Entrepreneurial and empowered women led, on August 21, the talk PAPO + B – an open event promoted by B Lab Brazil that incited everyone to discuss women’s challenges, achievements and opportunities at work and in entrepreneurship. The chat was moderated by Argentinian Pedro Tarak, a leader in social impact and co-founder of B Lab. Pedro inspired participants to think about when the word “entrepreneur” first appeared (more than 5,400 years ago in Babylon) and why it practically disappeared for women for so many centuries.
Daniela Lerario, co-chair of the B Lab Brazil Council and CEO of TriCiclos Brazil, shared her experiences as a woman, in her family and career, and recalled how there are still prejudices and judgments when a female leadership presents herself to a meeting or event. Daniela presented Guiomar, president of the waste pickers cooperative Sempre Viva, a TriCiclos affiliated initiative, and a woman who discovered by herself that she was capable of taking over great challenges. At the cooperative, 90% of pickers are women and Guiomar emphasised how they respect the activity as a job, while men prefer to be unemployed. Women have already become protagonists in the business of recyclable material picking.
Marianne Costa, founder of Vivejar, explained that she always prioritizes working with women leaders and how women have the opportunity to lead change in tourism, innovation and on a new way of working. Marianne also said that much of her motivation to create Vivejar was the idea of being able to give other people the privilege that she had to meet great women like Deuzani Santos”.
Pottery artisan, poet and entrepreneur of community-based tourism in the Jequitinhonha Valley, MG, Deuzani Santos was also one of the speakers of the night. She stressed: “we are here to talk to men too and we want the support of each one.” The artisan spoke about how women’s challenges in the Jequitinhonha Valley and how they need to be strong, resilient, work hard and still have a male figure within them, since men usually leave families to work in larger cities. “We are like a cactus: we stand there on the rock and only a few people see us. But on the day a rain falls down and a flower blossoms”, Deuzani said.
Pedro Tarak, Daniela Lerario, Marianne Costa, Deuzani Santos, Flavia Pascowitch e Guiomar Conceição dos Santos
Vivejar took the opportunity to launch its first Impact and Sustainability Report, which monitored and measured the impacts caused in four of the communities in which the tour operator works, in order to assess whether the activities of Vivejar are contributing positively for the change of realities in the communities and within the travellers. Communities in Turmalina (Vale do Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais) and in the Island of Cotijuba (Pará) were monitored in their initial stage and, later, after a year of Vivejar operations. And two new urban itineraries, in Grajaú and Ilha do Bororé (São Paulo) and in Morro da Babilônia (Rio de Janeiro) also began to be assessed. Some of the indexes analysed were the engagement and participation of women in the itineraries, the income generation in the communities and the preservation of cultural and natural heritage. In 2017, its second year of operation, Vivejar brought a sum of around R$ 20 thousand to the Brazilian communities where it operates, in Pará, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
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