::IPEA and SEDH organize a collective press meeting to launch book
Instituto de Pesquisa Aplicada (IPEA) and Secretaria Especial dos Direitos Humanos da Presidência da República (SEDH) [Special Department of Human Rights of the Presidency] presented to the press, on April 13, at 9:30 a.m. , in Brazilia, the book entitled "The right to familiar and communitary life in society - the shelters for children and teenagers in Brazil ". Read more...

::Mercado Social is magazine cover page.
Mercado Social is focus article in Pequenas Empresas Grande Negócios.
Read more ...

::First Social Auction.
282 shares commercialized in one month's dissemination and, in one night only, another 230 shares subscribed by investors. Read more ...

::Union for social development .
Mercado Social participates of restricted meeting with Subsecretary General of UN.Read more ...

::More notice about Mercado Social.
Gilda Pessôa explains Mercado Social during interview to Razão Social section of the O Globo newspaper. Read more ...

Actions that benefit the entire society Small Companies Big Businesses, Dec. 2004

Ethical commitment to employees, clients, suppliers, partners, government and community are becoming more frequent in the micro and small companies.

A more than uncommon investment is becoming more and more common for the micro and small companies.

It is the so called Entrepreneurial Social Responsibility, a new concept in the management of businesses that involves ethical commitment to the public involved with profitable activity, from the government to the community where the company is established, including employees, clients, suppliers, partners and associates.

Is this profitable? The economy and the society profit when the less favored becomes a consumer and the excluded, a citizen. In some cases it is worth to consult the accountant to check if it is possible to deduct this investment from the Income Tax. With this attitude the micro and small companies receive special certificates and seals and become entitled, in Brazil and abroad, to export and deal with medium size and large companies, that increasingly prefer to deal with socially responsible suppliers. This is the case of the Pão de Açucar supermarket network, Natura cosmetics, Itau, Bradesco and Banco do Brasil.

Thus, the experiences that engage smaller companies with social responsibility actions are increasing every year; until a few years ago this market was dominated only by big corporations. For instance, last year on November 8, approximately 350 entrepreneurs crowded the Cereal and Commodity Stock Exchange of Maringá, a city of 300 thousand inhabitants located in the interior of the State of Paraná , to participate of the first Social Auction. They invested R$ 256 thousand, in the purchase of shares of five social projects that will create 340 jobs.

This event was the first event of Mercado Social, project of the Social Responsibility Area of CACB - Confederation of the Commercial and Entrepreneurial Chambers of Brazil - that aggregates approximately 2 million entrepreneurs in two thousand entities. Developed in partnership with SEBRAE, Mercado Social acts as a bank of sustainable business, by means of which entities of the sector open the social capital of their projects of income generation to private investors.

"We even had an organized cheering and a healthy dispute among the projects, with the purpose of stimulating investors, states Ariovaldo Costa Paulo, president of the Maringá Commercial and Entrepreneurial Chamber, the first entity in the country to create an institute to stimulate entrepreneurial social responsibility, FUNDACIM. The direct advantages offered by Mercado Social to the investors are: the MS Brasil social seal, characteristically national, that proves social investments, following the example of the seal created by Abrinq Foundation for Rights of Children and Teenagers; reduction of income tax, in accordance with the law of Fiscal Benefit (law 9249/95), for companies of real profit; qualification to become suppliers of large companies committed to the principles of Entrepreneurial Social Responsibility and adequation to the AS 8000 International Social Certification to be required by the foreign market from exporters and their suppliers as of 2005.

Worldwide example

In São Paulo, Bovespa, that is the largest center for the negotiation of shares in Latin America - created as of July 2003 the BVS - Bolsa de Valores Social (Social Value Stock Exchange) to promote the encounter between educational entities' projects in need of funds and companies or persons willing to support and invest in such projects.

On November 19, 2004 , BVS became an example to be followed worldwide by stock exchanges, on the site of Global Compact - Global Pact, a project of the UN for the sustainable growth of the economy with social inclusion.

