Inspired by the rubber tappers who still work in several extractive communities in the Amazon, surviving with difficulty, but at the same time caring for and keeping the forest from which they earn their living, Tênis Seringô arrives on the market.
Large shoe brands have historically always used natural rubber in their production lines. However, little by little, this raw material was practically all replaced by petroleum-based materials, such as synthetic rubber, EVA and polyurethane.
Seringô, which only works with vegetable raw materials from the Amazon, has developed a shoe with more than 95% of them in its composition, rescuing a little of this past, while aiming at the need to conserve the forest and its biodiversity and also fight the climate emergency.
All components are vegetable. The sole and the insole are produced from natural and organic rubber, in a composition with vegetable fibers from the micronization of the açaí kernel. The upper is assembled from jute, an Amazonian fiber, or from jute dubbed with rubber. The shoelace is also a rubberized jute tape with organic latex and rubber tip. And the lining is made from organic cotton, dubbed with a natural organic latex foam.
A sustainable and biodegradable product, Tênis Seringô is produced by Coopereco (Cooperative for the Production of Eco-Extractivists in the Amazon), formed by rubber tappers and artisans who produce rubber in the state of Pará, especially in Marajó and in the region of Santarém.
The sneakers, available in two models, will be on sale soon at Bemglô, in São Paulo, and at Ver-o-pesinho, at Shopping Boulevard, in Belém. segingo.eco.br, with free shipping throughout Brazil.
In March, participants and supporters of the Amazonia em casa, Floresta em pé (Amazon in Home, Standing Forest) movement gathered to assess the activities carried out in 2020 and outline exercises for the future.
Started in June last year, the movement was one of the solutions developed for Amazonian businesses to continue their sales during the pandemic, encouraging the adoption of e-commerce strategies.
As a result, businesses that had a drastic reduction in sales in 2020 (a drop from 70% to 90% in sales) started their journey in e-commerce and reaped good results, whether in sales or visibility.
Started from a pilot project in June 2020, in partnership with Mercado Livre, the movement has been growing and unfolding, with specific activation milestones in September, the month of the Amazon, on Green Friday in November and also on the occasion of Christmas .
Among the strategies and actions adopted by the movement are solutions in the area of logistics and storage - consolidation of shared stock in São Paulo, logistics coordination, handling and delivery to the final consumer, 24-hour delivery in São Paulo and 48-hour delivery to other places in the Brazil, freight subsidy, taxes and storage, free transfer of goods on the Manaus – São Paulo route. In the commercial area, an exclusive form was developed for B2B sales, in addition to the creation of a catalog and commercial materials, corporate baskets and for B2C.
In the area of communication and marketing, the movement promoted the activation of influencers through lives with Amazonian entrepreneurs, contact with opinion makers, in addition to developing an identity and website aimed at the initiative. A network of 35 digital influencers, including journalists, chefs, artists and nutrition and health professionals, was involved in the activation actions.
Solutions to 2020 challenges guide the next steps
The movement's next steps include the search for solutions to a series of challenges that faced learning throughout 2020, classified into two axes: market access for Amazonian socio-biodiversity and structuring the movement.
In the first axis, the challenges are placed in the basic structuring of the Amazonian businesses, in the expansion and consolidation of the logistic and commercial infrastructure for market access, in the scaling of commercial logistic solutions to include more Amazonian businesses, in expanding the traceability of products and in boosting the bioeconomy of the standing forest.
In the movement's structuring axis, the proposals include the structuring of governance and the operational core, medium and long-term financing strategies, enabling the measurement of positive impact at the end, development of a membership plan, strengthening the commercial front and communication and marketing strategies, integration and automation of inventory and logistics databases.
The group that integrates the movement Amazon at home, Forest standing includes 16 Amazon brands - of which ten are part of the PPA Acceleration Program portfolio – and is a realization of Mercado Livre, Acceleration Program and Business of Impact of PPA, Idesam and Climate Ventures. It is co-organized by Amazônia Hub, Biobá and Instituto Auá, in partnership with Costa Brasil, Lothar Consultoria e Logística e Origens Brasil and institutional support from Fundo Vale, Instituto Clima e Sociedade, Climate and Land Use Alliance and Instituto Humanize.
The continuity of the campaign Amazon at home, Forest standing in the last quarter of 2020, in sales to the Amazon businesses, only via Mercado Livre, R$ 65,835.00, an increase of 7.4% in relation to previous months.
released on last september as an alternative to help leverage the sales of Amazonian businesses, hampered by the covid-19 pandemic, the initiative awakened several entrepreneurs to the online commerce and it made those who already saw this possibility, or even those who were already taking their first steps in this sales modality, to speed up the process.
The campaign had activations in November, on account of the Green Friday, and in December, stimulating shopping with a purpose at christmas.
During the Green Friday, the activation of the campaign focused on enterprises that work with crafts and fashion, and promoted lives with the influencers Mona Soares, Alessandra Luglio and Laura Mocellin Teixeira, which had the participation of Tainah Fagundes (Da Tribu) and Francisco Samonek (Seringô), in addition to the coordinator of the Acceleration and Impact Investment Program at PPA, Ana Bastida.
