At issue is what’s been deemed a “technological blackout” in Brazil that has already seen more than 100,000 tech jobs go unfilled this year due to a lack of qualified, educated talent. That number is expected to grow by more than 5x by 2025 to about 530,000 tech jobs – including software developers and coders, data scientists, AI engineers, and U/X designers – going unfilled unless there are more people trained in STEM disciplines to fill those roles. 

On July 20, iFood and XP unveiled the tech-education initiative and announced the two founding companies (a.k.a. “Maintainers) have invested BRL $5 million and 18 other companies or institutions have committed BRL $10 million to the various projects. The goal is to raise and invest a total of BRL $100 million (US $18 million) between now and 2025. 

“In the last year, we saw many companies investing in education, but these efforts are still very dispersed. Thus, we realized the importance of joining forces with others to help solve this deficit in this area that hinders the development of Brazil. Even expanding isolated efforts will not solve the problem. With this union of forces, we hope to promote the meeting between talented people who are just waiting for an opportunity, while contributing to a social transformation and the development of the country,” said Fabrício Bloisi, CEO of iFood.

The main beneficiaries of the coalition’s efforts are underrepresented populations in the tech industry today, including women, Black and low-income people. The Tech Movement’s initiatives range from high school students to adults. The member companies will be able to act at different levels, whether through investments, projects, or execution.

“Our objective is to contribute to making Brazil a prosperous country and a protagonist in terms of technology, with job and career opportunities for all Brazilians. Our big dream is to make a difference in the training of young professionals, so they’re prepared for the challenges of the new digital economy in terms of technology, innovation, and business. We believe that, through social investment, we can generate a structural impact in Brazil that is transformational,” said Thiago Maffra, CEO of XP Inc.

To learn more about the Tech Movement initiative, Grit Daily recent sat down to speak with Gustavo Vitti, Chief People and Sustainability Officer at iFood, to learn more about the progress the collective has made so far, and what to expect next from the coalition’s efforts to increase the diversity and preparedness of Brazil’s future tech-industry workforce:

Grit Daily: Tell us more about how the Tech Movement initiative came about. 

Gustavo Vitti: The Tech Movement is a private, social-investment platform for technology. It started a year ago, in a conversation between companies who were suffering from the tech-talent scarcity combined with a shared ESG goal of developing and hiring professionals from non-privileged backgrounds. In other words we have a mutual dream of transforming Brazil into a technological power through diversity.

Today, Brazil is a country with 10 million people who are unemployed, and at the same time, there are plenty of job opportunities in the tech sector that are not being filled due to a lack of qualified labor. This is not because Brazilians don’t want good jobs or higher levels of education, but because opportunities aren’t finding the right people; for example those who live in the favelas. This challenge is exactly what this movement aims to tackle.

So, with this dream in mind and a pinch of reality, we all know this is a marathon and not a sprint. We need to inspire our children to think and dream about working in technology fields which are forecast to see significant growth in the years ahead. In addition, we need to foster easy access to training for these jobs of the future and build bridges between these freshly qualified tech professionals and the Brazilian big tech companies.

What we’ve done so far: we’ve launched two initiatives that have already impacted more than 150,000 people. The first one is the Tech Marathon, for high school students at public and private schools. Set up as an Olympiad-style tech competition between educational institutions, teachers, and students, the first edition in May, earlier this year, had more than 80,000 students compete, including schools from 21 Brazilian states. The second one is Tech Power that has already awarded more than 6,000 intensive scholarships for tech education to underprivileged groups. There’s another two new initiatives being baked that we will launch over the next 3-6 months and the  Movement will continue to seek out or create similar initiatives and provide funding to accelerate them.

Today, iFood and XP Inc. are the two original maintainers and there are 20 sponsor companies and institutions in the collective that can contribute to the cause with investments or services, including: Accenture, Arco, Buser, CI&T, Cubos Academy, Descomplica, Digital House, English First (EF), F. Behring, Gama Academy, Grupo Boticário, Instituto Localiza, Kenzie, Let’s Code, ONE Oracle, Raia Drogasi, Rocketseat, Semantix, Telles Foundation, and VTEX. 

GD: What are the roles iFood and XP play as founding members? 

GV: Companies can take part in the Tech Movement as either Maintainers or Sponsors. For the Maintainers, they play a role in the strategic agenda of the initiative and in the decisions of the projects, being part of the Strategic Council. Sponsors play a role in the execution and funding projects. They also take part in the Consultative Council.

The Tech Movement seeks to attract more companies and organizations from all segments and areas. Participation can occur as a Maintainer or Sponsor, involving financial commitments as well as services. iFood and XP Inc are the first Maintainers. To find out how to participate and contribute to the Movement, just access www.movtech.org.

GD: Brazil is projected to need around 500,000 more tech workers by 2025 than are expected to be available. How many people do you anticipate can be trained by 2025 with R$100M being raised?

GV: With the initial projects, which are already underway, we expect to train one million people by 2025. The more companies and organizations that join the Tech Movement, the more scale we will gain to benefit an increasing number of people.

In the two examples we mentioned before, Tech Marathon and Tech Power, we believe both projects will have a scale of 10-15x bigger than today as we expand the coalition’s resources and gain more visibility. It’s incredible to see how fast we’ve been iterating and improving on the offerings. As an example, today we can provide high-quality tech learning almost 6x cheaper than we did for our first groups.

GD: The U.S. tech industry is predominantly white and male, with women, Black people and other minorities present in much smaller numbers than in the general population. What is the demographic of the Brazilian tech sector today?

GV: It is a similar situation in Brazil compared to the U.S. today The Tech Movement will prioritize underrepresented minorities and low-income people. As a result of the  “technological blackout,” as the lack of tech professionals in Brazil has been called, there are already more than 100,000 job vacancies open this year, with little prospect of being filled. 