It counts on the participation of 1400 companies from all over the world - 217 from Brazil , in addition to governments and entities of the civil society.

Last June, at the same place, an uncommon gathering took place to celebrate the first anniversary of BVS. Investors and representatives of the institution met at the Bovespa auction with representatives of small sized non governmental organizations and children of poor communities. It was an unheard of event where, for the first time in Brazilian history, the center of the stock market became a meeting point for social projects.

Likewise, as in the stock exchange, the "social investor" selects one or more educational projects listed by BVS and "buys" shares by means of donations that can be made through the site of the institution or through one of the associated brokers. BVS has a portfolio of 30 educational projects from the various regions of the country, that aim at the promotion and social cultural inclusion as well as at the quality of life of children and teenagers between 7 and 25.

A similar and uncommon project was adopted at the end of November by ABRAPP - Associação Brasileira das Entidades de Previdência Complementar (Brazilian Association of Complementary Pension Fund Entities) through an agreement signed with Instituto Ethos de Responsabilidade Social. The entity represents the most important private investors of the country, with a total of R$ 232 billion, that correspond to 16% of the national GNP, which is the total amount of the Brazilian production in one year.

By the agreement, the funds try to assure that the companies in which they are investing or will be investing will become responsible for socially responsible goals and attitudes such as: maintain the code of ethics of the organization, will not use child or compulsory labor; equal treatment to employees and outsourced collaborators; affirmative policies for the inclusion of women, colored and handicapped; publication of social balance; and maintain programs of social investments and development of small suppliers to create income in the communities where the companies are installed.

Responsible Fashion

Another good news is that the entrepreneurs of BOVESPA, Mercado Social and of the pension funds are not alone. Similar initiatives are arising all over the country. This year, the "Outstanding Fashion" award, of Nova Friburgo - RJ, main center of intimate wear, created the "Social Responsibility" category, won by Roupa de Baixo company. "All residues of our company are put apart and given away to institutions and poor people; this is done by the staff itself", reports Maria José Carvalho, one of the partners of the company, that has 60 employees and exports to the USA and South America.

"Social Responsibility is not social assistance, but a process of administration", says consultant Lúcia Mendonça, coordinator of the Social Responsibility Program, in partnership between SEBRAE and Instituto Ethos. With a number of actions, the partnership includes a publication called Step-by-Step and a Tool for Self-evaluation and Planning, bank of experiences in the Internet, research about the subject and training of mobilizing agents.

"Increasingly the exporters are requiring social responsibility actions from the firms, such as the absence of child work and non-discrimination of women. Some banks, in order to approve financing, require from the borrowers the adoption of the entrepreneurial social responsibility principles, alerts the consultant. In her evaluation, there are distortions regarding what most of the entrepreneurs understand as social responsibility. "It is a matter of administration. The company that makes selective collection of garbage is already performing an entrepreneurial social responsibility action".

Thus, social responsibility actions represent a differential in the strategy of the companies. The Brasilian Association of Technical Norms - ABNT already shows on its electronic address the Project of the Social Responsibility Norms, developed in line with the ISO 14000 System of Environmental Administration. In partnership with the Swedish Institute of Normalization - SIS, the project aims to supply all levels of the organizations with an administration system of social responsibility that is linked to the business' strategy.

The absorbtion of these concepts by micro and small companies may cause a strong impact on the economy and on the Brazilian society. After all, according to data of IBGE of 2002, the sector puts together 57% of the formal labor force, employing 15,7 million of the 27,5 million workers and represents 99.2 of the legally established companies.

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First Social Auction

According to the president of ACIM, Ariovaldo Costa Paulo, "the result of the first social auction surpassed the expectations. Before the auction, we had commercialized 282 shares in one month of dissemination. And in only one evening other 230 shares were subscribed by the investors".

