*By Estela Damato, founder of Damato Partner Track
2024 was an incredible year as an entrepreneur and for our startup. Damato Partner Track was launched at the beginning of the year and, halfway through, began to take off due to the real demand from Brazilian organizations to access foreign capital.
Applying my expertise in a scalable methodology allowed Damato to become a strategic partner for businesses, which resulted in steady growth for the company.
It is worth noting that Damato came about out of my desire to apply my 10 years of experience in leadership positions in both public and private sectors in the negotiation environment.
Moreover, I believe that building lasting and genuine relationships is a competitive advantage in the business world, after all, it is a way to further humanize interactions.
Based on this principle and years of experience, I developed my own framework, which was put into practice throughout 2024 and delivered the results I will now share with you!
Damato’s first steps
2024 was a year of hard work. I started the startup’s activities in Brazil with two key clients already onboard by February, followed by international trips with a strategic perspective to understand the market and networking opportunities.
We traveled to China and London, which, despite no longer being part of the EU, still has significant investment channels for sustainable development projects.
In parallel, I also achieved a personal milestone that resonates for Damato: the approval of my O-1 Visa—Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement (USCIS), better known as the Genius Visa. This result represents validation by the U.S. government of my extraordinary ability to contribute to economic development and strategic growth.
As a Brazilian woman in a fiercely competitive ecosystem, this achievement is highly significant for Damato’s brand and the value we bring to our clients.
Expertise and trust as a methodology
By putting our values of trust in relationships into practice, we fostered a “let’s do it together” approach through honest communication with our clients.
This naturally enabled us to consolidate our ability to deliver end-to-end solutions, always closely supporting our clients in their journeys and taking risks alongside them.
Our purpose is to act as true partners at every stage, which helped build an environment of trust and mutual cooperation. As a result, we have been able to close long-term deals and conduct successful projects.
Consolidated partnerships in 2024
Regarding our partners for 2024, we can mention the Akatu Institute, which has been positioning itself in the process of conscious consumption and sustainable development for over 30 years.
The institute is strong in communication and influencer marketing, as consumption is closely tied to this new format. They have already won awards at Cannes three times for their communication campaigns!
This is a relevant organization that wants to take an international step and is relying on our support as a strategic partner for this new phase.
We also work with Mais Unidos, a U.S. diplomatic mission in Brazil. They are already strategic partners of USAID Brazil, a U.S. government development agency, and are aiming to expand to other USAID branches.
We are working closely with them in this expansion process to the United States, focusing particularly on Washington (DC), New York, and Miami.
There are millions of investments aimed at programs like Mais Unidos. During the pandemic, USAID invested $100 million, and Mais Unidos received grants to work more specifically on COVID-19 emergency actions.
Vena is another example of a partnership consolidated in 2024 — a public management consulting firm with significant potential to receive grants and connect with this ecosystem. We are currently in the mapping phase to define our next steps.
A repositioning study is being carried out with a focus on new negotiations so that, soon, we can work with sustainable agendas in a more active way. This delivery takes into account the scenario, understanding financial flows, so that we can also act as negotiating partners.
What will we take into 2025?
2024 will be remembered as a special year: it was filled with achievements, international travel, trust-building efforts, and a personal move to the U.S. that had a strategic impact on our business. For 2025, we are preparing for a pivotal transition.
Our goal is to take a bold step in the first quarter of 2025 to establish ourselves in the U.S. market as well, enabling us to deliver even greater value to our Brazilian clients and expand into Latin America and worldwide.
In 2024, we had a boom of growth, but we also needed to be flexible in several negotiations. We learned that we need to take it slow, at times, to establish even more trust in relationships.
We look to 2024 recognizing that this was a year focused on creating bonds and building truly solid relationships with relevant players. Here’s to the next challenges and goals in 2025!
