Hydro Sustainability Fund, Mitsui Bussan Foundation of Brazil and Peabiru Institute announce those selected for the first Business Development Cycle of the project Tipitix - Community Agri-Food Entrepreneurship, an initiative to promote sustainable development solutions in the Amazon. Fourteen entrepreneurs were chosen, individually or in groups, who will receive support in technical assistance to adapt their business model; infrastructure for the processing of their production; support in design, credit, and commercial assistance to place the product and/or service on the market; as well as administrative and accounting support for procedures related to the formalization and management of the business.

After enrolling, according to the criteria in the Tipitix launch notice, the candidates presented their business ideas to the project team, proposals aimed at processing and/or marketing family farming products from the municipality of Barcarena and region.

Tipitix was launched in March of this year. The project will receive R$1.5 million for the installation of a processing unit, a voluntary and spontaneous investment, that will offer opportunities to entrepreneurs and social groups in the region. Besides a space for cassava processing in Barcarena, giving origin to several products, the project will provide marketing and commercialization strategies, facilitating the access of these products to the market and to new buyers, such as small commercial establishments in the region, operators of industrial restaurants in the municipality, and innovation startups in the agri-food chain.

The Peabiru Institute is the implementing partner of Tipitix and will be responsible for the initial administration of the project, until a local group is strengthened to manage it in the future. It will also mobilize and select the beneficiaries of the business unit. The selection of users will seek to guarantee, in a broad and equitable manner in the territory, access by the various local production groups to the opportunities offered by the project. This process begins with the definition of participation criteria, the elaboration and launching of a public call, the selection of participants, and the registration and formalization of the beneficiaries.

Meet the entrepreneurs selected for the first Business Development Cycle:

• Abilene Pereira Brito (Cocoa)
• Elaine Elda Oliveira Mota (Cocoa)
• Jacqueline Dos Anjos Marques (Açai)
• Jaqueline Brito Fonseca (Pulp Fruits)
• Joanir Dos Anjos Furtado (Açai)
• João Carlos Barbosa (Greenery)
• Jurandir Furtado (Açai)
• Luis Alberto Borges Barbosa (Greenery)
• Maria Cleonice Lima Ribeiro (Cassava)
• Maria Cordeiro Queiroz Garcia (Cassava)
• Raimundo Lima Ferreira (Cassava)
• Raimundo Marques Oliveira (Greenery)
• Renato Melo Coutinho (Cassava)
• Silvia Alessandra Campos Da Silva (Pineapple)

Click here to see the notice with the result (in Portuguese).