Designing a new life: How one alum honored his roots while creating his own legacy
Growing up in Brazil, Enrico Leta ’11 MBA had been around his family business, the supermarket Zona Sul, for as long as he could remember. He admired how his grandfather, an immigrant from Italy, started with nothing and grew a small grocer into a high-end, regional chain in Rio de Janeiro. For the family, the business was always more than just a livelihood. It was a way to share their Italian culture — a love of good food and the meaningful family connections formed around the dinner table.
Leta thought he and his cousins would become the third generation of owners to carry on that legacy. But when his father’s generation made other succession plans, Leta had to cook up a new career plan from scratch. Ultimately, he decided to bet on himself.
“I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” says Leta. “I wanted to create a product that I could touch and feel, that I could serve to other people. That was always inside of me.”
Today, he is the co-founder of Rio-based Nuvio Foods, a maker of premium dairy products, including fresh Italian cheeses, all-natural yogurt and kefir. He sat down with the Ward Center’s Family IN Business podcast to trace his entrepreneurial journey.
Taking the next steps
As he was reimagining his future, Leta went to college in the United States, worked in finance and consulting, and earned his MBA from Kellogg. When he and his wife, Roberta, moved back to Brazil to raise a family, he thought deeply about what the next chapter of a fulfilling career would look like.
His longstanding fascination with the food industry led him to realize that the Greek yogurt products that had exploded in popularity in the U.S. in the 2010s would do well with Brazilian shoppers. His brother had recently started a cheese business, Vitalatte, and together they started Yorgus in 2013 to bring Greek-style yogurt to Brazil. The company is now branded under the umbrella of Nuvio Foods, which has added dairy drink line Kefir Reggula and Moo Skyr, an Icelandic-style yogurt, to its portfolio.
Applying the principles of design thinking
Perhaps without realizing it, Leta embodied what author Dave Evans describes as the four-step process of incorporating “design thinking” into your life and career. Design thinking is commonly used in product design and technology spaces to iterate and build products that solve customer problems. Evans joined the podcast episode to explain how design thinking can help us plan out a productive and joyful path forward, even in times of uncertainty. He recommended these four steps:
- Get curious – What sparks your interest?
- Talk to people – Expand your network.
- Try stuff – Find out what you like.
- Tell your story – Inspire others to pursue a productive and joyful life.
Evans emphasized that design thinking runs on “doing,” or putting in the effort to lead a better life. He says to follow the best doable option, not the best theoretical option — meaning, you should follow tangible opportunities.
Leta’s path embodies this approach. He redesigned his life, all by getting curious about an opportunity he spotted and thinking about how he could fill that gap in the market. Enrico went on to expand his network as he considered taking the leap into startup life. A Kellogg classmate, Bert Sartori ’10 MBA, introduced him to a Greek yogurt master who came to Brazil and taught the startup team how to make it the authentic way. Leta also tried a new aspect of the food business, diving into the manufacturing side, and he shared his story with people in Brazil.
Great risk and great rewards
Although his family’s business did not invest in his new venture, his family offered unwavering support in other important ways. Zona Sul agreed to be an early retailer of Yorgus, which eliminated some risk. After the product performed well at Zona Sul, more supermarkets became interested in Enrico’s product.
In the end, Leta successfully became a trans-generational entrepreneur, despite having to pivot and start a business from scratch. He drew inspiration from his family’s example of entrepreneurship, and he was able to mold it in his own way.
“If you put your energy into it, you can have great rewards,” he said. “I think I was born to run my own venture, to be an entrepreneur, and that was because I grew up in this environment. This is something I inherited and that I look forward to passing to my kids.”
For leaders of family enterprises, the challenge isn’t just staying relevant to the market — it’s ensuring the business remains meaningful to the next generation. Connect with the Ward Center for Family Enterprises at Kellogg to learn more about our resources and events for family businesses.