As part of the campaign experience, participating businesses suggested revert 10% of the value of sales of product baskets (20 units, limited edition) for one of the businesses in the PPA Acceleration Program portfolio, the Tapuruquara Warriors Mountains, which had its activities – community-based indigenous tourism – completely paralyzed because of the pandemic.
Businesses also worked together in the elaboration of a manifesto, which translates the feeling and purpose of joint action, as a group that focuses on the same purpose, which is to conserve the forest, value regional knowledge and generate income for its populations.
“In a co-creation experience, we designed this edition of the campaign together with entrepreneurs, with even more purpose and fostering the conscious consumption of Amazonian products. We had greater participation from them in the definition of strategies and actions, with the intention of highlighting this union between them, seeking the same purpose”, assesses Guilherme Faleiros, new business analyst at Idesam.
The campaign experience on Green Friday is one of cases cited in the guide Commercial Strategy Journey: A Guide to Impact Business. The result of a partnership between Mercado Livre and ICE, the publication presents a journey to guide and guide the impact entrepreneur in the construction and implementation of the commercial strategy of their business.
Also in November, the movement Amazon at home, Forest standing – which brings together brands and organizations committed to generating a positive social and environmental impact in the Amazon, and which promotes activation campaigns to encourage online sales by participating businesses – won a own website.At the Christmas, the focus of the campaign was expanded for all businesses, including gastronomy. The entrepreneurs involved disclosed the movement in their networks, and there was also activation with two influencers: Day Molina, stylist and indigenous activist who promoted a live with the participation of Amanda Santana (Tucum); and Bel Rabbit, Chef at Cuia restaurant, in São Paulo, who prepared a Baião de Dois Amazonian recipe while talking to Joanna Martins (Manioca).
Joanna Martins, CEO of Manioca, evaluates that the activation made by the lives with influencers positively impacted the visibility and sales of the business.
“Being on the Mercado Livre platform by itself would not give half the return that we registered in sales with the campaigns. Today, e-commerce represents 20% of our sales, and this percentage grew throughout the second half thanks to this movement and the lives in which we participated," he says.
Another point highlighted by her is the reinforcement that the virtual campaign also brought to sales aimed at food services and retail as a whole: “The campaigns were fundamental for our survival during the pandemic period, and even for the resumption of sales , which might not even have been possible without the participation and this increase in online sales.”
The CEO of Manioca points out that the realization of lives with opinion makers around the Amazon movement at home, Floresta em pé was “a good idea”, for being able to engage influencers with greater reach around a common purpose. “For us small businesses, it's more difficult to engage an influencer to support a brand. But convincing him to support a group of brands with purpose is more viable. "
For Peabiru Produtos da Floresta, the support of the Acceleration Program on this e-commerce front was important to ensure good sales revenue via Mercado Livre in 2020.
“Of the revenue we had in the last period of the year, around 35% was obtained thanks to the Green Friday and Christmas campaigns, the engagement in the campaigns and the support provided by Amazônia Hub in the dissemination, commercialization and in part of the logistical operation,” says Hermógenes Sá, Director of Peabiru.
“Compared to the past period, these numbers make us believe that we would achieve very significant results under normal conditions. Our participation in this movement, both in terms of visibility and sales, makes us bet more and more on this partnership, believing that in the near future we will be consolidated in the market.”
Advances in logistics for Amazonian products
During the period in which the two campaigns were developed, the partnership between Costa Brasil, Lothar Logística, Idesam and Climate Ventures, whose purpose is to promote the access of Amazonian sociobiodiversity brands to the national market, has consolidated.
THE Costa Brasil, specialized in multimodal transport with operations throughout the Brazilian territory, it is committed to carrying out weekly cargo transfer deductibles on the Manaus-São Paulo and São Paulo-Itajaí routes, in addition to storage in Manaus, São Bernardo do Campo, Guarulhos and Itajaí. It also became responsible for the handling service (labeling and packaging of products).
The logistical arrangement represents great advancement for businesses that generate a positive impact in the Amazon, facilitating the access to products, bringing reduced freight and faster delivery, as the products are stored in the southeast of the country.
The partnership also includes the preparation of a study and logistical assistance for the chain of each entrepreneur, in addition to investment in sustainable general cargo stations (containers), in actions to promote the sustainable chain, availability of tools/systems for freight optimization, among other points.
“In 2020 in particular, it was evident how important it is to master these operations to place impact products from the Amazon in more competitive conditions in the markets of the south and southeast of Brazil. We have built a series of storage, transport, distribution and storage solutions, which are already available to businesses, and we hope that in the future the solutions will grow even more”, assesses the coordinator of the PPA Acceleration Program and director of new Idesam business, Mariano Cenamo.
