the Idesam network. This exchange will certainly yield interesting fruits and partnerships. Not only were they able to learn from the coffee experience, but they also shared their experiences with other cultures and regions, in different processes, but which keep some similarities,” analyzes Gabriela Souza, investment analyst at AMAZ.

Jânio Rosa, from INOCAS, considers that the exchanges carried out during the immersion were very good: “We were able to get to know the Agroforestry System they have here in Apuí, the issue of intercropping coffee with other crops. INOCAS intends to introduce, along with macaúba, other cultures as well. So this experience was very important for us. Having contact with farmers, seeing how the articulation with them works, the strategies adopted. There is also the issue of extracting the oils developed here, technical assistance, in short, a fantastic exchange, where we could see very closely the specifics of the Amazon biome.”

Edgard Calfat, from Mahta, visited an Agroforestry System for the first time, and said he was eager to see how it worked. “It is really a very dense forest, almost an imitation of the forest, none of that clean field of production in rows. As they presented more details of coffee production, we were also drawing our parallel of difficulties, challenges and ideas. know the process in loco and being immersed in the reality of what happens here – here in Apuí, and also in the Amazon – was quite intense. And talking to the producers, understanding how the relationship with them is, is also important for us. "

Marina Yasbeck, specialist at the Café Apuí Strategic Initiative (Idesam), who accompanied the immersion, highlights the richness of the exchange and how much this contact can contribute to the development of the business accelerated by AMAZ: “We are a little more advanced in the implementation and application of methodologies, of ATER, affecting all links in the production chain. These are things that these businesses are in the process of implementing, so this exchange makes sense, it will be useful for them. A lot of what we do here can be applicable to their grassroots as well.”

Photo: NaturalTech – disclosure

From June 8th to 11th, 32 businesses that value Amazonian knowledge and ingredients in original, beautiful and tasty products participate in NaturalTech, in São Paulo. Business is part of the movement Amazon at Casa Floresta standing, and offer visitors to the fair chocolate with native cocoa, agroforestry coffee, nuts, juices, guarana, food supplements, farofas, tucupis, jellies, peppers, sauces, oils, fish, biocosmetics, handicrafts, accessories, among other natural products.

The fair is an opportunity to promote the exchange of experiences between producers, retailers and end consumers, which will bring visibility and help to expand the presence of these products in the market. 

“We want to take the idea that, by consuming products from the forest responsibly, we help to keep it standing. These ventures will have the opportunity to show Brazil the power and influence of the knowledge and flavors of the Amazon on the economy, culture and maintenance of life on Earth”, says Guilherme Faleiros, coordinator of the market access program by AMAZ, impact accelerator.

With almost 100 m², the movement's stand will be the largest dedicated to the Amazon, offering unique experiences of flavors and cultures of the largest tropical forest on the planet. Tasting sessions will be held in the morning and happy hours in the late afternoon, which include babassu cake, water lily preserves, tucupi-based sauces, pirarucu carpaccio, organic jambu cachaça, among other regional delicacies. 

The central island of the stand will have snacks developed by chef Carla Pernambuco, who will give a show class during the lecture “Amazon at Casa Floresta em Pé: the challenge is to bring the forest to you!”, which will take place on June 10 at 3 pm at Arena Inspiration, a space dedicated to inspirational content during the event.

“Naturaltech is the largest fair in our sector for natural and sustainable products. Therefore, our expectation is to use it as a great showcase for brands, for new products from the Amazon and especially for consumers, distributors and partners to see forest products as a segment with great potential. We will be farmers, industries, brands and partners that make the entire Amazon product chain happen. And we will be there looking for the client, which in my opinion is the link that completes a business cycle from the standing forest, from sustainable production, to conscious consumption”, says Paulo Reis, one of the organizers of the movement's participation. Amazon in Casa Floresta in Foot at NaturalTech and entrepreneur at Manioca and Amazonique.

NaturalTech annually brings together the sector of natural, integral, herbal and complementary treatments products. According to the organization of the event, a market that grows about 4.4% per year, making Brazil occupy the 4th place in the ranking of world revenue. 

The fair takes place at the Anhembi Exhibition Pavilion, at Avenida Olavo Fontoura 1451. Participation is free, but you must register on the event website. 

