Posts tagged community business
Study Shows Bolsa Família Assistance Doesn’t Extinguish Ambition
May 13th
For the original article in Portuguese on Portal Geledés via Diário do Nordeste click here.
The financial assistance given to families living in extreme poverty through the program Bolsa Família (“Family Stipend”) does not deter them from searching for work, or from becoming entrepreneurs themselves. The conclusion comes from the national Research Institute for Applied Economics (Ipea), after an analysis of Brazilian micro-entrepreneurship. “The Bolsa Família does not produce an effect of laziness or apathy in its recipients. The majority of beneficiaries being entrepreneurs with formalized businesses is proof of that,” says Rafael Moreira.
Moreira is one of the researchers focusing on the individual microentrepreneur–a More >
Pensão Sabor de Ana: Providência Restaurant in Crisis
May 8th
The Pensão Sabor de Ana restaurant is near the bottom of Providência hill. But even if it were located at the top no doubt these flavors would be drawing people from all over the city for the great food and better price. For R$10, a customer gets access to an all-you-can eat buffet, with two selections of a wide variety of churrasco meats. With the menu changing every day, customers just seem to keep coming back. Chicken à milanesa with rice and beans–-a pretty standard Brazilian dish–-was all I needed to see how “flavor” worked its way into the restaurant’s name.
What is even More >
Communities Celebrate Release of Favela Restaurant Guide
Apr 27th
On Saturday April 6, Rio’s newly launched Livraria Cultura bookstore opened its doors to celebrate the release of the Guia Gastronômico das Favelas do Rio (“Gastronomical Guide to Rio’s Favelas”) and meet those who made it all possible including Sérgio Bloch (concept and editing), Ines Garçoni (text), and Marcos Pinto (photography). The guide, bursting with eye-catching photos and a multitude of interesting facts on some of Rio’s favelas, highlights outstanding restaurants, bars, and other unique businesses typically unheard of in the favelas.
Twenty-two businesses are featured from eight communities, these include: Morro da Providênica, Santa Marta, Tabajaras, Chapéu Mangueira/Babilônia, Vidigal, Rocinha, Morro dos Prazeres, and Complexo do More >
Voices of Vila Autódromo: José Arimateia, the Baker
Apr 23rd
In 1986, the newlywed José Arimateia moved to Vila Autódromo to buy his first home and to start a family. He moved from his parents’ house in a neighboring community, Vila Sapê, though he was born in Paraíba. He and his wife, Maria das Dores Catanduba de Andrade, were the first of their families to move to Vila Autódromo, a small favela in Rio’s West Zone, which they chose for its safety and peacefulness. Now, 27 years later, their success and happiness have drawn a dozen family members to move to their beloved community.
When José first moved to Vila Autódromo, he More >
Microfinance in Rio: A Brief Overview
Apr 11th
Since the founding of the Grameen Bank in 1976, the use of microfinance in development economics has proven a remarkably effective method of providing credit to the impoverished. Often lacking access to even basic financial services, micro-businesses can benefit from the increase in liquidity. To offer affordable products, organizations and financial institutions lend on the basis of solidarity lending, where microentrepreneurs form lending groups to borrow money. A loan is given to one member of the group, and it is the responsibility of all members to ensure its repayment. This allows lenders to not require collateral or good credit because all group More >
