SAMBAZON reached a major milestone this year: 25 years of positive impact on the lives of Amazon harvesters, their communities, and the Amazon rainforest.
We were founded in 2000 with a pioneering business model of Açaí traceability and transparency. This transformed the way Açaí harvesters are paid because we purchased directly from them, cutting out the middlemen.
You can learn more about how this model comes to life by visiting here.
We like to call our Açaí’s amazing journey "Palm to Palm" — from the palm of the Açaí tree to the palm of your hands. It’s guided by our three sustainability pillars: pioneering traceability, safeguarding the Amazon, and a light footprint.
Check out our Impact Report for details about how we measure these efforts.
Here’s what our CEO and one of SAMBAZON’s founder, Ryan Black (who helped found the company following a life-changing surfing trip to Brazil), has to say about our impact in the Amazon:
"The conventional Açaí supply chain relies on middlemen, which can lead to unfair pay for harvesters and a lack of supply chain transparency without origin control or accountability. This is why SAMBAZON's priority has always gone far beyond profits. We start by paying our harvesters a fair price for their Açaí so they can have a sustainable income.
“Our goal is for their families and communities to be more economically stable, reducing the need for logging or clearcutting trees for agriculture. We require sustainable harvesting techniques, protecting against deforestation. We also support construction projects and quality of life improvements within our harvesters' communities."
Since SAMBAZON’s beginning, we’ve invested more than $1 million into our Amazon harvesting communities. In 2024 alone, we worked with 256 Açaí harvester communities and 827 individual Açaí harvesters in the Amazon. In a survey conducted last year by 60 Decibels on behalf of SAMBAZON, 93 percent of the harvesters surveyed say their lives have improved since working with us. 100% of harvesters surveyed said the company has contributed to the development of their communities.
SAMBAZON's way of doing business, including its Organic and Fair Trade certifications, help safeguard this vital ecosystem, including endangered species, and promotes biodiversity. Our Fair Trade certified harvest area in the Amazon Rainforest has grown to 100,204 acres — about four times the metropolitan area of Paris!
Our harvested Acaí isn't treated with fertilizers or pesticides, and our Organic and Fair Trade certifications are an additional assurance that forbidden pesticides and other chemicals aren’t contaminating the harvesting environment.
Here are a few more of our noteworthy achievements over the past 25 years:
● 661 million pounds of certified Organic and Fair Trade ingredients purchased - equivalent to the weight of 254 giant sequoias.
● In 2024 alone, 4.5 million metric tons of carbon were stored in SAMBAZON's Fair Trade-certified acres. That's as much as about 3.8 million gasoline-powered passenger vehicles being driven for one year!
● 96.4% of SAMBAZON's waste is turned into energy, reused or recycled.
● 98.6% of the company's energy used at its headquarters and processing facilities in Brazil is renewable (solar, wind, hydroelectricity).
● SAMBAZON is working towards its goal that by 2030 all of its retail and food service packaging will be from recycled or plant-based materials, and be recyclable or compostable.
As our 25th year in business draws to a close, we feel grateful for your loyalty and support. It will help us continue our cycle of positive impact in the Amazon and around the world.