Ismael Ferreira is the youngest child of a sisal grower from Valente. During the 1970s, at the time of the military dictatorship in Brazil, two Italian priests organized community meetings in Valente and the surrounding areas to discuss the exploitation of workers and small farmers. At the age of only 12, he participated in these gatherings along with his parents and brothers. In 1980, 30 families participated in the formal creation of APAEB. Ferreira was one of the co-founders and became the General Manager. He overcame deep resistance to the cooperative idea and fought for four years with government officials and business interests to establish APAEB as an exporter, in order to capture profits that had traditionally gone to intermediaries. 

APAEB is a cooperative of small sisal growers based in the interior of Bahia, demonstrating how agricultural workers can organize themselves to succeed in the global economy. APAEB began by helping farmers to collectively market their sisal crop (an agave plant whose fibres are used to make ropes, rugs and brushes). As it grew, APAEB fought for export rights, forged links with foreign markets and built processing plants and a factory, and now exports millions of dollars worth of quality, finished products. A winner of numerous awards, it has influenced similar practices across Brazil.