Paul Divet

Background

Born in Argentina to a French father and a Mexican mother, I grew up in Brazil, Portugal, and Poland. I have worked in CPG, Food Retail and Grocery eCommerce for most of my career. These personal and professional experiences shaped my perspective on the environmental impact of our human activities and, more specifically, those related to how we grow, harvest, process and distribute our food. I am taking the next two MBA years to reflect on the gaps and opportunities I’ve identified in our current agrifood business. Ultimately, I hope to launch my own venture in Latin America, at the intersection of Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability.

My vision for a sustainable future

Since the late 1800s and early 1900s, capitalism has helped improve our life conditions in an unprecedented way, but it has also deepened the rifts of inequality between countries globally and between social classes nationally. I refuse to accept the idea that capitalism cannot be reformed to meet the challenges of today. With a change in mindset for win-win-win models (social-environmental-business), investors and companies can create value that is shared in a fairer and more meaningful way to have a lasting positive impact on all.

Favorite Green Tip

Don’t judge other people’s actions. As our sustainability challenges become more pressing, we tend to become more impatient and more demanding of other people’s efforts and sacrifices. We forget societal change cannot be rushed and it surely cannot be achieved by pitting ourselves against each other. I believe the biggest challenge for a more sustainable future in Agrifood is social inequality. Having sustainable consumption (organic, ethical, fairtrade, non-GMO, local, biodiverse…) is, in most cases and most places, still a privilege today. We must strive to empower our farmers and create incentive systems for investors and companies that make these consumer decisions truly accessible to all. The sense of urgency is on our government and corporate leaders’ side. While they work on it, educating and being supportive, of even the smallest efforts, can already get us a long way.