This initiative is coordinated and executed by the CERTI Foundation and it is supported by co-participation and investments from Fundo Vale together with Bradesco, Itaú-Unibanco and Santander.

The Amazon Journey innovation platform, which promotes businesses that help preserve forests, is now accepting applications for the Genesis Program. The deadline is March 12. The program is aimed at talented young people, with the goal of fostering entrepreneurship and encouraging research oriented toward products and processes that have positive impacts for forests.

The initiative is coordinated and executed by the CERTI Foundation and it is supported by co-participation and investments from Fundo Vale, Bradesco, Itaú-Unibanco and Santander, as part of the Amazon Plan, an alliance between these three banks, and in line with Fundo Vale’s bioeconomy strategy. Our purpose is to boost solutions for social and biological diversity businesses and chains that strengthen the Amazon bioeconomy.

“Investing in entrepreneurship education and the awakening of this vocation is essential to expand the amount of business in the Amazonian bioeconomy. We can become a world leader in this area, as we have the most biodiverse forest on the planet. However, it’s no use attracting large amounts of resources to invest in the region if we don’t have enough enterprises to develop this economy. This all begins with an entrepreneurial spirit, which needs to be encouraged among the region’s young people,” says Márcia Soares, Fundo Vale’s partnership leader.

• Applications Open! From February 13 to March 12, 2023
• How do I apply? Sign up free of charge at genese.jornadaamazonia.org.br.
• Who can participate? Talented young adults who live in the nine states of the Brazilian Amazon region, aged 18 or over, who are studying at high school or technical school, or doing a university degree (undergraduate or graduate) in the region.
• What is the program’s objective? To help entrepreneurs get their idea off the ground and turn it into a real business. There will be a mentorship of around one year, during which they will receive non-refundable resources to help set up their company.
• How does it work? The program combines incubation, acceleration and mentoring concepts. As well as creating networks, it will share a series of interactive content through video classes, podcasts, quizzes and live webinars, including resources such as virtual reality.

Strengthening a culture of enterprise in the Amazon region

After enrolling, the young participants will join a training community aimed at strengthening a culture of impact innovation entrepreneurship. Over the course of around four weeks, starting on March 20, it is hoped they will engage with the content offered on entrepreneurship, the bioeconomy and innovation. The idea is to encourage projects that offer new solutions and consider local opportunities, market demands and the socioeconomic and environmental sustainability of the Amazon Rainforest.

At the end of the training, there will be a contest to win a trip to get to know the Florianópolis Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystem at the end of the year. This is a large startup hub, featuring some companies that are being adapted to operate in the Amazon, in order to strengthen the region’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem and help preserve the forest.

“During these weeks, we will prepare young people, encouraging their curiosity and desire to start a business. We will simulate an entrepreneurial journey, encompassing the creation of a startup from birth to scaleup phase. It will be very dynamic, interesting and interactive,” says the manager of the CERTI Foundation’s Green Economy Center, Janice Rodrigues Maciel.

The work will end in April and the participants will receive a certificate validating the total number of hours of complementary activities.

“In the end, business ideas will arise and we will them link them to the next program, which is also part of the Amazon Journey, called the Bioeconomy Synapse,” says Maciel.

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