Guilherme Leal

Alongside his partners, Luiz Seabra and Pedro Passos, Leal turned Natura into one of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world and a reference in sustainability.

[11] From the trio of founders, Leal was the one at the head of the initiative to invest in nature preservation and sustainable development, making the company adopt Brazilian biodiversity as a tool for cosmetics innovation and awareness about the Amazon.

In addition to being the founder and former president of the Ethos Institute, created to help companies run their business in a socially responsible manner, Leal also participated in the creation and was a member of the board of the Abrinq Foundation,[15] whose goal is to mobilize society for issues related to the defense of the rights of children and adolescents.

Leal usually says that “the new generation of philanthropists wants to deal with problem causes, not just their consequences.”[16] In 2008, the businessman founded Institute Arapyaú, a non-profit organization focused on the sustainable development of the economy, the environment, politics, and society.

The institution identifies opportunities and voluntarily channels funds and strategic resources to organizations, networks, and projects engaged in promoting sustainable development.

Since its foundation, Arapyaú has helped to create other networks like the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, a multi-sector movement that aims to promote the harmonic use of the land, and, most recently, the initiative Amazon Concertation, which brings together leaders from the public and private sectors, indigenous peoples, civil society, and the media to propose solutions for the region’s sustainable development.

One of the programs created by Arapyaú, called Territorial Development in the South of Bahia,[17] aspires to make the Cocoa Coast region an example of sustainable economy by leveraging its potential.

The program, of which Leal is an enthusiast, fosters projects that strengthen the cocoa production chain and inclusive entrepreneurship, in addition to supporting local leaders to improve formal education and participative regional development.

In the village of Serra Grande, in the municipality of Uruçuca, Arapyaú was born in 2008, inspired by the possibility of helping to make the struggling[19] region a concrete example of sustainable development.

One of the institute’s initiatives consists in facilitating access to credit to the region’s small cocoa producers, through the Agribusiness Receivables Certificate (CRA), which combines market investments and philanthropic contributions.

The company is committed to providing training to farmers in the region known as the Cocoa Coast, paying the highest rate in the market, and contributing to changing the life of each one of them.

[23] In 2019, he shared his vision on the subject at an event organized by the B System, a global movement that advances corporate social and environmental responsibility, held in Mendoza, Argentina.