Empowerment and entrepreneurship: Can we learn from Anitta? part…

We are continuing with the story of singer Anitta! If you arrived in this page first we indicated that you read part 1 by clicking here.

Persistence and Empowerment

In her first album, the singer had a team of professionals to manage her career, and so she acted only as an artist. However, she still felt dissatisfied and sad about the way things were going, she did not agree with the business model, with the strategies  positioning and especially with it consequences: much efforts with little quality.

Then, the young singer decided to take her own career reins, spoke with other businessmen and professionals in the area and made her decision: she called her brother, who was dissatisfied with the college, to help her in a new challenge, and then with only 21, she opened her company and began to manage her musical career.

While carrying out her official agenda, Anitta was studying in her spare time.

“While I was opening my company I was learning taxation, accounting … I had already had superficial lessons on all of this, but the bottom line was much more complicated, I was very good at the contract, law and such part, because I love that part, I did very well, but in the accounts, I was horrible, I hated it, but I hired a lot of people. Many people took advantage because they saw my name and charged thirty times more, nowadays, thanks God, I already the price of each thing … ”

In addition to giving herself totally to the challenge of following her dream and owning her own business, with little experience and knowledge, Anitta had also ingredients that are not mentioned as crucial to success: commitment, perseverance and improvisation.

Trying to create something new and different from what she had tried before with the company that was managing her career, the singer began to give the opportunity to people from other areas or with enough experience in the market, creating her own work method and taking care of all processes. The goal here was to create a team that could understand the singer needs and her audience and create a management way with “Anitta´s” identity.

And even with all their willpower, adversities continued to emerge, with several challenges to be solved, such as: team management, shows, audience and agenda.

The singer also pointed out that, in addition, another difficulty that consumed her was to give “scolding”, especially in older people or with market experience (at the time the businesswoman was only 22 two years old), but she found herself without alternatives to some situations and had to position herself to manage, praising and accompanying her team development.

To ensure more effective management and prepare for internal and external conflicts, the singer once again sought training, this time for people management.

Planning and strategy

With great dedication, Anitta began to reap the fruits of her work with national recognition, a goal that the singer confessed she only imagined to be over thirty. Always open to new possibilities and new challenges, Anitta began to chart her international career plan.

The singer got on a plane to Barcelona to find entrepreneurs who could help her sucess in Europe, but she noticed that they only listed rhythms and regional artists, while she wanted a wider view, which made Anitta leave the meeting rooms for more sectoral research.

During the interview for MIT the singer explained that she went to bars and concert halls, and even spoke to people on the street. A moment of many conversations notes and reflections. On the journey, Anitta found Reggaton, a Latin rhythm extremely consumed in Central America and Spain (rhythm that along with funk opened the doors of her international career).

At the end of this trip, the singer concluded that the three major digital markets are English-speaking, Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking. Since it would be very difficult to enter the English-speaking market, Anitta set up a plan to launch herself in the Spanish market and, if her strategy worked, she could count on these two publics, it would have more numbers and its insertion in the English market would become more real .

Anitta went to the tactical plan and created her strategy to catch the attention of the international public, scheduling her appearance in the markets of interest at least three times:

1 – Released a Spanish song with J Balvin and asked that the Latin singer uploaded the videoclip on his Youtube channel (with thousands of followers and visualizations);

2 – Sang at the opening of the Rio Olympics, a world event, invited by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil;

3 – A month before the opening of the Olympics, she released another Spanish song.

All of this so that she would position herself and be remembered in some way by the international public.

From there, the singer began to create new plans to enter the English music market, dividing her schedule between concerts in Brazil with meetings and more studies on customs and American songs.

Anitta met some entrepreneurs to understand what would be the best way to make this new challenge become reality, but once again the entrepreneurs did not understand the singer’s expectations and the goal she had in mind was to act in 3 markets at the same time.