Next steps
The group that integrates the movement Amazon at home, Forest standing includes 16 Amazon brands - of which ten are part of the PPA Acceleration Program portfolio – and is a realization of Mercado Livre, Acceleration Program and Business of Impact of PPA, Idesam and Climate Ventures. It is co-organized by Amazônia Hub, Biobá and Instituto Auá, in partnership with Costa Brasil, Lothar Consultoria e Logística e Origens Brasil and institutional support from Fundo Vale, Instituto Clima e Sociedade, Climate and Land Use Alliance and Instituto Humanize.
After the 2020 movement, its members At this moment, evaluate the performance of the campaigns and take new steps and possible dates for new activations, encouraging businesses to stay active in e-commerce and promote the brands on their social networks.
“The encouragement of e-commerce and the visibility, results of the movement, were important to give these businesses the breath they needed, given the adverse scenario of the pandemic. But, in addition to that, the program understands the value of leading efforts to open new markets for businesses in the Amazon, given the challenges of logistics and access to specific markets in the region. For 2021, we will strengthen our support for the movement, seeking to activate new campaigns, but also create a market opening front for B2B (companies for companies), seeking to reach the medium and large retailers”, assesses Ana Bastida, coordinator of the Program Acceleration and PPA Impact Investing.
The well-known phrase “if life gives you lemons, make lemonade” never made so much sense for the manage well, startup accelerated in 2020 by the Acceleration and Impact Investment Program of PPA.
With the social isolation imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, the company invested in technology to continue offering its solution to the market, which brought expanding the number of customers and saving resources with the digitization of field visits.
Maneje Bem's main objective is to structuring of productive agricultural systems, focusing on industry. Through a platform, accessible via the web and application, it captures data from the field, favoring the planning of actions and monitoring of impacts related to sustainability.
"We do this so that the industry has social and environmental responsibility with small producers, guaranteeing them income and quality of life”, defines Caroline Luiz Pimenta, one of the company's founders.
The work takes place on three pillars: diagnosis, insertion of technology of the application in the farmer's daily life and training. Before the pandemic, diagnosis and training were carried out in person. In 2020, migrated to online, and the results surprised Caroline.
“We had huge benefits. O producer engagement was very high, and we got reduce expenses and have the same results. Face-to-face visits became punctual, and made more intelligently. We restructured our methodology, gained agility in the diagnosis process and still managed to show our customers the importance of digital transformation. ”
The number of Maneje Bem customers more than doubled in number of projects. The team was expanded, as were the partners.
Amazon
Selected to participate in the PPA Acceleration and Impact Investment Program in 2020, Maneje Bem is not headquartered in the Amazon, but was preparing to establish CNPJ in the region, one of the requirements of the Program's Business Call for startups that brought solutions to the Amazon, even though they were not physically based there. However, with the arrival of the pandemic, this step had to be temporarily suspended.
For Caroline, the possibility of being accelerated by the Program and of working with Idesam, with the guaraná productive chain in the Amazon, were great opportunities in 2020. “Now, in 2021, we started a process of surveying indicators, which can be monitored during this process of digital transformation. We know the production system of guarana and let's work together with the Guarana of Maués Alliance, Ambev, Idesam and other partners who are also involved in this process. ”
Caroline says that participation in Acceleration Program, through the digital journey developed especially to serve entrepreneurs during the pandemic, led to the company knowledge that was applied directly to the business, in areas such as definition of impact indicators, measurement and brand positioning.
In addition, it highlights the importance of connecting with entrepreneurs and the impact ecosystem of the Amazon to have a better understanding of the region and enable the development of work with the guaraná chain in Maués.
Future
Plans for 2021 are broad, and start with team restructuring and process optimization from the 2020 learning.
Another novelty is the structuring of a active commercial sector, which did not exist before at Maneje Bem. The business set sales and project implementation targets for 2021.
"Our main objective is to be a reference in the process of digital transformation in the field for the sustainable development of rural communities. We're putting into practice all the learning we've learned over the years to reach this goal as quickly as possible,” says Caroline.
Today, Maneje Bem has projects structured in 13 municipalities in Maranhão and begins expansion to the states of Piauí and Pernambuco, with the cassava chain. In addition to guarana in Maués, the startup has projects approved with the cocoa chain in southern Bahia, one of them with the Dengo chocolate company. In partnership with Embrapa, it also develops a module for the production chain of swine and poultry for the state of Santa Catarina.
In addition to all this, Maneje Bem, in partnership with other organizations, prepares a project for acting with indigenous communities in Rondônia and Mato Grosso. Based on a diagnosis, the project aims to develop indigenous communities, seeking to expand their production for commercial purposes.
“Today they produce for subsistence, and our idea is that they are able to produce more and have a connection with the industry. And for this we will use a lot of technology, including coming from other countries like, for example, Israel. The project's objective is to contain deforestation and its respective emissions from Greenhouse Gases in Indigenous Areas, enlarging the access to social services, economic infrastructure and services and support for productive activities, says Caroline. "We will help to improve the techniques, both for forest conservation how much for extract the best economic return for them, optimizing their productive potential that they already have. ”
Member of the 2019 class of the PPA Acceleration and Impact Investment Program, maniac prepares for a busy 2021, with new product launches and growth forecast of at least 60%.
