Linking Women's Businesses into Corporate Supply Chains

Its a few weeks delayed but still not too late to gush about our recent women's entrepreneurship event with WeConnect, International.  In partnership with WeConnect International, we hosted over 120 women entrepreneurs, senior corporate managers, business development specialists and social sector representatives in São Paulo on Sept 20th.  The purpose was to galvanize supporters for a joint mission of supporting women's entrepreneurship, and especially for helping integrate women-owned  businesses into global corporate supply chains.
EOSS and WeConnect may both be founded by women...... but our interest in supporting other women entrepreneurs is not just personal- it make good economic sense as well!

It's good for the world:

• In developing countries, it has been documented that women reinvest 90% of their income in their families and communities, compared to men who reinvest only 30% to 40% of their income
• Narrowing the gender gap can accelerate per capita income by as much as 14% by 2020 and 20% by 2030.
• Gender parity in the labor force would reportedly boost GDP by an estimated 9% in the U.S., 13% in the Eurozone and 16% in Japan.

Qualitatively, women entrepreneurs have been found to be more risk-averse, more adept at multi-tasking and more adaptive in leadership style and some reports have indicated that Fortune 500 companies with women in leadership outperformed their peers.
EOSS has been working to support and train women entrepreneurs in Brazil for the past 3 years and WeConnect certifies and links women entrepreneurs to world-class opportunities with leading multinational corporations..... so there was an undeniable synergy.
Our event convened decision makers from global firms like IBM, Cummins, GE with local businesswomen from São Paulo to share opportunities, strategies and ideas.  The next step will be forming a Brazilian council that can help congregate and advise corporate leaders about supplier diversity and also create pipelines for local women entrepreneurs to access greater contracting opportunities with these corporate partners.
One major corporate contract can do more than take that woman's business from breaking even to substantial profits, its can help her reinvest in her family (90%!) and create jobs in her community.
And that is exactly what we want to happen.... over and over again...... :)

City of God Competitiveness Consortium

We are so thrilled to officially announce the launch of the City of God Competitiveness Consortium [CCC] , a partnership founded by the City of God Local Development Agency, EOSS Consulting, the Secretariat for Economic and Social Development and INVEPAR Institute/ LAMSA to catalyze and nurture job creation, small business growth and community development in City of God.

Although the community has made tremendous progress in eradicating violence and drugg trafficking, City of God's 100,000 (unofficial) inhabitants face an unemployment rate of nearly 70% and nearly 70% poverty rate (i.e. household incomes of less than $600 USD/ month).  Simultaneously, the surrounding region has one of the highest concentrations of multinationals corporations and factories in Rio de Janeiros. 

The CCC leverages private, public and non-profit partnerships to
- train and certify City of God's young population and pipeline them into positions with partner corporations
- train, certify and provide capital to the community's micro, small and medium enterprises and facilitate contracts with partner corporations
- establish co-investment mechanisms from workforce development and local supplier development programs which are funneled into the favela's  Social Fund, the  favela's first autonomous fund for community development initiatives
- foster greater linkages between Rio de Janeiro's business community and the City of God, bolstering corporate social responsiblity as well as expanding products and services for the base of the pyramid.

More news on new partners and activities soon to com!