9 Owners of Brazilian Brands We Use Everyday, But We Almost Don’t Know Their Faces

When we talk about Brazilian founders of famous companies, you probably immediately think of Silvio Santos, Luiza Helena Trajano and Roberto Justus, right? After all, they often appear in the media. But what about other entrepreneurs, would you be able to recognize some of them if you met them in person?

We, from awesome.club, we already talked about 15 famous owners in Brazil in another article, and now, we selected 9 more owners or founders of successful companies in our country. Come and be inspired by their story!

One of the largest private banks in the country was founded by Amador Aguiar, in 1943. Son of farmers, Amador had little education, but a lot of persistence and vision to grow in life. With the motto: “Only work can produce wealth”, he started working in a typography at the age of 16, and after an accident at work, he got a job at a banking institution, at the age of 21. A few years later, he decided to open in the city of Marília, O bra banksir of discountntos SA, in which its syllables form the word Bradesco. Currently, the bank’s president is Octavio de Lazari and it has around 44.5 million customers.

You probably have or have used a Natura product. The company that received this name for having plant actives in its ingredients, was founded in São Paulo in 1969, by Antônio Luiz Seabra, when he was 27 years old. With the success, the company expanded, becoming Natura &Co. and acquired other world famous brands such as Avon and The Body Shop. Its revenue is estimated at around 1.254 billion reais.

Guilherme Benchimol was born in Rio de Janeiro and graduated in economics. After being fired from his last job, he decided to open his own business. Together with partner Marcel Maisonnave, they opened a small office with ten used computers, and thus founded XP Investimentos in 2001. The company grew, becoming XP Inc., also housing Clear and Rico brokerages.

Currently, XP Investimentos has more than 1.4 million clients in Brazil. And Benchimol is on the list of the richest people in the country, according to Forbes.

You’ve probably already been to one of its branches throughout Brazil. Founded on August 3, 1905, in the city of Araraquara, in the interior of São Paulo, the company was named Pharmacia Raia. The Italian João Baptista Raia moved to Brazil in 1895, graduated in Pharmacy and thus started his own business. The company succeeded, and they opened the second store, in Araçatuba in 1931.

Under the command of CEO Marcilio Pousada since 2013, the drugstore expanded and with Drogasil and Onofre formed RD, with an estimated profit of around 601 million reais.

Many are used to the virtual store, but what perhaps few know is that it all started when cousins ​​Marcio Kumruian and Hagop Chabab opened the first physical store in São Paulo, in February 2000. Two years later, the company invested in e- commerce, until in 2007, all of its work became online.

In addition to investing in shoes, bicycles and sports accessories, the brand also manages the official stores of major teams in Brazil and other countries. According to Marcio Kumruian, to be a successful CEO, you need to have passion and dedication.

One of the largest retail companies in the country was founded in 1989, in Minas Gerais, by Ricardo Nunes. Initially, Ricardo Eletro only sold stuffed animals and later started to sell home appliances. Its branches were located very close to major competitors, such as Casas Bahia and Ponto Frio, maintaining the motto of covering any offer from other retailers. Currently, physical stores have been deactivated, and its main sales channel is the digital platform.

You probably know that Riachuelo is one of the biggest department store chains in Brazil, but maybe you don’t know its origin. It all started in 1947 when the brothers Nevaldo and Newton Rocha founded the Guararapes Group in Rio Grande do Norte. His first store was called “A Capital”, where fabrics were sold and, later, it became a small clothing company. But it was in 1979 that everything changed, the brothers bought the Riachuelo stores and restructured the company, supplying ready-made clothes.

Today, the company belongs to the heir Flavio Rocha and has more than 300 stores, 40,000 employees throughout Brazil. In 2013, there was a change in the brand identity, starting to be abbreviated as RCHLO.

It all started in 1948 with the creation of Doceria Pão de Açúcar, in São Paulo, by Portuguese immigrant Valentim dos Santos Diniz. Eleven years later, the Portuguese immigrant decided to transform the store into a supermarket. The idea was so successful that the company expanded its business and acquired other companies, in addition to opening one of the first hypermarkets in Brazil, Jumbo, which later became Extra.

Abilio Diniz, son of the founder, started working at the age of 12 helping his father in the pastry shop. In 2013, Grupo Pão de Açúcar underwent further changes and changed its nomenclature to just GPA. Abilio decided to leave the company in September of the same year.

Cacheadas on duty probably know this logo. Zica Assis, not being satisfied with her hair, started researching a formula to make her curls more beautiful, creating the Super-Relaxing formula. This is how — in partnership with Jair Conde, Rogério Assis and Leila Velez — the first Natural Beauty salon, with an affordable price, specialized in curly and frizzy hair, was born in 1993.

Success was inevitable, the company expanded, gaining its own factory, Cor Brasil Cosméticos. It has around 2,000 employees in the 38 units. Furthermore, Zica is on the list of the most powerful women in Brazil, according to Forbes.

Did you already know the people behind these brands? Which of these stories inspired you the most? Tell us in the comments section!