People at the heart of companies' business strategy in Brazil

At an event in the CEBDS ReVisão 2050 series, experts point out that the private sector needs to assume a social role through collective action, shared value, greater diversity and inclusion in business

Rio de Janeiro, May 13, 2020 – The need now is to place the focus of business on people, so that by 2050 companies are recognized and act as authentic social organizations in Brazil. This was the main conclusion of the second event in the ReVisão 2050 debate series, promoted by the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), which aims to plan and build long-term guidelines for the resumption of business after the pandemic, accelerating the transition to a new economy. 

To achieve this vision of the future, enhancing positive social impacts in production chains, companies such as Itaú and Natura – which participated in the event – say that greater investment or participation in public health management is needed, in addition to replacing competition between companies with the sharing of ideas and technologies, and even greater promotion of diversity and inclusion in business.

“We are in the decade of implementation. In other words, we need to act now if we want to achieve the vision we have set for 2050. We are talking about building a new model of capitalism, which has to have a purpose and a positive impact on people; a new work model, which is constantly changing due to new technologies and is now undergoing an accelerated process of change due to the coronavirus crisis; and a new leadership, which needs to realize that we need new paradigms,” said Marina Grossi, president of CEBDS.

“Companies have the ability to network and scale their actions. In this sense, we have a lot to contribute when it comes to business models, new ways of working and leadership capacity,” stated Luciana. For Natura’s global sustainability director, Denise Hills, the social role of companies is not something extraordinary. “On the contrary. It should be the corporate purpose of. Companies. To do this, they need to incorporate social impact into their results,” she argued.

Concepts such as collective action, shared value and responsibility, and common goals were highlighted by the debaters, including in relation to the Amazon region. In the opinion of the participants, the transformation of MP 910, on land regularization, into a bill, proposed yesterday by the Chamber of Deputies, will be positive because it will allow greater participation of society in this discussion. “Without a doubt, it was an important achievement”, celebrated the superintendent of Institutional Relations, Sustainability and Inclusive Business at Itaú, Luciana Nicola. “When we talk about the Amazon, we need to put 30 million people at the center of this discussion. We are now designing our future and we need to look at a sustainable development model to ensure that these people have access to a better quality of life”, stated the global director of Sustainability at Natura.

For the CEO of World-Transforming Technologies (WTT), Valdemar Oliveira Neto, Covid-19 should bring forward a paradigm shift, which was initially expected to happen in 2030. “The current paradigm of success is in check at this moment. We are moving towards a new paradigm of care; the proposal now is to adopt win-win relationships and abandon the win-lose logic of the past”, said Oliveira Neto.

One of the biggest challenges, according to the CEO of WTT, will be finding ways to guarantee quality of life for everyone in a world with low job availability. “In addition to the four current economic sectors (primary sector, industry, services and government), we will see a fifth, hybrid and formed by different actors in society. It will be the care economy. We will have to guarantee minimum work, care for the elderly and children, produce culture and entertainment. We have to think of new ways to guarantee a minimum wage and income,” said Oliveira Neto.

In addition to the executives, the webinar was attended by Amanda Da Cruz, coordinator of the Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at Engajamundo. The young activist raised questions about ways to rethink current business models from the people’s perspective in order to reduce social inequality, which has become even more evident with the coronavirus crisis. “If we want to reduce inequality in Brazil, we need to look at basic education and the economy has to be inclusive, collaborative and empathetic,” said Amanda. In her opinion, exercising citizenship is equally important in this transformation process. “The Brazilian mentality often outsources the problem. Therefore, it is important to understand our role in society and value our ability to promote the changes we seek,” she concluded.

Next agenda

CEBDS is revisiting the publication Vision 2050, launched 8 years ago, now in light of the coronavirus, and focusing on business recovery and long-term planning. Open discussions between the 60 member companies, multi-sector experts, and representatives of the third sector take place every two weeks. The upcoming topics are Finance, Food, Energy, Biodiversity and Forests, Circular Economy, and Cities. The Vision 2050 Webinar series is sponsored by Vale and Itaú, and supported by SESC, Sitawi, KPMG, and ERM.

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About CEBDS

The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) is a non-profit civil association that promotes sustainable development through partnerships with governments and civil society, in addition to disseminating the most current concepts and practices on the subject. Founded in 1997, it brings together around 60 of the largest business groups in the country, responsible for more than 1 million direct jobs. In Brazil, it represents the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) network, which has almost 60 national and regional councils in 36 countries and 22 industrial sectors, in addition to 200 business groups operating on all continents. www.cebds.org. Follow us on twitter or Facebook

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