Antonio Luiz Seabra was born in Sao Paulo in 1942. At only 15 years old, young Antonio already had a businessman spirit.

After high school, he decided to study economics. Just graduated, he joined Remington, a manufacturer of typewriters and calculators. At 21, Antônio became manager. 
In the 1960s, he discovered and developed a passion for cosmetology in a small family laboratory in Sao Paulo, where he was manager for 3 years. 
In 1969, at 27, Seabra signed a partnership with Jean Pierre Berjeaout, a former colleague, to start a cosmetics factory, bearing his partner’s name. Company is renamed Natura, in tribute to using vegetal compound in his formulations. Same year, Antônio Seabra opened a small store in Oscar Freire Street in Sao Paulo. He sold his product there and gave personalized beauty advice. Saebra also used door to door sales, which were very common at the time. He used to walk around the neighborhood and hand out roses and printed messages. “With love, a lot of love, we make beauty, come visit us”.

The entrepreneur made early bets on Brazilian biodiversity.

He was aware of customers diversity : Brazilians with mixed skin, sometimes African, sometimes European, Portuguese, German or Italian… He early understood, before others, that there were not a unique formula for all women. Seabra wanted to turn sustainability into a strength: in order to avoid waste and a harmful impact on the environment, he innovated by achieving carbon neutrality by 2007. For Natura, innovation is key for sustainability. In 2016 the company has spent €50 M and launched 255 products. Plastic 100% recycled, green plastic (from sugar cane), first rechargeable product by 1983 (1st company in Brazil), fair trade, cruelty free by 2006.

Thanks to these strategies, he became pioneer of sustainable cosmetics, which will contribute to the development of the Natura brand.

In 1982, the brand started internationalization in Chile, then in 1992 in Argentina and Peru, and in France in 2005. 2004 was marked by Natura IPO at Sao Paulo stock exchange. In June 2017, Natura acquired The Body Shop, bought from L’Oréal for €1bn. This acquisition enabled the company to become a multi-channel, multi-brand, and international group. Natura accelerated external growth with Avon acquisition in 2019. Natura&Co also owns the Australian manufacturer AESOP with stores in Oceania, Asia, Europe, and North America. Group was propelled to the 4th place worldwide in beauty sector behind L’Oréal, Estée Lauder and Shiseido. Today, Natura works with more than 1.4M consultants (mostly women) selling products door to door in Brazil, 6 other countries in Latin America and in France. “Stronger women”, that’s what the leader encourages with 50% of women in management.

Natura is an aware and engaged company.

Chairman of the board of directors, Guilherme Peirao Leal, has been fighting since the 1990s for the adoption of a sustainable development model. He has chaired the Abrinq Foundation for Children’s rights, was an executive member of Funbio and WWF Brazil. Seabra is co-Chairman of the board of directors but also own Bresco, a Brazilian real estate leasing entity focused on warehouses, offices, and hotels. Fifty years after creation, Antônio Luiz Seabra embodies the soul of Natura. His environmental but also human values are still present in the different brands of the group. Company is very involved in caritative projects like education for all or equality in employment. “It’s not just about creating a global beauty group. We need to promote diversity and combat the threat of climate change”. Seabra communicate with his employees through motivation videos. He often uses poesy and philosophy in business meetings. The discreet leader owns an appartement on the banks of the Seine river in Paris as well as property in London, where he lives. The businessman is married and father of 4 children.