Powering Brazil’s climate resilience: Quintessa’s mission-driven shift
A land of contrasting ecosystems, Brazil encompasses the humid Amazon, the sprawling wetlands of the Pantanal, and the semi-arid Northeast, where resilience is a way of life. Amid this diverse landscape, where drought and flood pose threats, Entrepreneurship Support Organisation Quintessa is reshaping what it means to innovate, combining technology with community-led solutions for climate resilience. A certified B Corp, Quintessa connects impact-focused business with community solutions, working alongside local innovators — especially women — to confront climate change head-on.
This article is part of the Climate KIC series on shaping inclusive climate entrepreneurship and supporting women entrepreneurs. Together with Salesforce Foundation, we supported six women-led Entrepreneurship Support Organisations with flexible financial grants, capacity-building programmes and access to a supportive community, to scale and accelerate their impact on the ground. This is one of their stories.
Building solutions that reflect reality
What makes Quintessa unique is how they approach resilience itself. “We’re not interested in solutions made for a boardroom,” says Carolina Ochoa, Quintessa’s founder. “Our work begins with the people facing these problems every day, especially women who understand how climate change affects their communities and families.” Their work not only includes high-tech fixes; Quintessa seeks to redefine whole systems, prioritising solutions rooted in the land and amplifying voices often left out of Brazil’s innovation economy.
From their headquarters in São Paulo and their mobile regional teams, Quintessa’s approach is focused on long-term community-based solutions. They invest in women who have already crafted practical methods to adapt to changing climates. Whether designing water-conservation systems or pioneering climate-resistant agriculture, these women bring local expertise that no outside innovation can replicate. “Scalability, for us, isn’t just about reaching more people,” Carolina explains. “We strive to create lasting and impactful solutions, generation after generation, to rethink the outdated protocols and dynamics that don’t hold in today’s world.”
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Local ideas for national change
Every week, Carolina’s team connects with vulnerable rural communities, seeking projects with the potential to change lives on the ground. Many of the most powerful ideas they encounter are born from first-hand experience with Brazil’s climate extremes, developed by women who have lived these issues and crafted tangible solutions.
These women then receive structured support from Quintessa to turn their local projects into viable, scalable ventures. With a portfolio that includes open innovation with socially-driven businesses to capital access and sustainable practices aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Quintessa’s model is a blend of mentorship, technical training, and community-building. Each project begins with a simple question: “How can we take something already effective and help it reach others who need it?”
The role of strategic partnerships
Quintessa’s growth is fuelled by critical partnerships with organisations like Climate KIC, which provide more than funding. These partnerships have enabled Carolina and her team to expand their impact capacity, bringing technical guidance and additional resources to women-led climate ventures. “Their support gives us flexibility and depth in how we mentor,” Carolina says. “It allows us to innovate how we support women in ways that feel less like charity and more like solidarity.”
Climate KIC helps Quintessa provide a safety net for early-stage ventures, offering them a clear pathway to scale. Through this support, their actions have the potential to expand their local borders, reaching more vulnerable areas with solutions that address climate challenges in an inclusive, people-first way.
As a Brazilian, Carolina has long felt the cultural and linguistic distance between her country and the rest of Latin America. Yet, through Climate KIC, she has found common ground with fellow women leaders attending the programme. “Our roots tie us to Africa, and our challenges align with Latin America,” she reflects. “The conversations reminded me that, despite the differences, we’re facing the same systemic issues — resource access, gender inequality and climate resilience.”
A network of empowerment
Quintessa’s impact grows with each success, increasing the reach of each solution and the confidence of those developing them. “Our work is about more than one start-up or one successful business — it’s important to lay out a network where women feel empowered to develop their ideas and pass them on to others,” she explains.
These projects are reshaping communities in rural areas where climate impacts are most severe. Women-led ventures backed by Quintessa create jobs, secure food sources, and embed environmental stewardship within local economies. Carolina’s vision is elevating these women’s work to build a Brazil that meets climate change with innovative, grounded solutions — created by those closest to the impact.
Quintessa’s work proposes practical, actionable, and urgently needed solutions toward systemic impact. “The work is far from over, but every supporter we bring in helps us realise a vision of climate resilience that includes everyone,” says Carolina. Through their work, the future of Brazil’s climate resilience lies in the hands of those who understand it best.
About this programme
At Climate KIC, we’re committed to driving systemic change in inclusion across the climate innovation sector. Our programme, supported by CATAL1.5°T, Irish Aid, Green Hub and Salesforce Foundation helps partners identify gaps in their understanding of gender inequity and implement concrete actions for organisations to embed a gender lens into their everyday work.
We work with different partners and institutions to support our work on inclusive climate entrepreneurship. Contact us today to see how you can become a partner.