Also, the digitization of the economy and companies, accelerated by the pandemic, has increased the demand for skilled labor, while the number of available professionals remains limited. That’s why our movement is focused on low-income public and non-privileged backgrounds, and prioritizes women and Black people, for example. We want to change the current inequities and have a positive impact on a different future from the one that is projected today.

We believe and invest in education – from basic education, so young people have a better education in Portuguese, Mathematics and Logic, to professional training that is specialized in technology. We also want to develop the technical and emotional skills for those who are already in the marketplace and are seeking new opportunities. That’s why we offer practical tech courses too. We dream to be a quality tech-education platform that will drive the growing tech ecosystem forward so qualified, trained talent are ready to dive into new opportunities and help drive innovation and social transformation.

GD: How and where will you recruit for the program? 

GV: Our purpose is to awaken more people’s interest in working in the tech industry, empower them through training – from basic education to practical knowledge,  and then help employ for the jobs of the future by building bridges between them and tech companies. 

Based on the various programs, courses and partnerships involved, people we’ll be approached from different communication channels as it fits to each initiative invested, and work together with private, public, and non-governmental organizations. We need and we’re calling for others to help with these important efforts.

GD: I can see how cultivating a more diverse workforce could help solve the labor shortage, but what are the less obvious benefits of more diversity?

GV: The inclusion of different people, life stories, and backgrounds is a way to promote more tolerance and societal integration. All innovation, services, products and ways of leading will be enriched by a broader world view; one in which solutions and achievements are sustainable. And most importantly, we will be truly changing lives. We want to reach 2030 with so many lives impacted that we’ll  be able to change social inequality in Brazil, with those who have always been the base of the social pyramids as the main protagonists who are creating the country’s prosperity.

GD: The Potentia Tech Platform, which was initiated by iFood, has awarded 6,000 scholarships over the past nine months and 450 of those people have already been hired. How many of those scholarship recipients are from underrepresented groups?

GV: The scholarships are being offered exclusively for low-income people. We prioritize people who are underrepresented in the society, having at least half of the people inside Potencia Tech being women or Black people.

The post The Tech Movement 2030 Coalition Pledges Millions to Train a More Diverse Talent Pool to Fill a Growing Number of Tech Jobs in Brazil appeared first on Grit Daily News.

São Paulo, Brazil – Brazil is experiencing a labor shortage in the technology sector that is striking given the number of unemployed in the country. A recent study by the Association of Information and Communication Technology and Digital Technologies Companies (Brasscom) states that the deficit of technology professionals should reach 530,000 people in Brazil by 2025. To reverse this scenario and promote social transformation, iFood, XP Inc. and more companies and institutes have come together to create the Tech Movement 2030 with the aim of making social investment in tech education and transforming the future of LatAm’s largest economy. The goal is to raise R$100 million by 2025.

“In the last year, we saw many companies investing in education, but these efforts are still very dispersed. Thus, we realized the importance of joining forces with others to help solve this deficit in this area that hinders the development of Brazil. Even expanding isolated efforts will not solve the problem. With this union of forces, we hope to promote the meeting between talented people who are just waiting for an opportunity, while contributing to a social transformation and the development of the country,” said Fabrício Bloisi, CEO of iFood.

This initiative already accounts for R$5.2 million that will be invested in social impact projects. The Tech Movement will act based on three pillars: to arouse interest in the area of technology while still at school; to train and offer training to anyone interested in a career; and to foster initiatives that support companies in their employability journey. As a priority, the beneficiaries will be people with an underrepresented profile in society and low-income people.

“Our objective is to contribute to making Brazil a prosperous country and a protagonist in terms of technology, with job and career opportunities for all Brazilians. Our big dream is to make a difference in the training of young professionals, so they’re prepared for the challenges of the new digital economy in terms of technology, innovation, and business. We believe that, through social investment, we can generate a structural impact in Brazil that is transformational,” said Thiago Maffra, CEO of XP Inc.

The mobilization of these combined efforts began about a year ago from conversations about how the participating companies and organizations could take responsibility for the development and preparation of young people for the future of work. The Tech Movement’s initiatives range from high school students to adults. The member companies will be able to act at different levels, whether through investments, projects, or execution.

In addition to iFood and XP, the first two corporate sponsors of the initiative, several companies were involved throughout the construction of the Tech Movement, and 18 of them have already become sponsors; they are: Accenture, Arco Instituto, Grupo Boticário, Buser, Ci&T, Cubos Academy, Digital House, Behring Foundation, Gama Academy, Instituto Localiza, Kenzie Academy Brasil, Let’s Code, ONE (Oracle Next Education), RD – RaiaDrogasil , Rocketseat, Semantix, Telles Foundation and VTEX.

The Tech Movement seeks to attract more companies and organizations from all segments and areas. Those joining the collective can do so as active supporters or sponsors via financial commitments as well as services. To find out how to participate and contribute to the Tech Movement, visit www.movtech.org. 

Tech Movement Initiatives

In this first phase, four projects are prioritized, two of which have already started: The Tech Marathon, a technology Olympiad, was launched in May this year, in which 9th grade and high school students from public and private schools learn about logical thinking and are challenged to develop and program a technological solution for the future of society. It works like an Olympiad between educational institutions, teachers, and students. The first edition had the participation of more than 80,000 students, including schools from 21 Brazilian states.

Another initiative already underway, launched by one of the group’s companies, iFood, is the Potência Tech platform , for training and employing underrepresented and low-income tech groups. In nine months, more than 27,000 people signed up for the platform, more than 6,000 scholarships made available in partnership with technology schools and 450 people employed.

