Entrepreneurs Without Borders encourages producers to be more innovative in their businesses

From July 15th to 21st, 18 young Brazilian producers are participating in the Entrepreneurs Without Borders Program, at Iowa State University, in Iowa, in the United States. This program, focusing on family succession, innovation in business management and entrepreneurship, was an initiative that emerged to meet the request of some AgroBravo clients looking for trips that could combine knowledge of new places and realities with the participants' professional training.

One example is the executive director of the John Deere Maqcampo dealership, José Augusto Araújo, who helped kickstart the idea of ​​undertaking a study immersion at an American university. Noting the difficulty some of his clients had in running their agricultural businesses in a more professional manner, he saw the need to find some way of offering them the opportunity for training in important topics that most of the time are not explored in depth in Brazil, such as innovation and professionalization of agricultural management. It was with this objective that he sought out AgroBravo, encouraging what, a year later, would become a real opportunity for any Brazilian interested in carrying out an academic experience in the United States and expanding their professional knowledge.

As a personal practice, Araújo spends a week a year at American universities to update himself on different topics related to his business and understands that all Brazilian farmers should do this experience at least once in their lives. “This program is really very important because its format, with lectures and technical visits, allows participants to get to know the academic and business world in the United States. Here there is a great integration between the academic world and companies, as they know that universities will be where their future presidents, executives and trainees will come from. That’s why companies breathe the local academic world,” he says. 

According to the head of the entrepreneurship department at Iowa State University, and one of the coordinators of the Entrepreneurs Without Borders program, Kevin Kimle, this immersion leads students to deeply rethink their concepts about business. “With each generation, the business needs to be reborn to survive. Therefore, what we work on daily in this immersion is the need for young people to acquire the mentality and skills to be entrepreneurs. We want everyone to discover what motivates them and enable them to apply it to their business”, he guarantees. 

This experience leads participants to evaluate the way they conduct their business, as they bring students and large businesspeople linked to agriculture face to face, whose main characteristics are entrepreneurship and innovation. They open the doors of their companies and share their experiences with Brazilians, as is the case with Bruce Rastetter, CEO of Summit Ag Group, and Harry Stine, owner of Stine Seeds and considered the richest man in the state of Iowa. Stine Seeds carries out seed research and is responsible for the genetics found in more than 60% of the soybeans planted in the United States. Summit Ag Group, an investment fund, generates large fortunes in businesses linked to agriculture and has farms in Brazil in the State of Pará, a corn ethanol production plant in Lucas do Rio Verde (MT) and another in the construction in the municipality of Sorriso (MT), which together will receive an investment of 2 billion dollars.

For economist and coordinator of the Entrepreneurship Without Borders Program, Dave Krog, another key point of this experience is the relationship and the chance to meet influential people, who may even become partners in future business. “At the end of the day, it all comes down to relationships between people. Networking is undoubtedly a characteristic of successful people and successful businesses,” he explains. This feeling is also shared by the director of AgroBravo, Julio Bravo. “Relationships are a fundamental part of business. Because it is so important, it is part of our company’s mission, which is to connect the world of agribusiness through relationships,” he explains. 

The Entrepreneurs Without Borders program was designed in four stages, all focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship. Therefore, the group that carried out the first stage in July 2017 will participate in the second stage next week, from July 23 to 28, in California, where they will visit companies in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Sonoma and Salinas Valley on the central coast of State. “In addition to successful startups, we also want to visit other family businesses that are references in adding value to the product, such as local wineries that in 1 hectare of grapes achieve a revenue one hundred times greater than the production of soybeans in the same space”, explains Julio Bravo .

The final stages of the program, which will take place over the next two years, aim to connect participants with companies and professionals from Europe and Asia, in addition to taking American producers to carry out activities in Brazil.