How are companies managing the social impacts of their production activities and how can they work together as a network to face social challenges? These were the main questions raised at the Business Management of Social Impact Seminar, an initiative of the Social Impact Thematic Chamber (CTSocial) of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), held this Tuesday (6) at the Rio Art Museum. The exchange of experiences and the presentation of the publication “Business Management of Social Impact” also marked the event.
"Among the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, 13 speak directly or indirectly of social impact, such is its importance. Diversity and sustainability must go hand in hand. This is good for business and our challenge will be to see the materiality, think about how to unite goals and processes and how we can work together”, emphasized the president of CEBDS, Marina Grossi, in her opening speech.
Around 95 representatives from companies associated with CEBDS followed the discussions, divided into two moments.
Challenges and opportunities in managing social impacts
The first panel presented actions and projects aimed at reducing inequalities and promoting gender and racial equity.
“It is important for a company to think 'outside the box', to innovate, but how can this be done if all the people who are part of the organization have the same social origin, race, sexual orientation and gender identity?”, asked the director of Communication and Institutional Relations at GE and president of the CEBDS Thematic Communication Chamber, Serge Giacomo.
For L'Oréal Brazil's Purchasing, Marketing and Retail Manager, José Miguel Guilhon, the network action is already a reality. He presented the process of implementing the action “Sharing beauty with everyone” in Brazil, built collaboratively with the supply chain. The idea is to expand training and awareness-raising actions around sustainable consumption, internalizing sustainability in all company processes, from extraction to disposal.
Coca-Cola Brazil’s Director of Shared Value, Pedro Massa, noted that social responsibility actions create value for companies. “We can no longer separate social impact from business. Social impact can generate value for business, which is what we call a virtuous cycle, and this value can be reinvested.” He also highlighted the importance of collaboratively building social indicators that reflect the consequences of productive activities in the territories and presented the racial inclusion actions that have been carried out at Coca-Cola. “Today, 100% of our young apprentices are black and almost 90% of these are women, all of them low-income,” he said.
Odete Freitas, Amil’s Sustainability Director, presented the various partnerships established with companies, institutions and governments in social responsibility initiatives. She also presented the “No to Childhood Obesity” campaign, which impacted thousands of people through communication initiatives. CEBDS President Marina Grossi moderated the panel.
Multisectoral experiences and dialogues
In the second part of the Seminar, the speakers were asked to answer two questions: what are the challenges that your sector faces in managing social impact? How has your company been facing these challenges and what opportunities are there? The stage was then opened for the audience to give their contributions.
BASF Sustainability Manager Emiliano Milano Graziano da Silva highlighted the organization's social engagement strategy. "The social projects we develop are linked to the goals of BASF's sustainability agenda, which, among other criteria, establishes that at least 100,000 people will benefit from the actions," he said.
EDP Institute advisor Paulo Ramicelli presented the company’s work in a community in Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, which had a high rate of illegal energy connections, the famous “gatos”. “We identified the social problems that affected that area. Based on this mapping, it was possible to develop projects that would benefit the local population and reduce the company’s losses”, he stated. He ended his presentation by asking those present: “How can we create networks for collective solutions that generate shared value?”
Pedro Capanema Garcia, from Eletrobras’ Department of Social Responsibility and Projects with Society, highlighted the action taken with the Kayapó people in Alto Xingu, within the scope of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant construction project. “Several actions were taken to compensate the indigenous communities impacted by the project, always with sustainability as a focus. In addition, we periodically meet with community leaders to hear their proposals and make collective decisions, including on the allocation of resources for the projects,” he explained.
Also participating in the panel was the Social Responsibility Manager at Votorantim Cimentos and Vice President of CTSocial, Mariana Monteiro, who discussed the internalization of social analyses in the company's decision-making processes. The mediation was by Alda Campos, Director of PARES.
The Seminar was held with the sponsorship of Alcoa, Bradesco, braskem It is Itau. To check the speakers' presentations Click here.
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