The next steps of the Tech Movement will be the expansion of the Empodera Tech Network, a network of organizations that work with young people aged 15-25 in situations of social vulnerability, with the objective of connecting and promoting these organizations. The project led by Arco Instituto aims to increase the number of vacancies in Empodera Tech Network organizations focused on training young people. The Jovem Aprendiz Tech, on the other hand, will be an initiative focused on employability.

Technological talent blackout

The technological blackout, as the lack of technology professionals in Brazil has been called, already leaves more than 100,000 job vacancies open, with no prospect of being filled, according to a study by Brasscom, released in December 2021.

The digitization of the economy and companies, accelerated by the pandemic, has increased the demand for skilled labor, while the number of available professionals remains limited. The answer to this problem is investment in education – from basic education, so that young people have a better education in Portuguese, mathematics, and logic, to professional training specialized in technology.

About the Tech Movement

The Tech Movement is a platform for private social investment in technology education. By encouraging projects, the initiative aims to awaken new generations to technology, train people and employ professionals to minimize the technological blackout. Initially, the Tech Movement has already raised 5.2 million reais and expects to reach 2.1 billion reais by 2030. Led by the sponsors iFood and XP Inc., the Movement has sponsors Accenture, Arco Instituto, Buser, Ci&T, Cubos Academy, Grupo Boticário, Digital House, Fundação Behring, Gama Academy, Instituto Localiza, Kenzie Academy Brasil , Let’s Code, ONE (Oracle Next Education), RD – RaiaDrogasil, Rocketseat, Semantix, Telles Foundation and VTEX.

About iFood

iFood is a Brazilian technology company that is a reference in online delivery, bringing customers, restaurants, and delivery people together in a simple and practical way. And to provide a complete experience to each of them, delivery goes beyond delivery. iFood aims to feed the future of Brazil and the world, transforming society through education and technology, food security, inclusion and with a positive socio-environmental impact.

With more than 65 million orders per month, iFood works with business intelligence and management solutions to promote and develop an ecosystem of more than 300,000 registered establishments, 200,000 connected delivery people in more than 1,700 cities throughout Brazil. In the market for 11 years, it also operates in business fronts that are complementary to its chain, such as market, fintech and benefits, combining technology and convenience in delivering solutions to partners.

iFood has important investors such as Movile, a long-term investor in technology companies in Latin America and aims to be the largest ‘thesis maker’ in the region, and Just Eat, one of the largest online ordering companies in the world. Through the company’s news portal, iFood News, the main current issues and the New Economy, business content, cases, and trends on innovations in the country and in the world are passed on.

About XP Inc.

XP Inc. is a technology platform for investments, financial services and education, owner of the brands XP Investimentos, Rico, Clear, XP Educação, among others. XP Inc. has more than 3.5 million customers and R$873 billion of assets under custody. Over the past 21 years, the company has been transforming the Brazilian financial market to improve people’s lives, ensuring more transparent relationships between clients and financial institutions. For more information, visit the XP Inc.com website .

The post Tech Movement Mobilizes Companies to Raise R$100 million by 2025 to Address Growing Technology Blackout in Brazil appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The round was led by Addition with participation from Monashees, Kaszek, and Global Founders Capital, according to Crunchbase. The funding brings the total funding raised by the startup to $40.5 million. Pedro Oliveira, CEO and co-founder of TruePay, referred to the round by stating:

“We are very happy to have the trust of some of the best investors in the world as well as the super talented people that we were able to bring on board. A raise like this is a symbol of the impact TruePay will make in the market by delivering free credit to millions of merchants in Brazil. The largest portion of this round will be used to further attract and develop talent in Brazil and elsewhere”

Founded in 2020, TruePay has built a B2b “Buy Now Pay Later” network that allows buyers to access credit seamlessly at no cost while creditors remove their risk exposure. This is possible by making use of credit card receivables as collateral, which ensures better payment conditions and the guarantee of payment. Lee Fixel, Founder of Addition, said in this regard:

“The strength of TruePay’s solution lies in the convergence of a real and untapped need amongst retailers to unlock credit and free up working capital, a large addressable market and a talented team. We look forward to supporting the company as it continues to develop its innovative, convenient and low-cost payment technology.”

TruePay has achieved an important milestone by closing one of the largest ever funding rounds in Brazil. The startup has seen a growth of more than 100% every month since being founded, which it plans to grow tenfold by the end of 2020 at a time when SMBs in the country are starting to recover from the effects of the COVID19 pandemic and relying on fintech startups to get off the ground.

The post TruePay Raises $32M to Help SMB Retailers Access Credit appeared first on Grit Daily News.

From non-existence in early 2020 to online shopping’s primetime season in 2021, more than half of Brazil’s population of 214 million people uses Pix today. It’s sped from zero, straight up and to the right since Q4-2020, and shows no signs of slowing down. 

“The rise of real-time payments such as Pix and e-wallets is transforming Latin Americans’ relationship with digital commerce and creating a race in terms of delivering better shopping experiences, expanded payments options, and even impacting logistics’ prowess and financial innovation,” said João Del Valle, co-founder and CEO at EBANX.

LatAm: a vital battleground for global and local players

EBANX’s new Beyond Borders study, launched today, finds Latin America to be one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world. The region is expected to expand at 31 percent per year through 2025. 

Central America, especially, will have some of the highest growth rates in the region in 2021: with an online market still in its infancy, and a young and digital-savvy population that is eager to buy online, the region should be the next sweet spot in LatAm. Countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama are expected to lead the way in 2021, with growth rates of 50, 60 and 40 percent, respectively.