Program starts training 2022 Call winners

The market access program Amazon in Casa Floresta in Foot started, in May, the program's practical training journey with the 20 enterprises selected in the most recent edition of the business call initiative, held between March and April of this year. This phase will last six months and includes practical classes, individual mentoring and face-to-face meetings, in addition to participation in NaturalTech. 

Classes are divided into four study modules focused on structuring commercial operations, logistics, marketing campaigns and impact measurement. The objective is to prepare and strengthen the strategies of each brand in the participation of planned campaigns, in fairs and events, as well as the improvement of logistics and commercial intelligence and the promotion of exchange between different impact entrepreneurs in the Amazon. 

Each module has a partner company, which offers training – and also its services – to program participants. With a focus on retail, the B2B module is supported by location.and and aims to broaden the market vision, improve the commercial policy and strengthen the trade marketing plan and management. 

The B2C module is carried out in partnership with the Entrepreneurship with Impact Program, from Mercado Livre, and will help businesses to create a virtual store and implement the online sales strategy on the platform, communicate better with the final consumer, access the Mercado Livre ecosystem and participate in the virtual gondola 'Amazônia em Casa Floresta in Foot', inside the platform. 

The Logistics module is supported by Soulog Fulfillment, which aims to broaden the vision of the business's logistics chain, optimize logistics routes, develop joint logistics strategies that enable cost reduction, learn about the main tax issues that affect the transit of goods in the national territory and integrate commercial and logistics operations.

One of the most anticipated phases of the journey will be the face-to-face meeting that will take place in São Paulo, after program participants will exhibit their products in a shared booth at the Naturaltech fair, on June 13th and 14th. 

The focus of the event will be on measuring impact, where workshops will be held on the theme of the meeting and communication and visits to the implementing partners of the program (Soulog and Mercado Livre). 

call 2022

In April 2022, the program opened a call for companies or community-based organizations that work with products from Amazonian sociobiodiversity. The call reached 92 applications from 13 different states. Although below the expected number of registrations, the result was considered positive by the organizers, considering the post-pandemic scenario. 

Pará was the state with the highest number of registered initiatives, with 45 registered businesses; Amazonas and Rondônia also stood out, with 17 and 7 entries, respectively. Considering the business categories, the entries included 14 individual micro-entrepreneurs, 46 companies, 13 associations, 9 cooperatives and 10 enterprises that are still in the formalization phase. 

Among those selected are eight community enterprises and 12 new businesses, representing six Brazilian states: Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. 

In addition to the winners of the 2022 call, the actions of the training program can also be accessed by member businesses that participated in previous editions, totaling more than 35 initiatives attended by the program. 

Discover the businesses and organizations supported on the movement's official website: amazoniaemcasa.org.br

about the program 

Created in 2020, the movement 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.

Entrepreneurs, teams from AMAZ and FutureBrand SP – Photo: Zoid Creative

On the 11th and 12th of May, entrepreneurs accelerated by AMAZ were in São Paulo to participate in the AMAZ Branding Lab, promoted in partnership with FutureBrand SP.

Over two days, content, dynamics and tools were offered involving positioning, storytelling, visual and verbal identity, culture and digital. The entrepreneurs also had the opportunity to present their pitches to the FutureBrand SP team, which involved around 20 people in the process.

“This type of partnership is very important because we bring into the house these entrepreneurs who are making a difference, who are the brands of the future. It's nice to connect with them, understand what are these initiatives that are emerging in the market and make sure that our employees can have contact with them”, says Isabel Sobral, partner-director of FutureBrand SP.

“It is a training not only for entrepreneurs what happens here, but also for us. Our professionals prepare a lot for this type of workshop, they seek to understand which startups are these, which are the future unicorns of the Amazon, and they manage to bring this learning to our other customers. We strongly believe in this exchange, between the small and the large, which are increasingly coming together, creating these open innovation laboratories. It is of immense value”, he adds. 

For Thiago Campos, from Floresta S/A, “FutureBrand's expertise helps us to have clarity on what needs to be adjusted, and we hope that this will lead to a development that can really put all these tools that were presented into something concrete to apply in the our day to day.” 