The company started the year 2020 with bold plans, but the covid-19 pandemic has postponed the execution of the planned strategies to 2021. Even so, the company learned a lot, invested in online sales and is in the final stages of negotiations to receive a new investment from the ABF Fund (Althelia Biodiversity Fund Brazil).
It is from Belém, Pará, that Manioca is managed by partners Joanna Martins and Paulo Reis. The company is defined by the duo as a small industry with a social and environmental impact, which transforms ingredients from the Amazon into natural, practical, healthy, innovative and full of flavor foods. At the same time, this entire process is carried out in dialogue with the communities, generating local development, fair trade and structuring of production chains.
With the drop in sales in 2020, Manioca decided to try ecommerce. The response was very good. member of the movement Amazon at home, Forest standing, was one of the companies with the best performance in online sales with Mercado Livre.
“From the partnership with Mercado Livre, we were able to make ecommerce viable, to the point of investing. Today there is a person in Manioca dedicated to digital commerce, ecommerce operations and marketing. Our view on this has changed a lot,” says Joanna, the company's CEO.
2020 was also dedicated to better understanding the business, the consumer and possible paths.
“One of the greatest lessons we have learned since we created Manioca was the relationship with the market. We have a vision 'from the inside out', from the Amazon to Brazil and the world. And in general, the businesses that innovate and gain access to markets are exactly those that come from the outside. Being able to do what we do is already a paradigm shift, because generally those inside have a perhaps more limited view of the market in general, do not understand the outside consumer very well, and this sometimes makes innovation or product adaptation difficult. ”
A new look for the consumer is reflected in practicality and flavor
Joanna and Paulo, partners at Manioca
Seeking to understand the consumer's perspective, Manioca realized the desire for practicality and natural foods. Thus, the guideline of working with more accessible, simpler products emerged, and at the same time maintaining the appreciation of flavor. Solutions that are tasty, healthy and practical. This orientation is present in the new products that will be launched throughout this year.
There will be five new products, which reflect Manioca's vocation of being an industry of spices and flavors from the Amazon. At the same time, the company will start operating in new segments of the food industry.
The first of these products, available to the consumer as of February, is a new version of tucupi, in smaller quantities and already with this reading key of being, also, a seasoning.
“Tucupi is an incredible product, 99% that people who taste the broth like. It has a very good acceptance. With this in mind, we started to question ourselves about how to make this product common in the lives of Brazilians. Stop being just Amazon and become a product of Brazil. As happened with the cheese bread, which was from Minas, and the açaí, which was from Pará, and now both are considered Brazilian products,” defines Joanna.
The company also recently launched the Sementes line, which offers cumaru, cocoa nibs, nuts and, soon, puxuri. And it started to market its products in Portugal.
PPA Acceleration Program helped the company better understand its impact
Before participating in the PPA Acceleration Program, the manioca perceived the social and environmental impact that the business generated, but did not systematize these results. From the acceleration process, the company went deeper into the impacts generated in its production chain and focused even more on the business.
“Our actions were structured and systematized. We started to take a deeper environmental look. We have always understood that, by promoting the social development of our suppliers, while also valuing our culture, we were bringing environmental gains to the region. But from the acceleration, we understood that it was possible to implement several other environmental actions to expand this gain,” highlights Joanna.
Other points highlighted by the CEO of Manioca in this process include the connection that the Program made possible with people, other businesses and entities, which made the company realize the impact ecosystem in development in the region and strengthen itself in this movement.
Manioca participated in the two investment rounds promoted by the Program, and managed to invest in both.
“We had many gains with the Acceleration Program, and that didn't just happen in that first year, when we were accelerated, but that reverberate until today. And this shows how much this network has strengthened over time and how important and necessary these connections are for this region to develop more and more”, she assesses.
Look at the production chain
Mauritius, producer of flocked tapioca
The concern with structuring and strengthening the production chain also reveals a careful look at suppliers, with a development program that prepares them not only to provide inputs for Manioca, but also for the relationship with other potential customers.
This preparation includes sanitary adjustments, formalization and other important points to ensure a minimum standardization of inputs, while maintaining the artisanal and cultural footprint, respecting each producer.
“The Amazon is a territory where there is a lot of production, but little formalization. In general, these producers, even because they are from family farming and the absence of the state, are very little professionalized and formalized. The role of our program is to support them, guide them, train them and make them improve, whether in their structures or in their production processes, in the standardization of products. Nature gives us different products depending on the time of year, the soil in the territory, but there are production processes that manage to reduce these differences a little”, highlights Joanna.
Manioca hired an architect to support producers in improving their production structures, creating structural plans for flour houses, tucupi and black tucupi production. Producers wanted to improve production structures, but they didn't know how to do it, because there are no specific guidelines. At the same time, they were afraid that the structures were not adequate or accepted for formalizing their business.