With this impasse, it was clear the entrepreneurs lack of interest in working with the singer, and once again she put her plan in action and began to train her strategies to act as an international artist, an action that came true with the song release Paradinha. With international release, the single reached the best debut in Spotify Brazil with almost half a million hits, and also reached the 182nd position among the most played songs in the world, being the best placement of a Brazilian artist in the Spotify world ranking.

At the end of the interview, we conclude that the artist’s story is surprising. The way the singer has stood in the facing adversity, showing interest and seeking support to solve all the impasses during her journey, is a great lesson of persistence for all entrepreneurs.

Finally, the message was clear: to always believe in our dreams, to take advantage of the opportunities that life offers us and, above all, to believe in yourself.

Empowerment and entrepreneurship: Can we learn from Anitta?

A singer, songwriter, dancer and businesswoman, the Brazilian popstar with only 25 years old causes an uproar wherever she goes, and it is impossible not to come across her hits, clips and advertising campaigns in various media outlets.

Anitta is currently one of the most wanted celebrities by various brands, because of her strong presence in social media and her approval in traditional media.

It is so much visibility that Netflix will launch this year a documentary on her life and work of the celebrity, which surpassed Lady Gaga and Beyoncé as the most influential in social networks (source: Billboard – popularity index). Today she is the Brazilian woman with the largest number of followers in Instagram, with more than 3 million.

But you must be asking yourself:

What does Anitta have to do with microentrepreneurs and empowerment?

For better understanding this strong connection of the artist with entrepreneurship, we need to take a closer look at her career.

Like many microentrepreneurs, Anitta went through difficulties and had to adapt herself and strive hard in order to achieve her success. From her interview at the Brazil Conference at Harvard & MIT, we listed some essential characteristics for you to inspire yourself and achieve your goals.

Understand the origins:

Born in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Larissa de Macedo Machado / Anitta is the daughter of an artisan and an automotive battery salesman (entrepreneurs). From early on, she and her brother were very studious and hardworking, always counting on their parents encouragement to continue studying in order to conquer a future with more opportunities.
Graduated by public education, Anitta was encouraged by her father to finish high school together with a full preparatory course for the market, with an emphasis on administration (state school), which could only be concluded with an internship. At that time, the young woman applied for the trainees selective process at a company called Vale do Rio Doce.
The singer says that all her classmates discredited her that she could pass at a long and demanding selection process, with more than 5 thousand people registered for only 5 seats. But in the end, Anitta was one of the five young people selected for the Brazilian multinational mining program.
“I usually say that when you’re poor, when you do not have much of a condition, you’re always afraid that you cannot pay the bill, right? When the light bill comes, the water bill, the food, or the market … Then there was always a lot in my head: my mother was an artisan, she made purses and made 80 cents a bag and my father sold car battery, so he also had a problem in his company, he was always broke and in crisis. At the time I was scared and so I took the administration course thinking about it, about having a job I and putting aside my willing of becoming an artist … So, I took the course and it helped me a lot because after I decided to take care of my own career I had to learn things by myself, but I needed to have a path, a path to where should I go from there”.

Also, at that time, her brother was able to enter at the UFRJ (Rio de Janeiro Federal University) to study Computer Science, with few conditions to be able to participate in higher education. Faced with the problem of distance between the family residence and the university, for example, Anitta gave her brother one of the five bus tickets the company gave her to help him in his training, replacing one of the buses with a walking route.

Have a dream

Even after joining the trainees at Vale and almost having been hired at the end of the contract, Anitta never left aside her singing dream. Before entering Vale, the young woman shot a video singing and published it on the internet, the video went viral:
“… it was a complete mess there at Vale because people were talking: what is this girl  doing?”
During her internship at Vale, Anitta participated at the Church choir and also performed in Funks Parties on Rio de Janeiro outskirts.

