Brazilian native Augusto Carneiro founded Nossa Familia Coffee in 2004, originally importing directly from his family’s farms. Today, these Brazilian fazendas remain at the core of the company’s direct coffee trade model with coffee growers around the world, including Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Ethiopia, and beyond.

Tell us about yourself!

I am originally from Brazil. I moved to Portland on a tennis scholarship. It was one of my first entrepreneurial moves—no one was pushing me to play tennis and my family didn’t want me to leave Brazil, but I really wanted to study abroad. My father had been a visiting professor for a time in Canada, so I got the travel bug early and I knew how to speak English. But at the time—in 1996—there was barely dial-up internet, there was no Google, so I sent a typed letter to 120 universities to try to get a scholarship and University of Portland offered me a partial scholarship. I still love to play tennis, cycle and ski—anything outdoors. My wife is a nurse midwife, and we have three teenagers. We love to travel and socialize. I’m an extrovert. In fact, one of our company’s core values is AMBF (Always Be Making Friends).

“One of our company’s core values is ABMF (Always Be Making Friends).”

Why did you start your business?

I started out as a mechanical engineer but after three years, I realized it just wasn’t me. I had to do something different. My mom’s side of the family had a coffee farm in Brazil and had been in business for five generations. It’s a beautiful place, like the Napa Valley of coffee. I am one of four kids and my mom is one of ten. I was one of 27 grandkids, so when we’d go there for holidays, it was like going to summer camp. It was always super fun, with lots of good food and loving family.

Growing up, I would have breakfast and listen as my grandpa and uncles discussed the business of the day. I learned a lot from those 'breakfast huddles,’ especially how to treat people well and do business with integrity—it's the way my family has done business for five generations.

I was super proud of all the hard work my family had done and what it meant to run a purposeful company. My family has been doing sustainability in Brazil since long before that was a marketing term. Sustainability in my family literally means ‘Sustain Ability’: it’s about longevity so you're not going to break the land for short term profits. Instead, you're going to nurture the land and use it in a symbiotic way to generate wealth for the family, and for everybody that works there, so that you can pass it on to the next generation. I grew up seeing how my grandpa and uncles treated the workers and cared for the land, and I just really wanted to bring that story to Portland.

Today, we’re one of very few integrated coffee companies. Our family grows the beans, we buy from our family’s export company, we roast the beans and deliver to our customers. The supply chain is all in the same family—all the way to the customer. Nossa Familia literally means “our family” in Portuguese.

“My family has been doing sustainability in Brazil since long before that was a marketing term.”

Is there an obstacle you faced that helped you get where you are today?

There are so many to choose from! One of the biggest happened in the beginning when I split with my original business partner. We weren’t aligned on where we wanted to go. But because I had studied engineering and he was more the business guy, I worried: Can I really do this by myself? Who am I to think I can do this? That’s when I joined EO. EO helped me negotiate the buyout and reduce the self-limiting thoughts. It was a big moment of learning and personal growth.

“EO helped me negotiate the buyout and reduce the self-limiting thoughts.”

How else has being an EO member helped you?

When I was purchasing commercial property, it was a huge deal. It was a major entrepreneurial stretch. I really turned to my EO network to help figure out how, and to make connections for potential partners and investors in the building. Owning a stake in the building gave us a lot of security. As a manufacturing business, we can’t just pack up laptops and go to WeWork when a landlord changes their mind. We have a lot of heavy production equipment. Acquiring a building has given us peace of mind and security to grow and build wealth through returns on our investment. EO really helped me navigate the whole thing.

Our theme this year in EO Portland is “lift others up.” How do you lift others up in your work or life?

In 2016, we became the first certified B Corp coffee roaster in Oregon. When I quit my engineering job, I really wanted to build a company that would have purpose, to use business as a force for good. One of the things we’ve established is our Nossa Familia Giveback Program. With coffee, we're not going to cure cancer, but we can help contribute to society by setting some of the profits aside to donate to groups that we feel like are making a difference. We also became one of the first zero-waste cafes (at Seven Corners on SE Division) and we just invested in electric vans so we’re going to be one of the first coffee companies in Oregon or the U.S. with a fully electric fleet.

“With coffee, we're not going to cure cancer, but by setting some of the profits aside to donate to groups that we feel like are making a difference is just one of the ways we can contribute to society.”

What would you tell an entrepreneur who’s considering joining EO?

Operating a business is really, really hard. By joining EO, I have learned so many valuable lessons from others that have helped make my business better. And it makes it way less lonely. Some of my best friends in Portland now are people I met through EO.

I’m also excited to say that we’re expanding to Brazil. We’re going back to our roots—and we’re officially multinational now! Becoming an international business was a dream. Learning from other EOers who expanded internationally has been so helpful. I’m also connecting with EO chapters in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo because they have a wealth of information about doing business in Brazil.

“Operating a business is really, really hard. I have learned so many valuable lessons from others that have helped make my business better.”

You talk about creating positive relationships locally and globally. Why is that important to Nossa Familia?

Our vision is to be a coffee company that makes the world a better place. We continuously strive to foster community, ensure social responsibility, and minimize our environmental impact. We work hard to treat everyone in our supply chain as part of our extended and ever-growing family. We become a dependable business partner for the farmers we work with.

In January, for example, we’re taking our staff and doing another trip to Guatemala to visit all the producers we buy from. By visiting, we get to know what their business challenges are, what they struggle with, so hopefully we can contribute in some ways. For example, we took proceeds from our Festa holiday blend and contributed to installing solar panels on one of the production facilities in Guatemala, which helped them lower their energy bill. We’ve helped build a kitchen in Nicaragua that’s smoke-free now and healthier for the workers. We also contribute to a young farmers fund in Guatemala to help the next generation of coffee farmers in Guatemala do good work. Our values on social and environmental responsibility, quality coffee, and relationships are deeply rooted in our heritage and will always serve as the guiding force for our growth.

“We continuously strive to foster community, ensure social responsibility, and minimize our environmental impact.”

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This is an interview series by Talie Smith, EO Board Chair for Chapter Communications, featuring Portland EO members who lift others up through their grit, talent, and courageous entrepreneurial spirit.