“We always need to improve our process, as we have a very diverse audience, ranging from the producer at the end of the chain to the final consumer, including partners and investors. It is very important to have these inspirations with these great professionals”, evaluates Jânio Rosa, from Inocas.

Alexsandro Vanin, from BRCarbon, agrees with Jânio and highlights the importance of the workshop to exercise solutions to the difficulty, often, of communicating, in an engaging and human way, themes that are complex and abstract.

“Now, with our heads boiling, we have the challenge of building a development plan for the startups, with the assistance of the FutureBrand SP team, which is sensational. We have no words to sum up how much knowledge and motivation they transferred to the development of our startups”, evaluates AMAZ CEO Mariano Cenamo.

Check out the atmosphere of the Lab:

Related matter:

Isabel Sobral, FutureBrand SP/Zoid Creative

Impact businesses need to effectively communicate the positive, social and/or environmental impacts that are part of their purpose. Branding, narratives, verbal and visual identity, tone of voice, all of this counts in the contact with the different audiences with which these businesses dialogue.

FutureBrand SP, specialized in creating future-proof brands, has been partnering with civil society organizations and impact businesses in the last decade in order to translate the impact these institutions generate into communication. 

Among these organizations are AMAZ itself, Idesam, Climate Ventures and some Amazonian businesses, such as Café Apuí, Seringô, Na'kau and 100% Amazônia. According to Isabel Sobral, managing partner of FutureBrand SP, working with this type of institution brings knowledge about important topics such as climate change, agroforestry systems, regenerative economy, carbon market, and also depth in different chains such as fashion, livestock , palm oil and cocoa. 

“Each project becomes a kind of specialization in a subject. And how can we talk about future-proof brands if we don't understand these topics? Our purpose is to create brands that are future-proof and, in my opinion, there will only be a future for us, human beings, if brands really care and act in relation to the impact they generate, minimizing the negative effects, amplifying the positive ones. and establishing regenerative models in their businesses. It's a major paradigm shift that is underway, and the new generations have everything they need to connect to it and make a difference,” says Isabel.

In May, the partnership between FutureBrand SP and AMAZ promoted the AMAZ Branding Lab, a workshop on communication for businesses in acceleration this year 2022. On the occasion, Isabel talked to us about brands of the future, impact and communication businesses, the beginning of the relationship with the accelerator and consumer trends.

How did Future Brand come together, responsible for the branding of so many great brands and with presence in the market, with impact businesses and civil society organizations? What motivates this relationship?

Isabel Sobral (IS): On a personal level, since I was little, I have always been very connected with environmental issues, I think that this sustainability thing comes from the cradle, because of the way our parents and grandparents teach us to respect and honor nature and give us opportunities to live experiences related to it. And, growing up and living in a country as unequal as Brazil, I was also connecting to social issues. At the same time, I came to work at FutureBrand (FB), a consultancy that actually works with large companies, which generate huge impacts, both positive and negative.

I had been here for about seven years at FB when I felt my greatest disquiet, that crisis of the search for a greater purpose. I thought about leaving, going to work at a place full of purpose, a B company or something. On the other hand, I also saw that in few places I would have such easy access to top corporate leaders as working here. And it is precisely this leadership that hires us as a consultancy to show the best path and strategy for their brands for the future. Ready! I had the knife and the cheese in my hand.  

It was necessary to combine with the rest of the company and bring the theme to the table. Starting to talk about sustainability and climate change here was not something quickly understood by everyone, it simply seemed that these themes did not fit within the branding, when in fact branding is intrinsically linked to reputation, which in turn is linked to the way the brand stands. behaves towards society, how it generates value for its stakeholders, what are their socio-environmental practices and so on. It was necessary to bring the theme, raise awareness, and that's how we started to get closer to this ecosystem of innovation for impact.

The first major milestone was the partnership with Climate Ventures, already in the year of its foundation. We really wanted to do something together and, from this desire, came the idea of making a Comunicathon, which ended up becoming an event for more than 100 people where we brought together talks by representatives of Coca-Cola, Nespresso, Itaú and Social Docs and brought internal talks on topics as Circular Economy in Design and Storytelling for Sustainability. We got closer to the ecosystem, I was invited to the Innovation Lab in Manaus, when I met Idesam and Mariano [director of new business at Idesam and CEO at AMAZ]. 

