Just before WWII broke out, Michel Eberhardt’s grandparents were able to leave Germany, and immigrate to Brazil with only $400 in their pockets. They had to build their life from the ground up. But even in a foreign land, with grit and hard work, his family became the major supplier of headlamps to car manufacturers in Brazil at that time.
With all of their stories, experiences, and learnings passed to Michel Eberhardt. He is now continually breaking businesses and industries - for good - in South America and around the world.
About Michel
Michel has over 25 years of entrepreneurship experience, including funding the largest restaurant delivery operation in South America - iFood - as well as being an investor and board member of multiple startups and businesses. Currently, he is the founder and Executive Chairman of 2beLive - a virtual education platform focused on solving the frustrations faced by educators and learners.
Inspiration in unlikely places
As a result of the hardships and difficult experiences Michel’s grandparents went through, from setting new roots in a foreign land to building their livelihood from scratch, they have made it a point to invest and build businesses not only in Brazil but also in different countries like Canada, USA, Spain, etc. So if they ever need to uproot their lives elsewhere, they will have a solid ground to stand on.
A practice that is still to this day being carried by Michel.
Becoming a citizen of the world and his entrepreneurial upbringing has helped Michel become more adept at identifying budding trends, spotting opportunities and inspiration from his experiences, and bringing fresh ideas from outside of Brazil. He makes it his own, lays the groundwork, and gets ready to build yet another start-up.
Decades before uber eats and grab food existed, together with his brother, he founded and created the largest restaurant delivery operation in South America - iFood.
A business idea came from when his brother relied heavily on food deliveries to survive while he was still studying in Boston.
Now, he is breaking into the education space with his company, 2BeLive - a one-stop-shop e-learning platform that aims to bring learning to students from cities around the world to the most remote parts of the world (think the forests of the Amazon)— delivering powerful yet simple tools to create an engaging and positive virtual learning experience for both teachers and learners.
In this episode of How I Broke That, Michel shares his entrepreneurial journey and how he navigated the different challenges that were thrown his way. The way he utilized all of the available technologies in crucial moments of his business, and the importance of giving back to communities and creating change in areas where you can.
You can find the whole conversation here: Funding the Largest Restaurant Delivery Operation in South America | HIBT with Michel Eberhardt