“We want to ensure good food handling and safety practices, but in dialogue with the culture. The industrial process in general, of standardization, brings an external culture that often oppresses the culture of our traditional peoples. We are concerned about not making the production environment an industrial environment. It continues to be handcrafted, maintaining the cultural characteristics of each producer, but at the same time it brings food safety, health and more standardized processes so that we have better products in the end. ”
THE Tipiti, a company in the 2019 cycle of the PPA Acceleration Program, ended the year 2020 with the launch of its own brand of cachaça, Jambul.
The product consists of artisanal cachaça aged in pink jequitibá wood barrels, purchased in bulk from a producer in the region near Santarém, and jambu leaves and flowers supplied by AMABELA (Association of Women of Belterra).
With these ingredients, Tipiti, headquartered in Santarém, Pará, creates Jambull, taking care of standardization, infusion and packaging.
In 2019, with resources offered by the Acceleration Program, Glinnis da Rocha, one of Tipiti's partners, took the course Master Alambiqueiro and Standardization, sensory analysis and blending principles in Itaverava, MG, given by Cana Brasil – Technology Center in Cachaça. With the knowledge acquired, she and her partner, Ingrid Ribeiro, created their own version of the tasty cachaça with jambu.
“We chose the name Jambull because of the strength of the bull, metaphorically married to the fortitude attributed to the cachaças with Jambu that we have in the market, and in reference to ourselves, women entrepreneurs, especially from the Amazon, who reinvent themselves time and time again,” she says. Glinnis.
The first batch of cachaça was distributed in the last week of December 2020, and Tipiti sold its first 12 bottles. Current production is around 30 liters per month, in 100ml, 300ml, 500ml, 750ml and 1 liter versions available. Jambulll's application for registration at MAPA has already been submitted.
Currently, Jambul is marketed through the social networks and by WhatsApp (93 99187-8387), with delivery and/or pick-up at specific points in Santarém, Alter do Chão and Manaus, in addition to Nova Colina – Sobradinho, in DF. And it should arrive in Rio de Janeiro in March.
Over the next six months, the intention is to multiply sales and expand production, consolidating the brand and starting online sales. Within a year, having already registered with MAPA, Tipiti hopes to further expand monthly sales and start implementing the project of having its own distillery. And in two years, the goal is to have a production of at least 200 liters/day in its own distillery and the seal of sustainable wood management for aging.
Remodeling the business
Created in 2015, the company participated in some incubation and acceleration processes. When he joined the PPA Acceleration Program, he sold six products - jams, peppers, açaí coffee, cassava flour, tapioca flour and liqueurs - from different partners in the region, with the objectives of forest conservation, valuing the knowledge of the peoples and the dissemination of Pará culture.
Throughout the Program, Titipi was already seeing investment in the development of its own products, using inputs from small producers in the region. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the company had to suspend direct contact with communities. The partners decided to invest in the development of Tipiti's first product, the Jambull cachaça, and guarantee that others will come.
The brand from Pará slow fashion Da Tribu launched, on December 10th, a new collection, the guide, with innovative and sustainable pieces made in TEA (Amazon Rubber Fabric).
The new pieces, with a limited edition, include a bag that transforms into a backpack and scarves, signed by Reg Coimbra and Bruna Bastos, designers from Jambo Estúdio from Pará.
The collection was conceived based on the changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic: "We asked ourselves what people were looking for and we strongly noticed a reconnection with the space in which they live, with the house, for example", says the creative director of the brand, Tainah Fagundes.
Another interesting point of the pieces is the multiple uses. The backpack can also be used as a bag, and the scarf, in addition to housing potted plants, can be used as a basket for objects and fruit. “We were interested in thinking about these developments, and that's why we called Reg and Bruna to conceive the design of the products, as well as the prints”, says Tainah.
Other partnerships in the collection include the Costuraê collective – a project that brings together seamstresses from the Guamá and Terra Firme neighborhoods in Belém – and the Pedra Branca community on the island of Cotijuba – which produced the TEA and has been a partner of Da Tribu for more than three years old.
The sustainability of parts
The Nortear collection emerged from a common interest between the brand and Jambo Estúdio. “There had been a common interest and admiration for some time. Da Tribu and Jambo are played by women from the Amazon, entrepreneurs, who think in a similar way and who believe in the power of partnerships”, says Reg Coimbra.
A survey of the universe of the brand and its consumers, market trends and the fashion area was carried out to propose new products with the Amazon Rubber Fabric (TEA), whose specific machinery was built with resources of the emergency notice of the Partners for the Amazon Platform Acceleration Program, launched to help female entrepreneurs in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. The fabric was developed in partnership with researchers from UnB (University of Brasília)
The parts are made of TEA and reused truck tarpaulins, with over ten years of use, representing at least 1 million kilometers traveled.
“The canvas was dyed and treated to be softened. It's a time to reframe and stop producing excesses, betting on timeless products with a longer shelf life”, defends Da Tribu creator Kátia Fagundes, about the concept of the collection, which also permeates the entire trajectory of the brand, with the constant use of recyclable materials, renewable raw materials and investment in the relationship with communities in the capital of Pará.
