Have you ever stopped to think about why some entrepreneurs manage to build empires in markets that everyone else ignores? Ilson Mateus is precisely this kind of case — and I think it’s worth understanding his strategy.

I started following Ilson Mateus’s story when Grupo Mateus went public in 2020. It wasn’t just another IPO — it was Brazil’s largest equity offering that year, raising around R$ 4.6 billion. This drew attention because it happened in the middle of the pandemic, when everyone was pessimistic.

But his journey began long before that. Born in Imperatriz, Maranhão, in the 1960s, Ilson tried his luck as a gold prospector in Serra Pelada in the early 1980s — without success. Here’s the interesting part: instead of giving up, he returned to Maranhão and opened a small grocery store in Balsas. Nothing extraordinary at first glance, but he saw something others didn’t.

While most retailers focused on big cities like São Paulo and Rio, Ilson realized that the North and Northeast were underexplored markets with growing demand. He started transporting goods between cities — a strategic move that increased margins. Later came Armazém Mateus, which evolved into what we know today.

The model Ilson Mateus developed is quite smart: it combines traditional retail with wholesale (that cash and carry). This allows serving everything from end consumers to small shop owners. Additionally, he diversified into supermarkets, pharmacies, appliances, and even his own food production (Bumba Meu Pão). Vertical integration in a sector that is usually fragmented.

The IPO in 2020 wasn’t the end of the story — it was fuel to accelerate even more. Partnerships with major banks, store expansion, investments in logistics and e-commerce. All while maintaining disciplined operations focused on the region he knew well.

Forbes estimated Ilson Mateus’s fortune at around US$ 1.7 billion a few years ago. It’s not an arbitrary number — it reflects the value of GMAT3 shares and the group’s steady growth. For investors, this shows something important: well-structured regional companies have real potential in Brazil.

What catches my attention in Ilson Mateus’s story is his vision: while other entrepreneurs rushed to saturate the same markets, he created a dominant position in a space that no one was paying attention to. That’s true strategy.

Of course, there are risks — geographic concentration, squeezed margins in retail, sensitivity to middle and lower-class consumption. But the resilience of the model has already been tested and proven.

If you follow the retail market or are considering exposure to Brazilian consumption outside the traditional axis, it’s worth understanding how Ilson Mateus built this. It’s not just an inspiring story — it’s a case study on how to create value in markets that seem invisible at first glance.