Creativity derived from necessity
When it was time to write a proposal to undertake an International Fellowship, I had to ponder which countries I would like to visit and learn from. I wanted to experience first hand what creativity looks like, especially one that addresses social inequalities, poverty and diversity. There was one country that came straight into my mind: Brazil.
A week ago my Fellowship started in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro. There, I meet with several organisations, from the not-for-profit side, academia and private sector. The insights were amazing and beyond what I initially expected.
From one side, I have learnt about the entrepreneurship programs that target disadvantaged youth and give them the tools to build ideas with social impact. These programs not only help these young people to earn a living for themselves and their families, but they also help the community in which they live. Private corporations are funding these projects as part of their social responsibility.

Furthermore, I also got to know a program for graduated youth who want to learn coding skills and help them transition from education to employment, while they are still at Uni. One would imagine that the majority of students would have an engineering background already, but the aim of the program is really to bring diversity into the world of tech.

Finally, I have meet with an organisation that does an incredible work with Slums. The Not-For-Profit (NFP), CUFA, builds the capacity of disadvantaged people through diverse trainings in areas such as social media, to help them build a company and sell their idea, or in sewing, as working in services is always an option. It also has the facilities for recreation activities, as keeping young people busy will take them away from being involved in crime. CUFA works hand in hand with a company whose core is to address inequalities experienced by those living in Slum in accessing services in the Slums. They have built, for instance, a company that does postal deliveries in slums. Before the creation of this company, people living in slums were segregated and socially excluded from receiving deliveries, as the post does not deliver in slums, for security reasons. This project is not only therefore giving slum residents access to their rights, but also employing ex-offenders who are having a chance at being integrated into the labour market.

The different prisms on innovation and entrepreneurship that I got to see in Rio de Janeiro were an eye-opening of what can be done to develop people’s intra and entrepreneurship with a social impact.