We started doing projects for different brands, each one paid what they could, the important thing was to connect and find ways to help and make the projects viable. Our team learned about the topic and became an expert. A value-creating relationship where everyone wins. Then came the pandemic and we changed the event to an online workshop format, in 2020 we partnered with PPA, via the Acceleration Program, and with Climate ventures again. And in 2021 AMAZ was born, baptized by us and which took shape with this captivating identity.

How many cases of this type does FutureBrand SP already have in its portfolio?

IS: We have a long history of projects linked to institutes, foundations and civil society organizations, such as Instituto Ayrton Senna, Fundação Lehman and AACD, for example, but we did not have in our portfolio impact cases linked to small and medium-sized companies such as startups accelerated by AMAZ. But since 2019, based on our work with Climate Ventures, we have worked with companies and organizations such as Boomera, Stattus 4, Confluentes, Seringô, Fundo Vale, Na'kau, Positive Ventures, Mombora, Café Apuí, Idesam, 100% Amazônia, Agropalma , etc. And with our big clients too, we help create sustainability platforms like Re. by Nestlé and the Cria! from Riachuelo, for example. And we have several other cases in progress.

Is there a difference between creating for a big brand, with a big projection in the market, and for impact businesses and CSOs?

IS: There's enough. The processes are more agile, the governance much simpler and without hierarchies, there is a huge opening for what we have to propose. It is a more collaborative process, not least because we choose methodologies that provide greater interaction. The big customer wants to see the delivery ready and doesn't have time to get so involved in the process. The climate is usually very nice in these projects for impact businesses and organizations that work in this ecosystem, the teams feel very engaged and motivated. And the creative freedom we have ends up expanding our possibilities of winning prizes with these cases, as we won with AMAZ and Mombora, for example.

For Future, what does this type of relationship add as an experience?

IS: It brings knowledge on very important topics such as climate change, agroforestry systems, regenerative economy, ESG, circular economy, carbon market, as well as depth in different value chains such as fashion, livestock, milk, palm oil and cocoa. . Each project becomes a kind of specialization in a subject. And how can we talk about future-proof brands if we don't understand these topics?

How did you approach AMAZ and create the accelerator ID?

IS: We had already done projects for Idesam, Café Apuí and Fundo Vale. All successful. It was natural to be considered as an option to develop AMAZ's branding. It was a delicious project, which flowed very well, in my view, with extremely correct bets on the choice of name and identity.

Future has been our partner for some time, what has it offered to the AMAZ portfolio businesses and how do you rate this connection?

IS: It really seems like a decade of partnership, but it's only three years. In addition to the workshops, we have many meetings, sometimes a new idea or a new challenge comes up, and I believe that, in our exchanges, we can help by bringing insights, or introducing partners. Last year we plugged AMAZ into a partner of ours (the defunct Decode, which is now part of our FutureBrand ecosystem) and they made very interesting deliveries of social listening and performance in the digital environment for the startups from AMAZ.

Are purposeful businesses, which aim to generate social and/or environmental impacts, the future of brands? How do you see consumer behavior in relation to this and the ESG wave?

 IS: Our purpose is to create brands that are future-proof and, in my opinion, there will only be a future for us, human beings, if brands really care and act in relation to the impact they generate, minimizing the negative effects, amplifying the positive ones. and establishing regenerative models in their businesses. It's a big paradigm shift that's under way, and the new generations have everything to connect to it and make a difference. And I really hope they do.

The consumer itself does not even know what ESG is, many are still in their infancy to understand what sustainability is, but there is a new awareness. I remember about 10 years ago I heard about veganism, and at that time a vegan person was practically an ET. Nowadays it's the most normal thing, it shows how many things are changing in behavior. 

Rampant consumerism is also in check. It became tacky to be a super consumerist. Detachment, thrift store clothes, now that kind of thing is cool.

These are changes that we are really seeing, maybe still a little niche, but that will gain scale. The number of customers and prospects that are emerging with this agenda only grows. A sign of good changes to come.

Photo: SBSA Publicity

Interview with Aline Gonçalves Videira de Souza, partner of the SBSA Office

Impact organizations and startups are relatively new in the country, and their operation requires a favorable legal environment, with regulation and self-regulation in a permanent process of improvements and adaptations.