On the day she was supposed to sign the contact as effective in Vale do Rio Doce, the director questioned the singer to understand how dedicated she would be to the role, being that she would divide her professional routine by pleading for her musical career (during her internship, she used to sing in funk parties at the favela with a price that varied between R $ 150,00 to R $ 300,00 for presentation). However, at the time of the meeting with the director, Anitta gave up her position and decided to follow her dream.

“At the time there were several other trainees who were going to be sent away, everyone wanted the job, everyone wanted very much and I … I wanted to, but I wanted for a financial question …” I was going to come up with an incredible salary at 18 … Look, I’d rather try my career. Then, I thanked him, I went out and called my mother and I said: look, Mom, I gave up, I came here to sign, but I saw that I would not dedicate myself, I like to sing. ”

The lessons of the popstar do not end here, soon we will publish the continuation of the Anitta Case.

Plan to win

Every Tuesday during September, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the Aventura de Construir will promote workshops under the title “Plan to Win” and thus continue the discussion on Planning started in August with the methodology WORLD CAFÉ: Planning as tool of the business, that had as objective to know the experiences of our entrepreneurs when it comes to planning and, mainly, to understand what are their main difficulties and challenges that everyone faces on their own reality.

At this stage of the debate, we will stimulate the interaction between the entrepreneurs when searching for better understanding the concept and the risks by not elaborating a plan, both for personal and business plans, using as guidelines the experiences exposed during August´s WORLD CAFÉ. After this exercise, the entrepreneurs will put into practice the step by step of good planning, starting with the general objective definition, being the main motivation of this plan. Followed by factors that will make all this come true, activities and responsibility of the decisions to be taken to forward this project. Other equally important factors are: term, costs and forecast of financial return. In the end, the entrepreneurs themselves will measure their planning potential, through what is exposed and discussed at each meeting.

The “Plan to Win” workshops will bring a reflection to the entrepreneurs through the practice about planning according to their reality and stimulate growth actions in a conscious way and, mainly, with greater chances of success. In addition to providing a more technical view by enhancing each entrepreneur’s organizational capacity and helping to grow their business, these meetings will show entrepreneurs that everyone can be able to overcome insecurity and fear when designing a good plan.

The “Plan to Win” training meetings are free and will take place from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm on the following dates and locations:
09/05 – Centro Comunitário do Jardim Canaã – Rua Ilha do Francês, 55
09/12 – Centro Comunitário do Sol Nascente na 11º área – Rua São Francisco, 11
09/19 – Centro Comunitário da Turística na 14ª área Rua Renato Consorte, 36
09/26 – Salão da Associação dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra na Lapa de Baixo – Rua Félix Guilhem, 227

Reflections on the concert in MIS

The unlikely is one of the ingredients for success!

Like all entrepreneurs, companies and mainly NGOs, we are not immune to change and we must always pay atention to the scenario around us, aiming for growth opportunities and attentive to the surrounding risks.
Although it is uncomfortable to deal with so many changes, it is important to emphasize that it is during these hours that we can experience: our adaptive power, the strength of our mission and to finish (and what made us delighted) how we can gain some companies trust, partners and people during our journey.
And it is exactly in this moment of reflection and questioning, the greatest of all is: How to bring visibility to our cause and activities that an exclamation arises:
“Let’s do something great, beautiful and unique: a piano concert.
As well as being an extremely magical presentation, we spread our mission accordingly. ”

Eureka! Hands to work.
But would it be possible to do such an event with so little time?

Until then we had never accomplished anything so majestic. Having butterflies in our stomach that usually appears on the presentation day, for us, came much earlier, there in the early days of our initial contacts and first meetings to make our dreams come true.

We had in our hands a mix of gritty ingredients that made us so happy that our expectations increased more and more:

1- First, our cause that has always led us to create new ways and alternatives to continue developing our work and impacting hundreds of microentrepreneurs. Without our mission we would not have the event or any other form of fundraising.