Data chart courtesy of Beyond Borders 2021-2022 study

Because of this hyper-growth scenario, Latin America has become a battleground for global and local players, with growing competition in both retail and digital products and services. 

The booming region will be the key to sustained growth for global companies, while more mature markets such as the United States and Europe reach a saturation point. LatAm’s streaming market, for instance, is the second-fastest growing worldwide, according to estimates from the global data and insights firm Netscribes, with fierce competition between local and global players.

LatAm fintechs are laying down new global commerce rails

“For global merchants expanding to the region – from Alibaba to Amazon and Shopee in e-commerce, to tech giants offering a variety of services such as Garena, Netflix or WhatsApp – Latin America’s payments landscape is particularly daunting. In South America alone, there are at least 14 different currencies,” wrote EBANX’s Del Valle in a recent TechCrunch+ guest post.  

For global tech titans, smaller SMBs and businesses of all kinds that are riding a wave of digital acceleration since the pandemic began last year, a new breed of infrastructure fintechs have attracted unprecedented venture funding this year to make online commerce and payments faster, easier and more efficient, according to Del Valle. When it comes to digital commerce, the world is smaller than ever, and our shopping and payment experiences need to reflect this new reality. 

The Beyond Borders 2021-2022 study shows an intriguing scenario for digital commerce in Latin America, where players who invest in localization and the right payments strategy, whether they are local or global, national or international, have a better chance to seize the region’s full potential. 

The post Latin America’s E-commerce Market Booms, Powered by New Instant-Payments Rails appeared first on Grit Daily News.

This investment round involved some investors who already contributed capital to the startup such as Kaszek, FJ Labs and Upper90. Presight Capital in the US and Kingsway Capital from the UK also participated.

In 2020, a group including Martin and Stefan Florea, Alexander Grüll, Cedrik Hoffmann and Miguel Oehling founded the company.

The company hopes the fresh investment will contribute to a rapid acceleration of Valoreo’s growth and presence in Latin America. Valoreo sees large potential for growth in Latin America, and wants to expand the number of connections it has in key markets.

According to Martin Florea, Valoreo is primarily looking for ways to continue adding people to its team. The startup wants to increase its presence in the countries where it is currently operating, and also look to new markets.

A goal of the company is to find new brands in Latin America, and acquire them outright. In many Latin American nations, access to capital is limited, so buying companies on favorable terms may be easier than it would be in an established market.

Florea told an interviewer that,

“With this new investment, we mainly seek to continue adding people to our team of ‘superstars’, which will allow us to strengthen our presence in the countries where we are currently operating. In the same way, this investment will help us to add more companies to our acquisitions portfolio.”

The company already has around 100 employees, and it would like to expand its headcount as well. Given the room for growth in Latin American markets, it should have no trouble finding both talented people, and great companies to acquire.

The post Mexican Startup Valoreo Raises $30 mln in Series A Round appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The director’s honest narrative about beliefs and facts shows more than her life and is a main conductor of the documentary. It relates the parties and Brazil’s recent democratization story. 

Released by Netflix in 2019, the documentary approaches controversial subjects including Dilma’s impeachment process in 2016 and Lula’s prison in 2018. It reached the Trending Topics on Twitter last Monday with diverse perspectives. 

Check out the trailer!

Scandals and Politic Crises

In 2011, Dilma was the first woman ever elected to the presidency in Brazil. A complex subject on Dilma’s impeachment was caused by an accusation of irresponsibility because of accounting malpractice. The government admitted but declared it wasn’t an illegal move. 

Even if it’s not the first government to engage in accounting malpractice, they would delay the payment for a bank that was responsible for making a payment bridge between the government and the population. Some economists claimed it would be a serious mistake if the country was spending more money than it actually has.

In June 2016, the Federal Senate’s investigation declared it didn’t happen and she didn’t commit any crime. However, she got impeachment in August of same year.

From the same party as Dilma, Lula was president and founder of the Worker’s Party. In 2003, he started his two terms and later finished with an 87% approval rating. But, in 2018, he got arrested due to the accusation of having accepted a triplex from the constructor company Odebrecht as a bribe. After a year in a federal prison and denying involvement, the Supreme Court changed a law that ended up favoring Lula. In conclusion, he left prison in 2018 until his legal resources were over.

Petra as Storyteller

The story grows with Petra, since her first birthday.  She was born a year before the military dictatorship ended and grew up with every step of democracy in the country. The military took power in 1964 and Brazil had another Constitution only in 1988, based on democracy and human rights.

Petra’s parents also got arrested during the dictatorship, just like many other thousands of people that were against the government at the time. With this, she approaches resistance and representativity. 

Relating Brazilian politics with her own life during the documentary, it brings the story closer to whoever watches it. Her flashback choices are a really good idea and her off-speech explains to everyone what is actually happening in Brazilian politics.

However, a questionable point is her strong presence and point of view about the past and current scenario. I believe it is valid because she’s a documentary director fair and honest with her points that are based on facts and genuine worries about including matters that had a direct influence on her personal life. 

Following a really smart path, the documentary represents this polarization of ideas now in a timeline of politics and refers also to other family members as well. Petra’s grandfather was owner of a big construction company that grew during military times, so she shows how controversial the subject is.

Politics, Investigations and Results

A Supreme Court investigation on the Car Washing operation declared her grandfather’s company as guilty, becoming one of the biggest corruption schemes ever investigated in the country. She also tells about her family relation with Aécio Neves, who is currently a Senator but ran for the presidency in 2014 with Dilma. The same person that, after loosing elections, triggered and financed a movement (MBL) against the Worker’s Party (PT).

This movement also supported Lula’s arrest, the impeachment process and Bolsonaro’s presidential candidacy.

