A Vision That Began Before It Had a Name
The story of Silimed begins, like many meaningful ventures, with an idea and the determination to turn it into reality.
In the late 1970s, Brazil was already gaining international recognition for the skill of its plastic surgeons. Yet most of the technologies used in the field were still imported, and the idea that advanced medical devices could be developed and manufactured locally seemed distant. In that environment, Margaret Figueiredo saw possibility.
Educated in pedagogy and fluent in French, Margaret had built strong connections with European circles while teaching languages in Rio de Janeiro. Her ability to move naturally between cultures and languages would prove decisive when she was invited to help establish the Brazilian operations of a French implant distributor in 1978. At just twenty-eight years old, she accepted the challenge and became responsible for launching the company’s presence in Brazil.
The Early Days
The early days were modest. The first office was a small room in Ipanema, chosen because many plastic surgeons practiced nearby. In the beginning, Margaret did everything herself, organizing the office, managing finances, visiting surgeons, and presenting products to physicians who had never seen them before. With a suitcase of samples in hand, she walked from clinic to clinic, introducing a new technology to a market that was still discovering its possibilities.
It was demanding work. The implants were unfamiliar to many surgeons, and the American company Dow Corning dominated the market. Yet Brazilian physicians were open to new options, and those early conversations began building the relationships that would shape the future of the company.
A Defining Collaboration
One of the most important moments was Margaret’s first meeting with Professor Ivo Pitanguy, already recognized worldwide as one of the great masters of plastic surgery. His interest in testing the implants marked the beginning of a collaboration that helped place Brazilian surgery, and eventually Brazilian technology, on the global stage.
A Turning Point
When the original foreign investors decided to leave Brazil, the project could have ended there.
Margaret and her husband, Antoine Robert, saw it differently.
Rather than closing the chapter, they chose to continue. Together they believed the field had enormous potential and that Brazil, already a reference in plastic surgery, could also become a center for innovation in medical technology.
Founding Silimed
In 1979, they founded a new company.
The name came almost casually during a conversation with a surgeon at a medical congress: Silimed, a combination of “silicone” and “medical,” describing exactly what they intended to build.
From Venture to Global Company
What began as a small entrepreneurial venture gradually evolved into something larger. Through partnerships with surgeons, engineers, and international collaborators, the company moved from distribution to manufacturing and research. Over time, Silimed would grow into one of the world’s leading manufacturers of silicone implants, exporting Brazilian-developed technology to dozens of countries.
This is where inspiration lives.
But the essence of the story remains deeply human.
It lives in the image of a young entrepreneur walking through Rio with a suitcase of samples.
In conversations with surgeons curious about new possibilities.
In the decision to keep building when others chose to leave.
In courage.
In persistence.
In the discipline of building something that lasts.
Margaret built with conviction, building a company, building credibility, and helping establish Brazil as a source of medical innovation for the world.
Margaret’s legacy is not only the company she founded. It is the mindset she introduced into an industry: that innovation must serve women, not define them.
As we celebrate Women’s Month, her story reminds us that inspiration often begins quietly, with conviction, determination, and the confidence to move forward.
She inspires. Inside and out.