2- The Image and Sound Museum was something unexpected and far beyond what we imagined. With an incredible structure, a staff requests, an unusual and cozy atmosphere. MIS was the best setting for our concert that illustrated how much sound and image are longstanding partners.

3- The highlight of the concert was Marcelo Cesena, who presented the nuances of the songs beautifully in a breathtaking performance, proving to be worthy and honored by the title of ambassador of Brazilian music in the world.

4- Charismatic and very safe, the pianist told stories of the composers, recalled episodes of other performances and gave a lesson on how music is so important for the movies and for our lives.

Between the great attraction and our mission, we wanted the night to be very well intertwined, that in the end everything made sense and that it was delicate. There would be no better person than the master of Luxury Carlos Ferreirinha with his grace, touch and a lot of feeling to be the ceremonial list that night. Ferreirinha maintained the rhythm of the event, and also to remain magical. The challenge was realized and the improbable became real. We managed to fill the MIS amphitheater and also, anxious for Marcelo’s presentation.

By the end of the event we could see that we were right to prepare so well for this evening, we were exposed, full of incredible attractions and all this was noticed when we looked at our audience moved and amazed by the lovely presentation.

We thank all the public, our partners, volunteers, people and companies who sponsored and helped making this moment so beautiful and unforgettable.

Global Pact

On April 9^th, 2018 Aventura de Construir was approved as a signatory of the Global Pact, a UN initiative that mobilizes the international business community to adopt fundamental and internationally accepted values ​​in the areas of human rights, labor relations, the environment and fight against corruption. This initiative monitors and guides the implementation of the 2030 Agenda to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) proposed by the UN.

The Global Pact exists in more than 150 countries and has more than 12,000 organizations such as companies, unions, non-governmental organizations and other institutions that seek a more inclusive and egalitarian society. The participating institutions work in different economic sectors and geographic regions and seek to carry out their activities in a responsible manner, involving employees, clients, partners and investors in this process.

Being accepted in this group demonstrates that Aventura de Construir follows solid guidelines for promoting human growth and sustainable social and environmental development in the areas where it operates and carries out its work in a committed and innovative way.

Investing in projects of an institution that has this stamp brings the certainty that the company is not simply donating resources but also linking its brand with measurable results and real impact on society.

To learn more about the Global Pact, visit: www.unglobalcompact.org

Creative Economy: Develop Your Differential to Add Value to…

You may have heard of “Creative Economy” and how it has been expanding in recent years. If you have not heard, know that it is a growing market above the annual national average and is in almost every economy sector. Because it is a new concept, there is no “ready” and unique definition of the term. What we can affirm is that the idea of ​​Creative Economy is to unite economy with creativity, possessing as its raw material intellectual capital, that is, charged with symbolic values. It requires creativity to go beyond offering products and services, new consumption seeks an experience to be lived.

This reality is a new look at entrepreneurship, which demands multidisciplinarity by the entrepreneur, attention to new professions and has the collaborative economy as its flagship. The entrepreneur has to think of innovative models, with new processes and new technologies, valuing the creative sector in which he is operating, often underestimated for not having a focused training on business management. This is the creative economy way, which seeks to reveal innovative business models in other areas and adds value and competitiveness to products and services also bringing social development and sustainable growth.

To stimulate your creativity when it comes to conquering or retaining clients, Aventura de Construir will promote next November, workshops to develop skills going from theory to practice on creative economy in the reality of local micro entrepreneurship, which means, how to add value in an innovative way and make it a competitive differential.

The meetings will have the partnership of Fluxonomia 4D, a startup that has as methodology a set of tools to create, enable and manage initiatives using resources and generating results in the four dimensions of sustainability: Environmental, Financial, Cultural and Social. This meeting between microentrepreneurs and the general public will have the goal to show people how to present new alternatives to successfully overcome the crisis and, above all, instigate an outside the box thinking.

