Businessmen seek centrist candidate for 2026 elections

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Fabio Barbosa, chairman of Natura’s board of directors, is part of a group that has aligned itself with Simone Tebet, who finished third in the 2022 campaign. He connects like-minded politicians with business leaders, executives and professionals to try to chart a new course for the country.

Barbosa’s efforts come at a time when Brazilian politics are polarized between current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who is seeking a fourth term, and the entry of Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) — son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, currently in prison — into the race to become the country’s next leader.

Barbosa says leaders on both sides are failing the Brazilian people.

— Today, there is a lack of confidence in institutions, which has worsened in recent years, recent months, recent weeks. And a growing lack of attitudes that demonstrate the responsibility of those responsible for the three powers — he said in an interview in his office in São Paulo.

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Barbosa enjoys respect in the Brazilian business community for his reputation as a consensus builder across various sectors, both as a banker who helped lead large financial institutions through periods of regulatory change, and as a member of the boards of major companies.

He stressed, however, that he was not speaking on behalf of Natura or any other company.

In addition to his role as chairman of Natura’s board of directors and his work at the intersection of finance, industry and public policy, he is part of a group of business leaders championing a candidate more aligned with center-right economic proposals.

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According to him, Brazil needs several reforms, notably administrative and fiscal, but the country above all needs a “reform of values”, he said, referring to recent events calling into question the credibility of the Federal Supreme Court and the tensions between the three powers.

—And I think that this reform is in the soul of each of us. I think we urgently need it.

As Brazil faces a new cycle of economic uncertainty and political tension, Barbosa says the country’s future will depend on the rebuilding of a common agenda by businesses and policymakers and a clearer definition of the role of institutions.

Bridge between the elite and policy makers

Barbosa works in nonprofit organizations focused on education, governance and sustainability and serves on the board of directors of the Public Leadership Center, a nonpartisan group that advocates for more effective government and leadership development. That puts him in a position to build bridges between Brazil’s business elite and the policymakers who regulate them.

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According to the executive, his group of business leaders is in talks with “five names” of presidential candidates – without naming them – who he considers aligned with the most pressing themes: reducing barriers to public-private partnerships, strengthening public safety and improving education.

— The left does not have a monopoly on wanting the social good of the country — he declared.

After Barbosa and other business leaders failed to get Tebet to a runoff in 2022, he says the group learned from the experience and is now working to make a new candidate viable. He said they were having conversations not only with possible competitors for the Palácio do Planalto, but also with party leaders and broader segments of civil society.

— The policies proposed by these people from the center, from the rational center-right, as we call it, also want the social good of the country. The question is just how to convey it,” he said.

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Barbosa declined to say which candidate the business group would end up supporting, but said the discussions he is participating in do not include names aligned with left-wing economic ideas or former President Bolsonaro, who recently backed his son Flávio as his political successor.

— Brazil has not retreated during these years, almost 20 years of PT administration. Brazil remained far behind, Barbosa said. — I am looking for someone from the center and center right who believes in private initiative, in the inducing State, in the paving State, so that prosperity is born through entrepreneurship, through partnerships, through private companies that have money. Because the government, by the way, doesn’t have one.

Although he does not defend what he calls “radical Bolsonarism,” he acknowledges that some issues have overlap with right-wing policies.

— Bolsonarism does not fall into this framework, even if support can even come depending on the measures, because there is an intersection between certain convictions and what we propose. And these are not necessarily the same theses.

The search for a centrist candidate has a complicated recent history in Brazil. Many moderate candidates attempted to become viable in previous elections, but ultimately dropped out of the race when their candidacy failed to take off. Simone Tebet, now a minister in the Lula government, remained in the running until the end in 2022, but obtained less than 5% of the votes.

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Barbosa rose to prominence as a banker, having commanded Banco Real and, later, Santander Brasil. His journey has taken him well beyond the banking sector: from managing a large media group to leading the ESG program at Natura, including serving on the boards of beverage giant Ambev, Votorantim and mining company CBMM.

As an experienced business executive, he also views the 2015 Supreme Court ruling, which banned corporate contributions to candidates, as a setback for the country.