Elected in 2018, Jair Bolsonaro is currently the president of Brazil. With videos, it shows his hate speech and popularity since Dilma’s impeachment was voted for. He was a member of Congress at the time and voted in memory of the general that tortured Dilma during military dictatorship.

During an interview last Monday with Globo, a Brazilian communication company, he declared that he “wouldn’t waste his time watching it.” But why?

Why does Bolsonaro reject the documentary?

In the same interview on Monday, he said “the documentary is a fiction.” His comments also represent conservative ideas and hate for his “enemy,” in other words, the Worker’s Party. As a ex-militar, his speech is conservative and consists in “traditional family” and religion.

Bolsonaro also canceled LGBTQ+ movie, documentary, and TV Show productions last year that were approved and sponsored by the government. So, obviously, he wants to stop everything that shows a different opinion than his. According to Cambridge Dictionary, democracy means “the belief in freedom and equality between people” but it seems that this guide for the Federal Constitution is being threatened.

Elected at the end of 2018, Bolsonaro has risen his disapproval rating since then, according to Reuters. Particularly, I think the Brazilian documentary affects him in a personal way by exposing his problems to the world, especially now that the film is nominated for an Oscar.

Bolsonaro is more than a Trump supporter, having already said “I love you” while trying to shake hands. This wouldn’t even be a problem if this was only for his own self, just super awkward. In the end, however, the Brazilian documentary reflects Brazilian politics and a people that suffer from different unsolved problems than in the US. 

During an election year, it’s important to understand how American politics can influence the politics of other countries. Also, if a documentary like this can affect a president this badly without having watched it, it may contain some interesting ideas.

Here’s a video produced by The New York Times about his statements and controversial positions.

P.s.: Got interested? Glenn Greenwald, same journalist that talked with Snowden on NSA case, works now for The Intercept Brazil. His team made a sequence of reports that continues the story. The judge of Lula’s triplex case, he was indicated for Minister and had conversations released that gave tips to Public Prosecutors. So, if you already watched and want to understand even more about brazilian politics, here’s a link.

The post Brazilian Documentary First in History to be Nominated for an Oscar appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Grit Daily: You had your own adventures before SINAI. Share those.

Maria Fujihara: Both my parents are forest engineers in Brazil, and I grew up with a deep appreciation for protecting the environment as a result of their profession. As a freshman in college, one of my professors – who knew I was passionate about sustainability – connected me with the Green Building Council, where I began interning. This was back in 2010, and the Green Building Council and its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) rating system was new then. Now, it’s become the most widely used rating system in the world. It’s a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership. 

After I graduated, I kept working for the Green Building Council, and also took some time off to try my hand at working in sustainable architecture. After a break from GBC for several years, my former boss at GBC Brazil got back in touch and recruited me to help spread the use of LEED certifications in Brazil for both commercial and residential properties, and I worked as a technical coordinator for GBC Brazil for five years. During that time, we launched LEED home certifications in Brazil, and then introduced the new rating system in five other Latin American countries. We also grew the nonprofit organization from a staff of four to 10 employees. 

Following my work with GBC, I decided I needed to take a break. I moved from Brazil to California for an extended vacation, which eventually became a full-time stay in the U.S. My heart was telling me to come to California. Before leaving, I sold my car, quit my apartment lease and sold about 80 percent of everything I owned. During my down time in California, I still spoke at sustainability conferences around the world. Eventually, I decided to go back for more education, and I was accepted into a program at Singularity University focused on how to use exponential technologies to solve climate change. I received a scholarship from Google to go through the program and moved to Mountain View (California) for it. 

That education program completely changed my perspective of the world. Coming from a nonprofit background in Brazil, I had no clue about technology and how to use it to enhance systems to help us revert climate change. It was an amazing experience. The program that year (in 2017) consisted of 90 people from 47 countries, and the majority (52 percent) were women. It was a super-diverse group of people, and half of the people in the program came from sustainability backgrounds and half were technologists. 

After we finished the program (Global Solutions Program), the idea was to create businesses. We took classes on how to create a business, how to prototype an idea, how to create a business model, and how to do everything required to launch a new venture. I had not considered founding my own business prior to that, and the program opened my eyes to that potential. 

Following the program, me and my other business partner at the time were accepted into an accelerator program to further incubate my original business concept – which was more focused on software for reconstructing a more sustainable infrastructure. One of the major problems we had is that neither my founder or I could code anything. Eventually, we decided to close that first company, and it became my first failed Silicon Valley startup. 

Grit Daily: How much has your company’s “life” changed following YC?

Maria Fujihara: Shortly after closing my first business, I decided to start SINAI. This was at the end of 2017, and I was facing two choices: either go back to Brazil because my visa was expiring, or start a new company, stay in the country and apply for a new work visa. Funny enough, my parents would not let me give up and come back to Brazil. They refused to pay for my ticket back. At the time, I was fairly broke. My parents would only help me with the cost of applying for a new work visa. 

The original concept of developing carbon-pricing software that automated the process. Our first customer, the Brazilian arm of ArcelorMittal – the world’s largest steel maker, paid us $40,000 to help fund the development of the original software platform. Around that time, I met my SINAI co-founder and CTO, Alain Rodriguez, who served as engineer #12 at Uber. Meeting Alain was the perfect catalyst to driving the concept of SINAI forward. He was super passionate about the sustainability sector and he’s a fantastic engineer. 

After Alain joined, we applied and were accepted to the Y Combinator program. Back then, we literally had no money. The few employees we had were working for equity. Y Combinator taught us to be resilient and aggressive – to keep putting yourself out there and to test the market. It was the first time I began cold emailing prospects about SINAI. During Y Combinator, we closed a deal with our second customer: Brazil’s BRK Ambiental, the largest private water distribution, collection and treatment company in Latin America. And, just recently, we closed a deal with our third customer, Siemens Brasil, the division of the European manufacturing giant. 

One of the core learnings from Y Combinator is not to scale at the very beginning so you can understand exactly how to best automate the process — and then begin scaling afterwards. They encourage you to test the concept and the market first, and then build something that is scalable. We are still doing a lot of non-scale things right now. We have definitely grown quickly in a short period of time since graduating from YC in Q1-2020, but we’re still a small company. 

Grit Daily: And for the uninitiated, what is “decarbonization?”

Maria Fujihara: Decarbonization is a path to reducing emissions. The eventual goal is to attain a low-carbon economy, otherwise known as a low-fossil-fuel economy, that is based on low-carbon power sources that therefore have a minimal output of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) into the atmosphere. GHG emissions due to anthropogenic (human) activity have been the dominant cause of observed global warming and climate change since the mid-20th century. Continued emissions of greenhouse gases may cause long-lasting changes around the world, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible effects for people and ecosystems. Decarbonization ultimately means to reduce the amount of GHG gases in the atmosphere, by the use of clean technology, non-fossil fuel based.

Grit Daily: What is a hard to decarbonize sector?

Maria Fujihara: Since we “graduated” from Y Combinator in Q1-2020, there’s been a lot of interest from some of the hardest-to-decarbonize sectors, including agriculture and cattle, manufacturing, the steel industry and wastewater. “Hard to decarbonize” sectors are the ones where the technology to meet climate scenarios has either 1. not been developed yet, or 2. technologies exist but they are not commercially viable at the necessary scale. They basically face technical or financial challenges to reduce emissions, and it slows down the pace on decarbonization opportunities. 

As of October 2020, our customers include ArcelorMittal Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary of the world’s leading steel and mining company, and Brazil’s BRK Ambiental, the largest private water distribution, collection and treatment company serving Latin America’s biggest economy. We also just signed on Siemens Brasil, a subsidiary of Germany’s Siemens AG, the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe. Siemens is a company leading the way to carbon-neutral operations by 2030.

These companies are just now seeing more available opportunities instead of challenges, and SINAI becomes increasingly important for them to align their capital allocation with emissions targets.

Grit Daily: And, what’s behind the “SINAI” name?

Maria Fujihara: After closing my first startup, Urban Intelligence, I was very down, super upset, and had  zero energy to even get out of the bed. I was almost ready to go back to Brazil, when one of our advisors, Travis, who has been supporting me since the beginning, met me for a meeting/session to try to cheer me up. I remember it vividly: We were at one of the many rooms in the communal space I’d lived in for two years (all I could afford that time), and he was trying to cheer me up by jamming on names for the new startup (that in his mind, I had to start: no matter what). I wasn’t even sure I wanted to start something new after a failure, but I got into the game. We got a whiteboard, and started playing with words, syllables and letters. 

I wanted it to end with AI for Artificial Intelligence. It had to be small, 5-6 letters max. And, it had to be global, or to state something international. When SINAI came up, I remember being a little reluctant since SIN means “nothing” in Spanish, and this wouldn’t fit great for a company that was trying to bring intelligence to data. But, after doing some research, I found that Mount SINAI, a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is a possible location of the biblical Mount Sinai, the place where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments, is actually the most sacred place for the three biggest religions in the world: Judaism, Christianity, and Islamism. I’m zero religious and I follow no religious practices, but I loved the symbolism of union, and the tripod representation that I wanted for the company: the union of sustainability, finance, and technology. SINAI had chosen me. 

After that, with a name and a mission in mind, I just kept pushing to make SINAI, the technology company, to become real. 

Grit Daily: What’s one conventional wisdom about “zero carbon,” seemingly the “Holy Grail” — that’s just plain wrong?

Maria Fujihara: There is a language issue that frequently confuses people. When we say zero “carbon” emissions, what we actually mean is “carbon equivalent” for every greenhouse gas. The Kyoto Protocol regulates seven gases: CO2, which is carbon dioxide, methane, NOx and others. For all these seven different gases, when you multiply by their global-warming potential, they all become carbon equivalent. You need to transform these gases into a carbon equivalent, so they are comparable between each other. Methane, which is one of the most damaging ones, is 25 times more heavy than carbon dioxide. This is the reason why cattle farming, which produces a huge amount of methane, is so damaging for the environment and why some activists are calling for reduced beef consumption. 

Grit Daily: Some environmental pundits have recently said that it may be too late to reverse climate change’s negative impact on the planet already. What’s your take? 

Maria Fujihara: (Maria puts her hand horizontally just above her lips.) Today, the water is here. If it goes up a little bit more, you won’t be able to breathe. It’s an analogy for the tipping point we find ourselves in currently. At some point, there will be too much damage done to nature, and there will be no turning back. That time is coming soon. 

To use another example: our lungs are the most regenerative organ in the body. For people who smoke for many years, the lungs can actually continue to function and regenerate for about 30 years. So, if a smoker quits smoking, the lungs can still regenerate themselves pretty quickly. But there comes a time, a tipping point, where the lungs are no longer resilient – and you have killed the organ. You simply can not regenerate it anymore. There’s this same tipping point in nature. For example, we’ve already reached that with coral reefs that can no longer regenerate on their own anymore. 

There’s a study from the Stockholm Resilience Center in which they present Earth’s seven boundaries. It showcases the biodiversity loss as a result of global warming and climate change. At this point, we’ve crossed three of them. We’ve already killed the coral reefs. If we don’t stop acidifying the oceans by reducing the global oceans’ plastic pollution problem, we’re in big trouble. Everything is connected to the other on our planet, and if we don’t stop crossing these boundaries, soon we are going to kill the planet. And, then, there is no turning back. 