Before TEA, Da Tribu developed pieces with rubberized threads with latex, in partnership with Comunidade Pedra Branca. Now, the expectation is that, with the new machinery, production will increase and bring more financial return. “We saw that production is much higher, we had a very high demand and this impacts our financial world within the community”, says Corina Magno, producer of threads and fabrics at Comunidade Pedra Branca.
Representative of Brazil in the final stage of the second edition of Entrepreneur with Impact Award can, the tucum, represented by entrepreneur Amanda Santana, was second out of six semi-finalists and received a $10,000 prize to boost the business.
First place went to the project Ecocitex, from Chile, which received 20 thousand dollars. And in third place, public choice, was the project closing the cycle, from Mexico, which received the 5,000 dollar prize.
The winners stood out among 614 participants from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay. The award was announced at a virtual meeting, which brought together the semi-finalists and a jury composed of references in entrepreneurship, social innovation and impactful business in the region.
Tucum focuses on the commercialization of traditional art from indigenous peoples and riverside dwellers in Brazil, working with indigenous organizations and initiatives in training and training with the purpose of promoting, valuing and disseminating Brazilian cultural diversity.
With 10 years of experience in the Amazon, the project fosters the autonomy of indigenous peoples, promoting income generation and autonomy, settlement in the territory, maintenance of culture and traditional knowledge and the recognition and appreciation of artisanal production.
“Many people are still amazed by our business, which is unusual in uniting indigenous peoples to the digital environment. This award is a very important recognition, which shows that we are on the right path. We want to break paradigms and prejudices. Mercado Livre is a partner in our journey, supporting, offering content and providing security for us to continue with renewed energy on this journey. And with Empreender com Impacto, it comes to strengthen this network of impact and the small entrepreneurs who are yet to come”, says Amanda Santana, creator of Tucum.
O Entrepreneur with Impact is part of the sustainability strategy of the Free Market and, in Brazil, is articulated by the Giral Viveiro de Projeto Consulting, and featured content produced from the market intelligence of the Free Market and the extensive experience with entrepreneurship and social innovation of Semente de Negócios – accelerator that has been active in the development of innovative businesses since 2011 – and Coalizão Éditodos – a group of organizations from the black entrepreneurship ecosystem, which works collectively to promote entrepreneurship at the base of the pyramid.
In 2020, the Program sought to add to the growing demand of the impact entrepreneurship ecosystem in Brazil, supporting entrepreneurs in strengthening commercial strategies, in efficiently and sustainably accessing markets and in leveraging its benefits to society.
“Empreender com Impacto seeks to empower Latin American entrepreneurs who generate social and environmental benefits through their businesses, so that Tucum's victory is quite symbolic, not only for the importance of the Amazon for Latin America, but for the fact that it contributes to generation of income and for the conservation of the forest by valuing traditional knowledge” says Laura Motta, Sustainability Manager at Mercado Livre.
New platform
This month Tucum launched a marketplace that aims to bring together stores belonging to indigenous groups that produce handicrafts and with which it has been working in these 10 years of operation.
The first three stores are from Galeria Amazônica, a store owned by the Waimiri Atroari Community Association, by Meprodjá – Arte Kayapó and by Tecê-AGIR, Arte das Guerreiras de Rondônia. Tucum continues to be one of the stores on the market place, and sells handicrafts from other groups until they are prepared to have autonomy with their own stores.
“These initiatives have been working with crafts for a long time and now they want to position themselves online. And Tucum will be that platform, which will make it possible for them to realize this dream”, evaluates Amanda Santana. All photos, essays and media were taken by indigenous groups. “The whole process was done by them, we wanted them to feel what working online is like and realize that it's all up to them. We provide support whenever necessary.”
In October, Tucum began a distance learning experience with indigenous leaders: the program Training of Indigenous Managers in the online sale of handicrafts. The initiative was built on the premise of preparing these leaders to make their sales on any online platform, whether on Tucum's marketplace, on its own website or on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram. These first three stores are the result of this work.
Tucum's new platform brings a map of Brazil where it is possible to visualize all the ethnic groups that work with the project, the location of handicrafts and the impacts caused, among many other data. “We invite everyone to buy in the forest through the Tucum platform and realize the positive impact that this causes”, celebrates Amanda.
CBKK S/A, a new company focused on investments that translate into socioeconomic and environmental impacts at the origin, led by businessman Stefano Arnhold (ex TecToy), announced an agreement and association with the chocolatier Amazonian Cesar De Mendes in the company Mendes chocolates.
The objective is to scale the production of the factory based in Pará, targeting the national and international market for fine and sustainable chocolates. De Mendes was already being sought by other investors, but there was no synergy found now with CBKK.
“This negotiation started more or less in August, and the importance of this relationship is mainly due to the expansion of what we already do. We are going to intensify the social and environmental impacts, which has always been a major focus of our company. Today we have a direct impact on around 3,500 people and on 300,000 hectares of forest. This pleases us, but at the same time bothers us, because there is so much to do. The Amazon is a giant region. The depredation of the forest happens at a high speed, we need to have answers. And the expansion of De Mendes' scale of action with the arrival of CBKK helps with that,” says César De Mendes.
