3) Description of your products or services: Sambazon (Sustainable Management of the Brazilian Amazon), www.sambazon.com, purchases organic, fair trade and sustainably wild harvested Açaí Palmberry fruits from over 940 low-income families living inside 66,000 acres of the Varzea Eco-Region 147 of the Amazon Rainforest. These low income native producers are organized into 4 Cooperatives and are the main beneficiaries of Sambazon’s operational model. Sambazon industrializes the palmberry fruits into pulps, beverages, ice creams and supplements and sells these finished products that carry the Sambazon brand name within the US natural food and beverage market segment.

Being native to the Amazon River Basin, the Açaí Palmberry fruits are renewable products that directly preserve the natural habitat for the traditional and native producers. These fruits improve local economic conditions and the sustainable utilization of natural resources. Non-timber forest products such as Açaí give an economic alternative to local communities who normally depend on destructive logging and other non sustainable activities for their livelihood. With the increased demand for the fruit and through the promotion of sustainable agro-forestry systems, the value is being shifted to renewable resources, with the incentive on sustainability. This change of paradigm gives great ammunition not only to the environmental movement, but also to socially responsible business worldwide.

4) Description of the operational model: A) Production – Sambazon purchases the fruit from the 4 native family Coops. A local NGO (FASE-PA) provides technical assistance to the Coops that support their compliance with all USDA Organic Certification guidelines. In addition to this the NGO intermediates all purchasing between the Coops and SAMBAZON in order to insure that Fair Trade pricing is being correctly followed. B) Distribution / Delivery- Each Coop has a strategically located drop off point where the family producers deliver the fruits according to the harvest schedule. The local NGO provides logistical support between the Coops and Sambazon to insure efficiencies. Upon arrival at the drop off points, Sambazon has trucks waiting to pick up the fruits and transport them to local industries where they are then industrialized into Sambazon products. C) Market –Products are shipped from Brazil to the USA to be sold in Sambazon’s retail and foodservice distribution channels. This groundbreaking concept of “Market Driven Conservation” allows low income native family producers in the Amazon to improve their social, economic and environmental living conditions through the sustainable harvesting of NTFPs such as the Açaí Palmberry. Every dollar spent by US consumers who purchase Sambazon products directly contribute to improving the quality of life for the Coops and native family producers who harvest these fruits, as well as protect the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest.

5) Description of the financial model: Sambazon is a company built on a Triple bottom line promoting long term social, environmental, and economic success. The local NGO (FASE) together with Sambazon and the Coops structured a Fair Trade pricing model that guarantees that the low income producer families will be receiving just prices for the fruits they sell to Sambazon. There are two mechanisms used to these prices: A) Minimum Price - The minimum price for Açaí fruit guarantees that we are covering the real costs of goods for the growers and a necessary profit margin that allows them to live with the basic necessities of health and satisfaction. B) Price Premium - When the local market prices for conventional fruit are equal to or above the minimum price above, Sambazon pays an additional premium on top of the local market prices for conventional fruit for every basket of fruit purchased. Because of this relationship, FASE, together with the Federal University of Pará also provide the Coops and low income producer families with technical assistance that permits them to utilize credit facilities that allow them to manage their production and generate increased income over the long term.

      Client fees represent this approximate percentage of operational budget: 15%

6) Key operational partnership: FASE-PA www.fase.org.br Institutional partnership was formed with the Brazilian N.G.O. Federation of Social- Educational Assistance. The goal is to structure and increase the qualification of local Açaí producer associations linked with FASE-PA to create a sustainable forest management system for the Açaí palmberry fruit. UFPA (Para Federal University – Food Engineering Department) By centralizing and coordinating regional sustainable development efforts along with local government, growers associations and NGO’s, UFPA Food Engineering Department provides SAMBAZON and its partners with product research and nutritional orientation concerning Açaí. The Nature Conservancy EcoEnterprise Fund- A venture fund for nature, uniting business and conservation. Sambazon has been working closely with The Eco-Enterprise Fund since 2003, and utilizes annual credit facilities to purchase fruit in Brazil. Ecologic Finance www.ecologic.org Targeting the rural credit market, EEV provides small business loans to support productive activities that foster biodiversity conservation and grassroots economic development. SAMBAZON has a recurring debt financing arrangement to purchase fruit in Brazil.

7) Current outreach: