Salvatore Scimonetti left small-town Switzerland for Rio de Janeiro, where he found not only love but an entrepreneurial calling – amid setbacks, reinvention and constant uncertainty. The turning point in Scimonetti’s life did not begin with a business plan, but with a sunrise in Brazil that “really touched” him. It was love at first sight for a country that works very differently from Switzerland. But his first attempt at gaining a foothold as a self-employed entrepreneur in the South American country failed. Scimonetti tried to launch his own project at the age of 25 without Portuguese language skills or local experience. After being robbed, however, he realised that he would not succeed on his own in a country that was still unfamiliar to him. “It wasn’t the right time,” says Scimonetti. So he decided to return to Switzerland. What remained was his connection to a Brazilian fashion designer he had fallen in love with shortly before his departure. The two maintained a …