The post A Look Inside the First Online-Only Y Combinator Class appeared first on Grit Daily News.

SOSA – the global open innovation company – has recently announced its partnership with CNI – the National Confederation of Industry in Brazil – to open the door for global innovation that will change the game for Brazil’s tech industry. 

Through this emerging collaboration, SOSA’s network will offer CNI’s members and startups access to the latest international tech, as well as the opportunity to develop essential relationships and strategic partnerships globally. CNI’s members have the opportunity to engage and join forces with the most cutting-edge 4.0 technologies, within the Tel Aviv and New York’s tech ecosystems.

“The CNI-SOSA program is intended to allow the Brazilian tech ecosystem, its corporations, and startups, to gain access to the world-leading innovation capitals and by extension, access to most disruptive technologies and innovation outside of Brazil,” Uzi Scheffer, CEO of SOSA explains. “Brazilian corporations will be given the opportunity to tap into SOSA’s network of advanced technologies so that they can develop new solutions and strategic partnerships that will inject innovation into their business.”

The intention is to provide Brazilian tech companies with the tools necessary to scale globally, boosting Brazil’s foothold in the innovation sphere at a crucial time, particularly as the country powers through COVID-19.

Much like Silicon Valley in the USA, South America also has a “nurturing place of the country’s developing startup ecosystem”. São Paulo is home to 60% of Brazil’s startup investments, as well as being the LATAM base for 65% of Fortune 500 companies operating in the continent such as; Airbnb, Amazon, Google, Netflix, and Spotify. However, investment opportunities for those outside of the hub have reportedly been much more limited. 

“While local and international funds continue to grow in Brazil, the flow of investment remains a critical issue and ultimately, an impediment to innovation, as institutional backers are still reluctant to invest in startups,” Scheffer said. “The international interest that São Paulo attracts as an innovation hub is certainly incredible. However, Brazil’s startup ecosystem must look beyond São Paulo and Brazil to become scalable, develop their offering by connecting with external markets, and collaborate with international corporations, organizations, and investors.”

In answer to these issues, the CNI-SOSA program claims they will offer corporations open innovation activities, tech scouting opportunities, and participation invites to private demo days. Alongside workshops on innovation leadership, industry reports, and curated industry events. 

For startups, the program has announced that access to SOSA will be a foothold in the Tel Aviv and New York ecosystems, thus providing access to multinational corporations, VCs, investors, and other tech companies. Startups are also allowed to participate in curated tech events, offering global business opportunities, roundtables, panel sessions, and participation in professional workshops – designed to give them the tools and best practices needed – to build a global company.

The partnership also declares a welcome to LATAM corporations, investors, and government delegations, on an ongoing basis. The aim is to provide insight into the latest trends in global tech, in order to sharpen the Brazilian industry’s competitive edge.

Given the confident start to this collaboration, we’re eager to see what the future holds for SOSA’s partnerships, particularly within the Latin American tech ecosystem. 

“The partnership with CNI is not only an incredible extension of our global network, but it is the first step in SOSA’s expansion into Latin America,” Scheffer said. “We anticipate more collaborations to follow in the region, which will be drawn from the successful partnerships we establish and nurture with Brazilian corporations and innovators.”

In addition, SOSA hopes to broaden their alliance within the Brazilian business sector, and extending their hand seems to be at the forefront of their future plans.  

“We are already in deep conversations with leading Brazilian Corporations dealing with manufacturing, industrial solutions, healthcare, and more, who are seeking to gain visibility into global technologies, an early indicator of the promising future of the CNI-SOSA partnership,” Scheffer said.

The post A boost for Brazil: The partnership launching Latin American startups toward global innovation leadership appeared first on Grit Daily News.

They liked the experience: a slower pace; a decidedly middle-class economy; a society far more European than Latin; a Mediterranean climate; fresh, high-quality food; high-quality healthcare; a kindness that reminded the Kopps of 1950s America; and a culture that values relationships over possessions. Today, they live a happier, healthier, simpler life in one of South America’s wealthiest enclaves…but that’s getting ahead of our story.

Many retirees, or those soon to reach that milestone, dream of moving overseas for any number of reasons: reduced healthcare costs, stretching a nest egg farther, adventure. But the process—the paperwork, the financial issues, residence visas, healthcare—can seem so daunting that the end result is too often inertia. Thus it is, then, that the Kopps’ process of relocating to Punta del Este, Uruguay, is a masterclass in retiring overseas with ease.

Joy and Jim knew by 2015 that Uruguay would be their retirement home. But instead of moving quickly, the couple began a strategic, multi-year process of preparing properly for their big life change.

First up: winnowing possessions to “what would fit in a cardboard box,” Jim says. Parting with items you’ve owned for decades is often emotional. But selling, donating, or giving away furnishings, automobiles, and whatnot, and preparing your house for sale over time allows you to process the upcoming move and lets you envision an easier, less encumbered life.

As that unfolded, Jim and Joy enrolled in Spanish classes at a local university, “just to have a working knowledge and some basic phrases,” Joy says. Meanwhile, Joy began gathering paperwork—the part of the process that can be so taxing.

One of the great benefits of Uruguay is that you can gain temporary residence almost immediately after showing up, which gives you pretty much all the rights of a permanent resident, including access to the country’s highly ranked healthcare system. You just have to present the right paperwork—birth certificate, marriage certificate (if applicable), an FBI report showing you’re not a criminal, and documented income.

But here’s the catch: The first three documents require an apostille, an official form attached to the original that verifies its legitimacy and authenticity. And if you were born in, say, Maryland and married in, maybe, Iowa, the Secretary of State in each state must apostille the appropriate original. Joy began collecting documents months before she and Jim were slated to make their move.

