From Brazil to Sydney: The Journey of Building Chama Agency

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we sit down with Maria Fernanda Mollo, the founder of Chama, a digital marketing agency based in Sydney. Maria shares her extensive journey, which began in 2011 in Brazil where she became a business partner in a boutique agency. After seven and a half years, she sought new challenges, leading her to Australia where, after gaining local experience, she launched Chama in 2025. The agency's name, meaning "flame" and a "call to action" in Portuguese, reflects her mission to ignite strategic growth for her clients by first building a solid marketing foundation.Maria explains that Chama specializes in helping startups and small businesses that feel lost after investing in marketing without seeing results. She identifies common gaps where companies lack a clear mission, point of difference, or a coherent strategy, making performance marketing ineffective. Her approach is to first work on these foundational elements—creating tangible, sustainable plans aligned with business goals—before moving to execution. Maria discusses her focus on one-on-one consulting to ensure strong client relationships and her vision to grow Chama sustainably, prioritizing her values of freedom and ethical service over rapid, high-pressure scaling