Analyzing the Development of a Sustainable Enterprise in an Emerging Economy: Black Cacau and the Bean‐to‐Bar Philosophy

This study examines sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) in emerging economies through the case of Black Cacau, a Brazilian bean‐to‐bar enterprise integrating agroforestry, direct trade, and Afro‐Brazilian cultural empowerment. Adapting the Patagonia‐based framework of Allal‐Chérif et al., the study explores how SE operates under conditions of resource scarcity and institutional voids. Findings show that Black Cacau achieves multi‐level sustainability—ecological, economic, and cultural—through relational collaboration, community empowerment, and localized activism. Compared with Patagonia, its transformation relies less on scale and more on identity‐driven strategies and trust‐based networks. The study contributes theoretically by extending SE frameworks to culturally diverse, grassroots contexts and empirically by demonstrating how small ventures can realign value chains around equity and regeneration. It concludes with reflections on the scalability of SE across socio‐economic environments.