The association brings an ambitious goal: to directly impact 50,000 people and contribute to the conservation of at least 1 million hectares of forest by 2025.
Marcello Brito, ex-Agropalma and now CEO of CBKK S/A, highlights that the association is the sum of a lot of market knowledge with forest and cocoa knowledge that only the chocolatier It has.
“After 25 years of work in Pará and in the Amazon in general, I realize that the Amazon is a place that has everything but, at the same time, it needs to resolve legal processes. In the case of De Mendes, we are adjusting all the legislation, plant regularization, application of good manufacturing practices, implementation of blockchain production control and traceability systems for all cocoa, and a carbon calculation system for we mitigate the emissions of the entire operation,” defines Brito.
The CEO of CBKK also highlights the intention of moderate scale due to the profile of the business, a factory for the production of fine chocolates. “What we are going to do is use all our skills to seek out consumers who value this type of product, in Brazil and abroad. If we grow too much, we will already have to use planted cocoa, and we will be just one more producer competing with the giants. We want to keep the spirit of the business, to be the chocolate producer that has this specificity of working with indigenous communities, quilombolas and small producers. ”
De Mendes highlights the importance of accumulating experience to consolidate this association: “What we are today is the sum of everything we have already done. Having participated in the PPA Acceleration Program was excellent in this process. Through connections, through shared knowledge. It was very important for us to mature as a business, to understand our role and to be able to see ourselves as a sustainable business. ”
“We are very happy with the celebration of the partnership between De Mendes and CBKK, because our main objective with the Acceleration Program is to help the startups to develop and attract investments,” declares Mariano Cenamo, director of new businesses at Idesam and coordinator of the Acceleration Program at PPA. “Without a doubt, De Mendes is taking an important step in its journey, and we are certain that the company will have significant growth in its capacity to generate a positive social and environmental impact in the Amazon.”
Integration of new Amazonian communities
De Mendes currently works in partnership with around 32 communities and with five cocoa pre-processing bases. The association with CBKK will allow the work with other indigenous territories, quilombolas and riverside dwellers.
Among the partners that will soon join the process are the Suruí, Ashaninca and Huni Kuin (Kaxinawá) Indians. Riverside communities in Amapá, close to Mazagão, too. Through a partnership with the Orsa and Jari Foundations, the work will extend to the surroundings of the Jari River.
De Mendes has had a relationship with a community in the Jari region since 2014, when he discovered a unique, unlisted variety of cocoa that gives rise to one of the chocolate bars produced by the company today.
“These regions were not chosen randomly. Indigenous communities have come to us. We have about 20 indigenous communities in the state of Amazonas, in the Maturacá region, to visit. The Indians have a great knowledge of the forest and also the mobility in their territories. They are excellent partners in the search for cocoa. We are so lucky that these communities look to us for partnerships, and with the alliance with CBKK, we will be able to advance a lot in this direction”, he says.
With the covid-19 pandemic, the chocolatier works on the design and assembly of an audiovisual tutorial on cocoa pre-processing training, which he usually performs with the communities in person. There will be online support and, as soon as possible, visits will be scheduled in loco. This process will allow for the expansion of the number of assisted communities.
CBKK has ambitious goals to impact the origin of business
Composed of executives or businessmen who in their trajectories were touched at some point by the Amazon, CBKK S/A has among its members people who worked in systems that sought a choice of environmental, social or socio-environmental sustainability.
Marcello Brito, the company's CEO, comes from the agribusiness area, having worked for 25 years in Pará, and participated in several multi-stakeholder initiatives in Brazil and abroad.
All CBKK members are also Conservation International in Brazil advisors. And from this action came the concern to act to boost the socio-biodiversity economy in the region.
“We have a challenge ahead of us: participate in 100 to 120 deals from now until December 2030. Small businesses, in which we can have 50%, 10%, 5% of participation, or have no participation at all, but be a service provider. Or an intermediary with philanthropy. It doesn't mean being a partner in all these businesses, but having a link with them, strengthening them,” defines Brito. To get on CBKK's radar, these businesses must also have an impact at the origin, in the communities.
“We have defined a region for this: the Amazon biome, coastal regions with mangroves or investments 'in water' – for example, the development of algae farms in communities located on the Brazilian coast. ”
CBKK is also partnering with a company linked to agroforestry systems, with extensive experience in Brazil and abroad, with the expectation that the supported businesses will have the concept of agroforestry system around them.
“It is a model that has not yet been explored, we have a lot to learn in terms of knowledge, plant health, root interaction between plants, nutritional interaction. But this is the future of modern agriculture,” ponders Brito. “Nothing against soy, corn, rice, which are part of the bioeconomic process. But what else can we do besides the traditional bioeconomy to generate something different for the Amazon? Time is running out and we are losing the war there, and losing seven to zero. ”
Unsurprisingly, logistics and access to Amazonian socio-biodiversity products are among the biggest challenges for high-impact businesses operating in the northern region.
