There’s an entrepreneurship case worth studying if you follow the Brazilian retail market. I’m talking about Ilson Mateus and the Grupo Mateus—a story that starts almost from scratch and ends in a billion-dollar IPO.

For those who don’t know, Ilson Mateus is the kind of entrepreneur you don’t often see. He was born in Imperatriz, in Maranhão, in a context with very little infrastructure. In the early 1980s, as many others did, he tried his luck in Serra Pelada, in gold mining. It didn’t work—he returned without capital, without resources. But instead of giving up, he moved to Balsas and opened a small grocery store.

This is where it gets interesting. He didn’t stay only in traditional retail. He quickly realized he could add logistics to the operation—transport goods between cities, increase margins. That small grocery store became Armazém Mateus, and then evolved into what we know today as the Grupo Mateus.

In the 1990s and 2000s, growth accelerated significantly. He created Mateus Supermercados, then Hiper Mateus, entered the pharmacy business, and expanded across Maranhão. But the smartest move was diversification: an atacarejo model with Mix Mateus, appliances with Eletro Mateus, and even its own manufacturing with Bumba Meu Pão. Real vertical integration—one that improves both margins and quality.

The turning point was 2020. The Grupo Mateus went public on B3—and right in the middle of the pandemic, to make it even more notable. It raised approximately R$ 4.63 billion, one of the largest IPOs in Brazil that year. With that capital, it accelerated everything: new stores, stronger logistics, strategic partnerships such as MateusCard with Banco Bradesco.

Why is Ilson Mateus relevant to investors? His strategy is quite different from most others. While big players focus on major urban centers, he dominated less-explored markets in the North and Northeast—an area that has historically been left out of national strategies. He maintained disciplined growth and financial control, and managed to build a model that works in specific regional contexts.

Forbes recognized it: in 2022, it estimated his fortune at around US$ 1.7 billion. A direct reflection of the appreciation of GMAT3 shares and of the operation that continues to expand.

For those who follow retail, the case is interesting because it shows that a well-structured regional company can scale and generate real value. Of course, there are risks—geographic concentration, pressured margins in the sector, and sensitivity to consumption from middle- and lower-income classes. But Ilson Mateus’s trajectory proves that opportunities can be created even in adverse scenarios, and that sometimes the best market is precisely the one everyone overlooks.