The growth of the ESG agenda in Brazil is an opportunity to move faster and pursue business impact maturity. This is the vision of Aline Gonçalves Videira de Souza, partner of SBSA office (Szazi, Bechara, Storto, Reicher and Figueiredo Lopes Advogados), who has been advising AMAZ since its inception and also the accelerated business.

Operating in the legal market for two decades, SBSA's work is focused on civil society organizations, such as institutes, foundations and associations; corporate social responsibility, private social investment projects, impact businesses and articulated actions between the public and private sectors. It has units in Curitiba, São Paulo, and one of the partners leads projects directly from Tel Aviv – Israel.

Partner for Innovation, Impact Business and ESG in the office, Aline sees a growth in the amount of business and startups committed to generating a positive impact: 

“I see the emergence of a new economic segment. In recent years, we have seen the creation of institutionalized incentives for this business profile, as is the case of AMAZ – Impact Business Accelerator in the Amazon, the BNDES Garagem programs to accelerate impact businesses and several other actions that have been generated due to the National Strategy for Investments and Impact Businesses, as well as the articulations of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem itself, in which Aliança por Impacto plays an important role.”

Specifically about the impact ecosystem of the Amazon, Aline points out the challenges of overcoming the generalized and simplistic vision that still prevails about how business is done in the region. 

“When we talk about the Legal Amazon, we are facing an area that concentrates more than half of the Brazilian territory, with many different realities and needs. Evidencing that there are quite different sizes and profiles of businesses in the Amazon is important. This is relevant due to the identity and cultural importance, but there are even more practical effects, such as attracting investments and consumers who are more adherent to the proposal of that business.”

Check out the interview below.

How has the SBSA Office been working with civil society organizations and impact businesses?

We have been in the legal market for twenty years, specializing in a niche that is not usually seen in law firms. We advise companies and civil society organizations on issues of Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment and Human Rights, bases of the ESG agenda. Many of our clients are foundations, associations and businesses with a socio-environmental impact. We also have a strong area of public law and we advise public interest bodies and projects. 

We are six partners (mostly women), with a team of around 30 professionals dedicated to serving both national and international clients. We have a peculiar characteristic, which is our direct involvement so that the legal environment is more favorable to impact organizations and startups. Therefore, for example, we played an important role in the formulation of Law 9,790/99 (OSCIPs Law), on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, on Law 13,019/14 (Regulatory Framework for Civil Society Organizations). – MROSC). More recently, we contributed to the regulation of the General Data Protection Law, as well as the National Strategy for Impact Investments and Businesses.

We offer a wide range of advice and representation to our clients, with a team specialized in several areas of law, including tax, labor, corporate, environmental, human rights, compliance, public law, intellectual protection, contractual, data protection, litigation, litigation strategic, among other areas of knowledge We provide support from the initial structuring (with support for the creation of legal entities and contractual arrangements), through management support and constant improvement of the projects and initiatives that are presented to us. We believe that acting in this area demands a specialized look at sectoral legislation and also the need to contribute to the debates around the trends of regulation and self-regulation that are under construction in Brazil and in the world.

How do you rate the impact business ecosystem in Brazil today?

There has been an increase in the number of businesses and startups that come with commitments to generate positive impact. I see the emergence of a new economic segment. Following this phenomenon in recent years, we have seen the creation of institutionalized incentives for this business profile, as is the case of AMAZe and the BNDES Garagem programs to accelerate impact businesses, in addition to several other actions that have been generated as a result of the Strategy Investments and Impact Businesses (Enimpacto), as well as articulations of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem itself. 

With the pandemic, the importance of these businesses for solving complex problems in our society became evident. I align myself with the vision of the last mapping carried out by Pipe Social in 2021, that the time has come to act faster and seek more maturity for the business models. I add the importance of maturing the impact theses of these businesses, so that the new economic segment is consolidated on more solid foundations. I see the growing visibility of the ESG agenda as an opportunity for that to happen.

How has the firm been specializing in this area?