One of the solutions found to minimize this bottleneck was the establishment of a partnership between Costa Brasil, Lothar Logística, Idesam and Climate Ventures, with the objective of promoting, in a sustainable way, the access of Amazonian socio-biodiversity brands to the national market.
The partnership is part of the movement Amazon at home, Forest standing, which today brings together 16 sustainable brands operating in the Amazon, most of them accelerated by the PPA Program.
THE Costa Brasil is a large company specializing in multimodal transport. It operates throughout the Brazilian territory, delivering customized solutions according to each demand, seeking agility, security and economy.
Through the partnership signed, Costa Brasil undertakes to carry out weekly cargo transfer franchises on the Manaus-São Paulo and São Paulo-Itajaí routes, as well as storage in Manaus, São Bernardo do Campo, Guarulhos and Itajaí. It is also responsible for the handling service (labeling and packaging of products).
This logistical arrangement is, in itself, a great advance for businesses that generate a positive impact in the Amazon, facilitating access to products, reducing freight and speeding delivery, as the products are stored in the southeast of the country.
“Costa Brasil has sustainability as one of its pillars, which is why our commitment to the environment is constant. We are happy to support the Amazon at home project, Floresta depé, which is increasingly contributing to a sustainable Brazil,” says Sérgio Thomaz, CEO of the company.
The partnership also includes the preparation of a study and logistical assistance for the chain of each entrepreneur, as well as investment in sustainable cargo stations in general (containers), in actions to promote the sustainable chain, provision of tools/systems for freight optimization, among other points.
For the coordinator of the Acceleration Program at PPA and director of new business at Idesam, Mariano Cenamo, Costa Brasil brings a lot of value to the Program, contributing with excellence and an enormous network of transport and logistics, storage and distribution of products, placed at the layout of startups.
“This year in particular, it was evident how important it is to master these operations to place impact products from the Amazon in more competitive conditions in the markets of southern and southeastern Brazil. We are building a series of storage, transport, distribution and warehousing solutions that are already available to businesses, and we hope that in the future the solutions will tend to grow more and more. ”
Search for logistics and marketing solutions
The partnership is an unfolding of the realization of the Lab Amazônia: Challenge of Logistics and Marketing of Sociobiodiversity Products in the Amazon, carried out by Climate Ventures, Idesam and Plataforma Parceiros pela Amazônia, and which brought together in Manaus, in June of last year, around 40 representatives of organizations and companies for the design and subsequent prototyping of solutions.
With the pandemic, several of the Amazonian businesses found themselves compelled to implement or increase e-commerce. The brands, companies and organizations, some of them participating in the Lab Amazônia, came together and created the movement Amazônia em casa, Floresta em pé, boosting visibility and commercialization for the brands. And soon came the celebration of the logistics partnership.
Ricardo Lothar, from Lothar Consultoria, who participated in the Amazon Lab and has been helping to build solutions, believes that the arrival of Costa Brasil as a partner and operator of this block of Amazonian brands represents a milestone and a paradigm shift in the non-existent relationship between large companies in national logistics and small impact entrepreneurs in the region.
“Costa Brasil will create a virtual logistical treadmill between the Amazon and the South and Southeast of Brazil, with a warehouse, tax suspension until the final sale and free time lengthened storage, allowing the Amazon product to be available to large consumer centers, with prompt delivery, without burdening the entrepreneur during the brand and product consolidation phase. Lothar Consultoria, as a voluntary partner of Idesam and PPA, fulfilled its role of guiding logistical solutions and prosperity for impactful businesses in the Amazon, regardless of their size. The Amazon is a solution, never a problem. ”
Business and Indicators Curatorship
The partnership also establishes that Climate Ventures and Idesam will curate sustainable businesses able to integrate into the arrangement, build social and environmental impact indicators and systematize a database resulting from individual logistics consultancy carried out, seeking to ensure transparency and monitoring .
For Floriana Breyer, from Climate Ventures, it is very significant that Costa Brasil has accepted the challenge of overcoming Amazonian distances and opening up space in its operation to transport and store cargo for these entrepreneurs. “They understood that, much more than products, they transport standing forest and social benefits. Partnerships like this one could scale the Amazon movement at home, Floresta standing and bring the Amazon closer to Brazilians, helping to consolidate the bioeconomy as a vector of sustainable development in the region. ”
Vitor Galvani, also from Climate Ventures, highlights the importance of building indicators to demonstrate that the value of Amazonian products goes far beyond flavors and beauty, as they contribute to keeping the forest standing. “A partner of Costa Brasil's size can support us in reducing logistical costs and delivery time for products to the southeast of the country. This will directly impact the increase in sales of Amazonian brands. In addition, this partnership will bring benefits in reducing the carbon footprint in the traditional logistics that the projects used, as we will prioritize the maritime modal in an optimized way. ”
We use cookies to ensure that we provide the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site, we will assume that you are satisfied with it.