The meetings are free and open to the public from 7 pm to 9 pm on the following dates and locations:

07/11 – Centro Comunitário do Jardim Canaã – Rua Ilha de Francês, 55

21/11 – Centro Comunitário da Turística na 14ª área – Rua Renato Consorte, 36

28/11 – Salão da Associação dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra – Rua Félix Guilhem, 227 – Lapa de Baixo

For more information contact by e-mail: contato@aventuradeconstruir.org.br or call +55 11 3895-0592

2018 – 2030: life enriching the sustainable development Agenda

2018 – 2030: life enriching the sustainable development Agenda

2015 was the turning point for people and our planet. At that year, the United Nations, Governments, civil society and other partners came together and brought to life an ambitious post 2015 development agenda called “Agenda 2030”. It is composed by 17 objectives (SDO – Sustainable Development Objectives) to be implemented by stakeholders for the eradication of poverty and the construction of a path for sustainable development.

From its beginnings – and from 2015 onwards – we have realized that the work methodology and the training offer presented by Aventura de Construir are in line with Agenda 2030 insofar as they present an integral proposal for the individual development ( in all three dimensions, human, economic and environmental ) and have a direct impact on 7 of the 17 SDO´s.

Through our Company Management Training, Human Development and technical professionals, we provide highly qualified training and, at the same time, we foster the female protagonist and the low income women financial independence, corresponding to 60% of our public with direct impact on SDO´s n. 4 (Quality education) and SDO´s n.5 (Gender equality).

Our Training, Advisory and Microcredit Support programs also enter SDO´s n. 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) insofar as they dignify the person through work and foster our peripheries the economic development. We have reduced inequalities (SDO´s n.10) by supporting the income growth of the most vulnerable population (according to our Impact Assessment System, our monthly revenue increased an average of 63% between 2012 and 2017 – learn more here https://aventuradeconstruir.org.br/avaliaca-de-impacto), promoting the social and economic inclusion of all and also, offering exchanging spaces, sharing and network creations.

During our capacitation classes, we provide universal access to a safe, inclusive and accessible space also supporting economic, social and environmental relationships in the city peripheries, thus making them safer and sustainable, contributing to SDO´s n. 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). By supporting and encouraging environmentally sustainable behavior and attitudes among our entrepreneurs, we have impacted SDO´s n.13 (Action against global climate change), achieving a 25% average of our target audience by taking initiatives to reduce consumption of water and electricity.

We are aware that we could not implement all those programs by ourselves. For this reason, we foster partnerships and networking, both during our Training and Advising Classes, welcoming speakers and volunteers from different and distinct realities, as well as in the projects formulation, calls participation for business proposals and our Board of Directors involvement (SOD´s n.17 – Partnerships and implementation ways). The synergies created by the combination of these “concentric circles” with partners around the ADC enrich us as individuals and professionals and create enormous value for our training offer to the beneficiaries.

This year we want to work even more deeply, effectively, and measurably on the SDOs related to the ADC cause to highlight them in the various modes of disclosure and in the institutional relationships articulation. We are aware that there is no dialogue possibility with leading companies and institutions without the existence of this common language and patrimony code. This is a major phenomenon: 97% of corporate CEOs find sustainability important for the future of their business, 87% consider it an opportunity to develop the company´s creation value, 80% realize the commitment to the SDO as a company differential. (Source: The UN Global Compact-Accenture Strategy CEO Study 2016 – Agenda 2030: A Window of Opportunity 1,000+ CEOs, 100+ countries, 25+ industries. Learn more at www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-un- global-compact-ceo-study)

Our approach to SDO has never been to treat them as an institutional marketing action, but rather the surprise of verifying that they are a foundation and something pertaining to the DNA of the Aventura de Construir.

In order to follow this approach, we need first of all, to keep the questions about our reason for being alive, questions that move us in search of answers, to learn more and more how to serve our target audience. In our experience over the years, we have found ourselves filling in the SDO content, experiences, particular experiences, and lives, through the art of meeting the other. Learning to love what is ahead of us, we have been and always want to be a seed that will generate life wherever the land it was sown.

