The origins of the Nossa Fruits project with Damien Binois, founder.
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Damien, I’m 35 years old, I’m originally from Sarthe, and I founded Nossa Fruits in 2012. I’m passionate about food and nature, particularly tropical forests.
How did the Nossa project come about?
While I was studying in Brazil, I discovered acai, a small Amazonian berry with a unique flavor and many nutritional properties. I had never heard of this fruit before, but it is very popular in Brazil.
What particularly struck me about this little fruit was that almost all of its production comes from wild harvesting in the Amazon. Since I’m passionate about cooking and forests, I wanted to learn more and decided to write my master’s thesis on the production of this fruit.
So I went to Belém, in the Amazon Delta, where I stayed for several weeks meeting harvesters, cooperatives, NGOs, researchers, and companies. I fell in love with this region, where nature is exuberant but threatened, and where the people are incredibly warm yet live in great poverty.
I realized that acai, because it is an Amazonian plant and because it contains impressive benefits, could help solve these 2 problems in the region: preserving the forest by giving it value, and providing resources to the people who live there.
So I decided to introduce it to French consumers and develop a sustainable production sector.
Why are you so determined to get involved, in your own way, in protecting the environment?
My grandparents were small-scale farmers, so I was exposed from a very young age to the issues surrounding food production and the related environmental challenges. I grew up in the countryside, surrounded by forests, and my mother was also a physics teacher who was deeply involved in sustainable development. I therefore learned early on about reducing waste, recycling, composting, and so on... In addition, most of the fruit and vegetables we ate came from the garden. The environment is therefore a subject that is particularly close to my heart.
Then, like many young people my age, I want to contribute to a better world and have the greatest possible impact in improving it. Entrepreneurship seemed to me the best way to show consumers that their purchases have an impact on the world, and to avoid depending on government institutions.
Two sentences to define this adventure?
The destruction of the Amazon rainforest has purely economic roots: only by giving the forest value will we be able to preserve it.
French consumers, whose social and environmental awareness is much more developed than that of Brazilian consumers, can contribute to preserving the Amazon by consuming products derived from its socio-biodiversity.
What does the future hold for you? Any future projects?
2023 marks a new turning point for Nossa, as we are in the process of structuring our CSR team (Corporate Social Responsibility) in Brazil.
It has 2 goals: First, to ensure that our work in the Amazon does not create social or environmental problems, particularly by monitoring the use of protective equipment for harvesting, preserving biodiversity, and ensuring that no deforestation occurs. We want to go even further than the organic and fair-trade certification standards we already meet.
Second, to measure the positive impact we generate among traditional Amazonian communities and ecosystems: increased incomes for harvesters, greater involvement of women, and the enrichment of biodiversity across expanding areas.
In 2024, we will begin building our production facility in the Amazon, which will enable the creation of many local jobs.
Finally, do you have any advice for those who also want to get involved in a project like this (an association, a business venture, etc.)?
To me, entrepreneurship is above all a matter of self-confidence. It is this confidence that tells us we can change the world on our own small scale and enables us to accept the risks inherent in such an adventure.
If you work on your self-confidence and have a meaningful idea, go for it; in the worst case, you will have learned lots of things and met incredible people!
Thanks to Basilic Podcast