As that was underway, Jim applied for Social Security earlier than anticipated in order to prove verifiable, monthly income. Uruguay, like many countries, wants proof you won’t burden the government. Typically, that means provable income rather than assets. In Uruguay’s case, the country wants to see monthly income of roughly $1,500. Jim’s Social Security allowed the Kopps to tick that box.

As 2017 rolled around, and with all documents in place, the couple sold their house…and in May of that year, they landed in Uruguay.

They immediately applied for temporary residence. Within two weeks, they had driver’s licenses (though they don’t own a car) and a local bank account. Within a month, they had temporary cédulas (temporary residence cards) allowing them to enroll in local health plans that cost all of $55 a month, each.

They rented an apartment for several months before buying a 700-square-foot, two-bedroom flat with ocean views two blocks from the Atlantic for $200,000, including commissions and fees.

And 15 months later, in August 2018, the Kopps’ residency turned permanent.

Today, they live happier and healthier than they did in the U.S. Though lots of oversees retirees make that claim anecdotally, Jim, a diabetic with asthma, offers up quantifiable proof. Here in Punta del Este he’s never needed his inhaler…and his diabetes requires half the insulin, giving Jim twice the control of his sugar that he had in the U.S. Joy, meanwhile, has dropped two dress sizes “because of all the walking (two to four miles a day) and because the food is healthier without all the processing.”

We spend less than $1,000 per month.

Their cost of living has plunged, as well. The Kopps spend less than $1,000 a month—and $450 of that is their building’s common expenses (security, sewer, water, maintenance, etc.)—and live a rich life in a city where billionaires and supermodels own vacation homes.

“It has been freeing to break those bonds back in America,” Jim says of a U.S. life that “is now too often defined by possession.” Joy quickly adds: “Clocks tick slower here. The stress level is 1/10th the U.S. This is the lifestyle we want—a small apartment in a walkable community, everything we need is nearby.”

Indeed, as I left the Kopps after a morning spent at their sunny apartment, they were walking, hand-in-hand, down the street to one of their favorite markets.

Related: Island Hopping in Indonesia: Nusa, Gili, Flores, and Lombok Islands

The article A Masterclass in Retiring Overseas With Ease by Jeff Opdyke first appeared on International Living.

The post A Masterclass in Retiring Overseas With Ease appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Latin America has traditionally had a culture that values relationships and face-to-face business interactions. It also has slow gross domestic product growth under 3 percent. While this part of the culture sets Latin American society apart, I believe one of the keys to increasing regional growth is to implement efficiency-enabling digital tools for productivity-driven GDP growth versus the region’s historical employment-driven GDP growth.

A push toward cultural change?

With the recent explosion of connectivity and smartphone adoption, Latin America is perfectly positioned to make the transition to a more connected workplace. Seventy percent of the region’s population has the internet and it is the second-fastest-growing mobile phone market in the world.

While Latin America’s social media usage has outpaced the rest of the world, there has been cultural resistance to new technologies that enable more efficient work, government processes and even education. As an example, it is rare to see remote work policies in place and the adoption of video conference solutions are not nearly at the same level as in North America or Europe.

As a result of the response to COVID-19, however, Latin Americans are now being forced to use new tools for working remotely (teleconferencing, collaboration tools, workflow management, etc.) and living (food delivery, mobile payments). I believe this could be the “push” that will drive a long-term change even after the global pandemic passes. After all, it’s a common belief that sustained change in behavior occurs after 27 days and it is most likely that this forced exposure in Latin America will continue far longer than one month.

What’s next?

As a consequence of the pandemic, I have five predictions for technology adoption in Latin America:

1. Trust around digital will improve

Latin America, like other emerging economies, tends to have weaker confidence in digital solutions, especially around digital transactions and online shopping. I believe this improves at an accelerated rate as many bear witness to the benefits, convenience and reliability of digital.

2. No-touch services will grow

This experience will fundamentally accelerate the region’s digital transportation. From restaurants, groceries and pharmaceuticals to government I.D. renewals, consumers and businesses alike will more actively look for, and demand, a no-contact solution. Be it pay by phone or online-to-offline services, some measure of social distancing will be integrated into business as usual.

3. Latin American entrepreneurship will grow

Given the opportunity and need for the region to become more productive, in-region entrepreneurs will rightly lean in. While the vast majority of the startup activity is in Brazil, I think we see an even more accelerated level from the other regions, especially Chile and Colombia.

4. Startups from the U.S. will give Latin America more attention

For similar reasons as above, U.S. startups will look farther and wider for growth and realize that Latin America is an attractive market for them. They will move quickly to increase their total addressable market (TAM) by forming strategic partnerships with leading corporations that can help them enter and grow.

5. The cash is king status will lose ground

All of this culminates into a fundamental change for the region–the accelerated decline of using cash. It is reported that for UberEats, nearly 40 percent of all orders in Colombia are paid in cash. This is one of the regional nuances that digital startups entering the market struggle with. But, given the current situation, I think it is clear that consumers will leverage digital more, including for payments which will further accelerate the region’s digital transformation.

In summary, consequences for Latin America from the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be significant and include a new, heightened, level of interest and adoption in digital productivity tools for newfound, but much needed, GDP growth via productivity. For startups, this new, heightened, level of interest is a great setup to expand into the Latin American market for accelerated growth.

Related: Feeling The Burn: Fitness Studios Rent Out Pricey Equipment For Revenue Amid Shutdowns

The article How The COVID Crisis Will Evolve Latin America’s Technology Adoption first appeared on Crunchbase News.

The post How The COVID Crisis Will Evolve Latin America’s Technology Adoption appeared first on Grit Daily News.