Creative Economy

Creative Economy

You probably already heard about “Creative Economy” and how it has been expanding in recent years. If you have not heard, know that it is a market that grows above the annual national average and it is present in almost every sector of the economy. Because it is a new concept, there is no “ready” and unique definition of the term. What we can affirm is that the idea of ​​Creative Economy is to unite economy with creativity, possessing as its raw material intellectual capital, that is, charged with symbolic values. It requires creativity to go beyond offering products and services, new consumption seeks an experience to be lived.

This reality is a new look at entrepreneurship, which demands multidisciplinary by the entrepreneur, new professions attention and has the collaborative economy as its flagship. The entrepreneur goes on to think of innovative models, with new processes and new technologies, valuing the creative sector in which he operates, often underestimated for not finishing a business management training. This is the creative economy way, seeking to reveal innovative business models in other areas and adds value and competitiveness to products and services and brings social development and sustainable growth.

To stimulate your creativity when it comes to conquering or retaining clients, Aventura de Construir will promote in November, workshops that go from theory to practicing the creative economy in the local micro entrepreneurship’s reality, that is, how to add value in an innovative way and make it a competitive differential.

The meetings will have the partnership of Fluxonomia 4D, a startup that uses as a methodology a set of tools to create, enable and manage initiatives using resources and generating sustainability results in four dimensions: Environmental, Financial, Cultural and Social. This meeting between microentrepreneurs and the general public with people who can present new alternatives to successfully overcome the crisis and, above all, instigate a thought out of the box.

The meetings are free and open to the public from 7 pm to 9 pm on the following dates and locations:

November 7th – Centro Comunitário do Jardim Canaã – Rua Ilha de Francês, 55

November 21st – Centro Comunitário da Turística na 14ª área – Rua Renato Consorte, 36

November 28th – Salão da Associação dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra – Rua Félix Guilhem, 227 – Lapa de Baixo

For more information, please contact by mail or phone number:

contato@aventuradeconstruir.org.br or call us at +55 11 3895-0592

Knowing the Future and Living as Protagonists

Knowing the Future and Living as Protagonists

The world has undergone many changes, and we do not have to look far to realize them. This shows the importance of keeping up to date even in our daily lives. Everyday, companies around the world invest heavily in innovation with the aim of creating answers to the market needs. New technologies are part of this process, but it is important to emphasize that, more than opening up different business opportunities, they provide a real revolution in society, enabling previously unthinkable actions and improving the people’s quality of life. It is understood, then, that the social transformations are directly linked to the technological transformations of which society takes possession in order to develop and to maintain itself.

The benefits that the new technologies bring about are innumerable and extend to all of the social sectors, from the business area to the health one. Thinking in this context, this October Aventura de Construir will provide for entrepreneurs and the general public a lecture entitled “Conhecer o Futuro e Viver como Protagonistas” (“Knowing the Future and Living as Protagonists”) a training about Artificial Intelligence and its applications with entrepreneur Vaney Fornazieri, Managing Director of Seepix Digital.

Vaney brings with him a wealth of knowledge through his experiences in Silicon Valley, a region of California in the United States known for being the main center of innovation and technology in the world, where companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook among others are located.

Knowledge about technological innovations in the world, by itself, may sound distant. It is precisely this point that our presentation intends to deal with, in understanding what practical changes these transformations bring to our daily life, whether in a personal or a professional context.  We need to know the innovation and prepare to reinvent ourselves in the face of new challenges.

This meeting is a unique opportunity for our entrepreneurs to exchange experiences with a renowned professional and have the possibility to expand their perspectives.

This meeting will take place on October 17, starting at 7:00 p.m. sharp to 9:00 p.m. in the hall of the Associação dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra, at Rua Felix Guilhem, 227 – Lapa de Baixo borough.