"The participation of the investors during the Auction was infectious! We even had an organized group of cheerers and a healthy dispute for the projects, trying to motivate the investors", said Luiz Roberto Marqueziini, president of Fundacim.

Eduardo Esteves da Costa, coordinator of Dry Tomato project that sold the largest number of shares, praises the initiative of Fundacim "for bringing to Maringá this new fundraising system for the entities. With the Social Auction we will be able to professionalize and create income for our public, in addition to guarantee the sustainability of Recanto Esperança".

Mercado Social participates of restricted meeting with Subsecretary General of UN

by Juliana França

Last December, Mercado Social participated of a restricted meeting with Subsecretary General of the UN and Assistant Administrator of the United Nations Development Program -, Zépherin Diabré. During the meeting that took place in the headquarters of Bovespa, in São Paulo, Mercado Social, represented by the vice president of CACB for strategic matters, Omar Carneiro da Cunha, and by the administrator of Mercado Social, Gilda Pessôa, was invited to present the venture that enables the micro and small companies to invest in social projects, by means of shares. In November, Mercado Social was focused on the international site of the United Nations, due to the innovative funding method of sustainable social projects and the purpose of enabling the micro and small companies to become entitled to "social profit".

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The link between those who need and those who want to give

Razão Social - O Globo, Jan./2005

While working on a project, journalist Gilda Pessôa noticed that a significant amount of funds never get to those in need. This made her decide to set up a mechanism to join the two parts.

Mercado Social, created by her, acts as an investment bank, passing on the resources of entrepreneurs to projects that take into account the needs of the community. Gilda named this meeting of funds as Social Auction. The first auction took place last November, in the State of Paraná . According to Gilda, five projects were selected, each one with an investment of R$ 100 thousand . Mercado Social broke up this amount and divided it into shares. In the opinion of Gilda if the project succeeds, it will be the great opportunity to change the social scenario.

O Globo: What is Mercado Social?

Gilda Pessôa: It is money made available to the market, the community, to make social projects feasible. What we see now is government intervention when it comes to make concessions or give incentives. We work together with CACB (Confederation of Commercial and Entrepreneurial Chambers of Brasil) that is the oldest entrepreneurial legislation of the country: it associates 27 federations and 2040 municipal chambers of commerce. This represents approximately two million entrepreneurs, mostly of micro and small companies. It must be take into account that they are responsible for 90.2% of the jobs in the country. On the one hand, the micro entrepreneur is always "strangled", only surviving. But it is the edge. On the other hand, you may call on the community and show that they may have sustainable projects.

O Globo: So you are saying that Mercado Social proposes to be the link between entrepreneurs and community?

Gilda: That's it. In Maringá (Paraná), for example, the community needed trained working force, to create jobs. Represented by NGOs and associations, it was called by the local chambers of commerce to present projects. Five projects were selected and the investment in each one of them was of R$ 100 thousand. The entrepreneurs were capacitated and that is when the task of Mercado Social begins. We took experts, as the president of Uniethos, Ricardo Young, to show them the path to social responsibility. The big encounter of the two groups - community and entrepreneurs - is the social auction.

O Globo: Were the entrepreneurs convinced that this is good for them?

Gilda: Yes, of course. They will not buy these projects because they are nice people. They know that they will be creating, as in the case of Maringá, 340 jobs. And they know that generating income they will have more chances to grow.

O Globo: How does Mercado Social operate?

Gilda: Mercado Social analyses the financial economic feasibility of the projects and breaks up the capital necessary so as to enable micro and small companies to subscribe to them with small shares. The interested entrepreneurs buy one share - the minimum share costs R$ 500. Mercado Social retains 10% of the total to pay for the costs and to supervise the execution of the project until its conclusion. Thus is will be able to inform the investor about the result of his social investment and, at the end, audit the social balance report of the benefited entity. Mercado Social must be sustainable. Listen: I support the sustainability, I don't think that anything should be done by paternalism. If within one year the project is sustainable, it will be able to become legalized (CNPJ) and will be a company that resulted because of the existence of Mercado Social.

