Sustainable Brasil Consulting was founded by IE Business School MBA graduate Gwendoline de Ganay. She always had an interest in sustainability and social responsibly, and after helping organise the business schools’ Social Responsibility Forum, she decided to launch a start-up.

The SME is based in Brazil and consults big corporations on issues of sustainability – and, more recently, helps to promote initiatives for women in business.

Gwen has leveraged the b-school network (her business partner is a fellow IE alumnus) and it gave her the confidence to launch a business on the other side of the world from her home, France.

Gwen tells us why sustainability is important and the challenges associated with launching start-ups in emerging markets. Social responsibility is a hot topic in the MBA community at the moment, and this is a profile you don’t want to miss!

What is the company's size?

It’s me and a business partner at the moment. I met Tatiana Machado at IE Business School, through the Social Responsibility Forum. She was really interested in sustainability so we stayed in touch and when she moved back to Brazil it led to our current partnership.

Which sector does it operate in?

Sustainability and consulting.

What does the business do and what are their core/flagship products?

We consult companies in Brazil on sustainability issues and social responsibility. When I visited the country, I could feel there was a lot of potential and I felt it was a good moment to enter.

Then, clients began asking me to set up initiatives to promote female leadership so we do that now as well.

Who is the CEO/ founder?

I founded the company.

How was the company founded?

I went into the MBA at IE knowing I wanted to work in sustainability and I did a short exchange to a business school in Rio to help identify opportunities in the region for after graduation.

I also helped organize IE’s Social Responsibility Forum and that helped me identify key players in Latin America, and by that point I knew I wanted to work there.

When I visited, I saw how much momentum was building towards the World Cup and Olympics and I could feel that a lot of Brazilian companies wanted to step up their game with sustainability.

Number of current MBAs at the company?

Two: myself and Tatiana are both graduates of IE Business School.

What challenges have you faced setting up a company on the other side of the world?

Brazil is tricky in terms of bureaucracy, but I'm very grateful for being here. Everything takes a bit longer… to set up the company, do basic setting up of bank accounts and so on. So you need to be patient.

But some interesting things came from that – it meant I could talk to companies and build relations.

How has an MBA helped you set-up your own company?

It’s been huge because first of all, I didn’t have much business knowledge in terms of basic finance, marketing and building a business model. So the actual knowledge helped a lot; I use it every day.

It also gave me the confidence to start a business; to approach the market and build the company up. And also the network – my partner is from IE and I met her through the same topics of sustainability during the MBA.