The Amazon is a forest rich in biodiversity and also home to thousands of families who live and produce in harmony with nature. Valuing what these people produce, respecting the environment and local traditions, is important for fair and balanced development.
Production chains show the path a product takes: from those who grow or collect it in the forest, through those who process and transform it, until they reach those who package, sell, and deliver it to the consumer.
Supporting sociobiodiversity production chains is essential to guarantee a decent income for traditional communities and family farmers, maintain the forest, offer traceable and valued products, and strengthen local protagonism.
A partnership to strengthen what really matters
In the Amazon, cooperatives and small businesses face a recurring challenge: access to credit. Banking requirements are often incompatible with their reality and limit the growth of businesses with high potential for positive impact.
Since 2019, the Positive Impact Crowdlending Platform, created by Sitawi, has had a strategic partnership with the Amazon Partners Platform (PPA), which has been strengthening the initiative and expanding its reach in the region by structuring crowdlending rounds aimed at boosting sustainable development in the Amazon. Through this partnership, nine investment rounds have already been completed, exclusively for Amazonian businesses.
To date, 26 businesses have raised funds on the Sitawi Platform, totaling more than R$1,400,000 (R$9 million), to expand their operations in production chains such as cocoa, vegetable oils, bioeconomy, natural cosmetics, food, guarana and logistics, strengthening the local economy with socio-environmental responsibility.
This partnership demonstrates that it is possible to generate income, conserve the forest, and boost purpose-driven businesses. All through a new investment logic: closer, fairer, and more transformative.
Cacauway Case: Amazonian cocoa turned into award-winning chocolate
Among the many businesses supported, one stands out for its impact on the cocoa supply chain: Cacauway. Located in Medicilândia, Pará, a national cocoa production hub, the factory brings together around 40 family farmers who cultivate cocoa in agroforestry systems.
Cacauway is the first chocolate factory in the Amazon, producing entirely locally, strengthening the regional economy and ensuring a decent income for the producing families. Currently, the organization develops over a hundred fine chocolate products, some of which are internationally recognized.
In 2024, it was one of the businesses that raised funds in the 15th round of the Sitawi Platform's Crowdfunding for Positive Impact, made possible with the strategic support of PPA. With the R$ 129,000 raised, the organization was able to purchase the cocoa bean crop, ensuring predictability and income for producers.
After the investment, between 2024 and 2025, Cacauway won important awards:
- Gold medal at the Cocoa of Excellence Awards, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with the almonds produced by cooperative member Míriam Federicci Vieira, recognized as the best in the world (2024).
- 2nd place in the Innovation category with milk chocolate with ginger and 2nd place in the Intense Chocolate category at the Amazônia and Flor Pará Cocoa and Chocolate Fair, held in Belém (2025).
Strengthening sociobiodiversity production chains means caring for the Amazon
What the partnership between Sitawi and PPA demonstrates is that impact investing is one of the paths to sustainable development in the Amazon. By investing in and supporting businesses operating in sociobiodiversity production chains, we are activating local economies, promoting equity, and protecting the world's greatest biodiversity hotspot.
Do you want to be part of this movement?
Participate in the next rounds of the Sitawi Platform!
access www.emprestimocoletivo.com.br and sign up to be notified of news.