The biggest school for our constant specialization is given by the work we develop for our customers. I highlight some public cases where our performance was relevant, such as the case of the First Social Debenture in the Country, where we advised the Sustainable East Zone Fund in structuring the philanthropic capital of that operation. The creation of AMAZ; the feasibility of the Café Apuí initiative, among many other integrity and diversity programs that we implement with our customers.

It is also essential to participate in courses and training opportunities – either as teachers or as students. In recent years, I had the opportunity to be a student in ESG and Responsible Investment courses at Capital Aberto and IBGC. This year, I have already contributed with classes on the topic of Benefit Corporations in the ESG classes for Counselors offered by the IBGC and I continue to contribute to the Legal Group of Sistema B, as well as closely monitoring publications and research in this area. My partner, Èrika Bechara, is a commentator for environmental issues at CNN and weekly delves into relevant issues about the sector. 

I also highlight the importance of participating in collective spaces for dialogue, as is the case of the commissions at the OAB, the Legal Group of Sistema B, among others. Our partner Laís Lopes, for example, is president of the Third Sector Commission of the OAB/SP.

Both the partners and part of the team, we are professionals with experience in the field of organized civil society and impact business, being postgraduate professors who teach courses related to the themes in which they work and participate in research and consulting projects of renowned institutions. teaching institutions such as PUC/SP, FIA/USP and FGV. 

We are always involved in studies and research on the topics we work on. As an example, I was very happy to have launched, last year, a publication on the regulation in Brazil of the so-called “purpose companies” at the request of UNDP/SEGIB. On our website, we created an SBSA+ tab where we publish reference materials for the topics we are dedicated to.

What are the challenges faced by impact businesses operating in the Amazon?

I believe that the first one is to overcome the generalized and simplistic view, which still prevails, about the profile of businesses in the Amazon. It bothers me that, sometimes, the power that the people of the region have is not recognized, or a vision that, with few adjustments, it would be possible to adapt business models in the south and southeast regions of the country. When we talk about the Legal Amazon, we are facing an area that concentrates more than half of the Brazilian territory, with many challenging realities, such as fires, deforestation, illegal mining, violation of human rights. Recognizing the reality is very important so that businesses in the region can actually contribute to overcoming socio-environmental problems. Therefore, I think it is important to highlight that there are quite different sizes and profiles of businesses in the Amazon. I know of initiatives in the area of innovation and technology that develop solutions to systemic logistics problems in the region that other companies, and even the public authorities, have not been able to dedicate themselves to. This is relevant due to the identity and cultural value of these businesses, but there are even more practical effects from the recognition of these peculiarities, as is the case of attracting investments and consumers who are more adherent to the proposal of that business.

Another challenge that still exists is in relation to the conclusion of fair contracts. Sometimes, the private contracts celebrated between local communities in the Legal Amazon (such as extractivists, quilombolas and indigenous people) and companies or corporate investors are complex, difficult to understand and with disproportionate rules. 

There is an opportunity to improve this from methodologies that can support the celebration of fair contracts between these parties, as there is a growing context of interest in initiatives related to the green economy and biodiversity. In addition, communities have developed sustainable businesses with growth potential and increasingly want the protection of the assets and people they work with. We are precisely developing a project to support the creation of a methodology for the celebration of fair contracts.

The regulatory challenges are many. It is necessary to unlock the bioeconomy agenda, as important studies have already pointed out, especially on the National System of Access to Genetic Heritage and Traditional Knowledge and the sharing of benefits. Finally, a challenge that is not exclusive to the Amazon, which is so common in several locations in our country, is due to the precarious infrastructure of physical and virtual access that, unfortunately, still presents itself as a barrier to the development of so many businesses in the region.

How do you rate the partnership with AMAZ?

It is a great honor and satisfaction to be the law firm responsible for advising AMAZ and the accelerated business. It is a process of mutual learning. The firm has increasingly sought to use simple language and unconventional ways to make legal issues more accessible to different audiences. In addition, this link encourages us to produce innovative legal arrangements, as we are faced with multisectoral initiatives that are at the forefront of sustainable investments. In addition to AMAZ, the firm is an institutional partner of the Folha Empreendedor Social Award, held by Folha de São Paulo and the Schwab Foundation, since 2011. It is a signatory to several causes of public interest, such as the Pact for Democracy and the Coalition for Philanthropic Funds.