O Globo: But right now this is only a project. What is there concrete about it?

Gilda: I have been working on this project for four years, but it was only officially launched in February, 2003. I negotiated the partnerships, we have an agreement with Instituto Ethos to disseminate the principles and the eight goals of the millennium, and we also have SEBRAE as a partner. In addition, I am a member of the Group that Supervises the Social Policies of the government. We held the first auction on November 8, in Maringá, and it was a great job. We are now preparing the second auction that will occur during the first semester of this year in União da Vitória, also in Paraná. We are already thinking about the next one in Joinville, Santa Catarina. If we are able to have four auctions per year, we will have 20 projects and will circulate about R$ 2 million. I am writing a guide to present the project.

O Globo: Do you consider Mercado Social an NGO?

Gilda: It has the shape of an Organization of Civil Society of Public Interest and was able to obtain the support of a large company as Gerdau, in addition to thousands of micro and small companies. We also went to the Global Compact, by indication of the Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Anan. We took advantage of a successful procedure of the capital markets: socially responsible micro and small companies are created, labor force is trained and income is generated for the community where the project is located.

O Globo: How did you plan this project?

Gilda: I am a journalist; I was the editor of Instituto Liberal's magazine for eight years and in the meantime was invited to implement Instituto Telemar, where I worked for two years. Within this chain, I was able to see very closely a surplus of funds on one side that does not get to the other side. I started to imagine a model that could put together the interest on one side and the model on the other. And I thought: if there is a Nasdaq, that is a special stock exchange for technology, why not a social stock exchange?

Of course I had many partners along the way. It is a new/old way of thinking. My father, Raimundo Pessôa, who is an entrepreneur of the industrial sector, built a school next to each of his industrial plants. Because he was nice? No. Because it created a low level of absence at the plant. I think that to think globally and act locally is the right attitude.

O Globo: Do you have the recognition from the organs that have social concerns?

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The capital opening of a social project is presently the best deal. There are five opportunities to subscribe participation shares. On October 4, at the Cereals and Commodities Stock Exchange of Maringá, Paraná, the "avant premiere" of the 1 st Social Auction in Brazil was extremely successful. Even before the auctioneer could initiate the bidding the audience stood up to show the number of participation shares invested in each one of the projects presented and signed the name of their companies on each one.

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IPEA and SEDH organize press meeting to launch book

Instituto de Pesquisa Aplicada (IPEA) and Secretaria Especial dos Direitos Humanos da Presidência da República (SEDH) [Institute for Applied Economic Research and Special Department of Human Rights of the Presidency] presented to the press, on April 13, at 9:30 a.m., in Brazilia, the book ["O direito à convivência familiar e comunitária - os abrigos para crianças e adolescentes no Brasil" ]"The right to familiar and communitary life in society - the shelters for children and teenagers in Brazil"]. The book contains the final results of the National Shelter Research that investigated 589 sheltering programs (88%) of the institutions that receive funds from the federal government. Carried out by IPEA, associated to SEDH and the National Council of Children and Teenagers rights (CONANDA) the research shows the conditions of assistance to children and teenagers in the sheltering institutions as per the Principles of the Children and Teenager By-laws, with emphasis in securing the right to familiar and communitarian life. Data and information regarding the different procedures of organization, operation and assistance will be furnished; the main characteristics of the population living in shelters (number of people, how and why they are sheltered); the different circumstances, physical characteristics and services offered by the institutions; the role of the volunteers; and the initiatives promoted with the purpose of reordering to the principles of ECA, that establishes, among others, that the solution of shelters must develop actions to strengthen familiar links between the child being sheltered with the family.

Enid Rocha, general coordinator, states that the maintenance of family links becomes difficult because most of the children and teenagers who live in the shelters are victims of structural violence that occur within families of low income. "Wide range public policies are necessary regarding the families, which is not new, since the Constitution establishes that the State must assure assistance to the families in their different arrangements."

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