Jorge Paulo Lemann

Jorge Paulo Lemann was born in Rio de Janeiro to a Swiss-Brazilian family and studied economics at Harvard University before returning to Brazil to build a business career. He founded Banco Garantia, a Brazilian investment bank modelled on Goldman Sachs, which he eventually sold to Credit Suisse in 1998 for $675 million. He co-founded 3G Capital, an investment firm that applies an aggressive operating philosophy centred on zero-based budgeting — a process that requires every expense to be justified each year rather than using the previous year's budget as a baseline. This approach, combined with rigorous meritocracy and heavy management ownership, drives extreme cost discipline. 3G partnered with Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway to execute a series of iconic acquisitions: the $28 billion acquisition of Heinz in 2013, the $104 billion merger of Anheuser-Busch InBev with SABMiller in 2016 (creating the world's largest beer company), and the combination of Heinz with Kraft to create Kraft Heinz in 2015. Lemann has been one of the most influential private equity investors of the 21st century, demonstrating that operational excellence at scale can create enormous value in consumer staples businesses. He is consistently ranked as Brazil's wealthiest individual.