Pedro Henrique Silva, a 27-year-old young man, heads a team that produces almost 200 thousand ice cubes for drinks every day in a factory in Atibaia, São Paulo.
His company, Coco Leve, founded in 2018, expects to earn an impressive R$53 million by the end of 2023, with 120 employees dedicated to the production line.
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Pedro's success story is a surprising turn of events, as he was studying to become a doctor before making the decision to undertake and create Coco Leve in the interior of São Paulo.
His parents, in search of better opportunities for work, left Minas Gerais and went to the interior of São Paulo when they were young.
During this journey, the family faced such extreme difficulties that they had to live in their own van for a period of time. Pedro was only two months old at the time.
The Kombi also became the place where his parents established a small grocery store in Jundiaí.
As Pedro and his younger brother Pablo grew up, they became more involved in the family business and experienced firsthand the challenges of running their own company.
On the left, Pedro Henrique's parents; on the right, the grocery store in the Kombi and some customers (Images: Personal archive / Reproduction)
Over time, the grocery store turned into an ice cream shop that supported the family. This experience revealed the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and may have been one of the factors that initially made Pedro Henrique hesitant to follow this path.
Change of plans
Even though he decided to move away from entrepreneurship and pursue a career in the medical field, Pedro chose to study Medicine at a public college in Argentina.
He spent two years immersed in his studies, but during one of his vacations, his entrepreneurial desire resurfaced. The trigger for the change of direction was an idea from his brother, Pablo.
The youngest noticed something intriguing at the parties he attended: nightclubs used to use frozen coconut water in boxes in the drinks served to customers.
This caught Pablo's attention, especially since the Silva family already had popsicle making machines. With this idea in mind, Pedro decided to dive head first into entrepreneurship and turn his career around.
It was the beginning of Coco Leve, a company that would become one of the main producers of ice for drinks in Brazil.
Coco Leve's beginnings were modest, with Pedro placing his first batch of orders with just 500 units of ice. To meet this initial demand, he had to take out a loan of R$1,000, which he used to buy the necessary coconuts.
However, success was quick and soon his home kitchen became insufficient to meet the volume of orders.
The company's growth
With the move to an industrial space of 20 thousand m², the company grew even more, and new partners joined the company.
In addition to regular ice, Coco Leve has expanded its portfolio to include drinking water ice and ice with flavors, sweetened and with fruit extracts such as passion fruit, lemon, green apple and watermelon.
Coco Leve is constantly innovating, and one of its most recent bets is a type of ice capable of freezing beer in just 40 seconds.
Pedro reports that the acceptance of this product has been significant and believes that the ice has the potential to gain popularity not only in Brazil, but also internationally.
This search for innovation and willingness to meet market needs have been key elements for the company’s success. company, which continues to stand out in the Brazilian entrepreneurial scene.
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