Social Enterprise, Brazilian Style

As a semi-closeted (now "out," I guess) foodie* and as a lover of "things Brazilian" (including Havaianas flip-flops and Veja sneakers, as well as churrascarias and caipirinhas), I read with interest a recent electronic newsletter headline about a thriving Brazilian chef.  I clicked through to the article.  I loved it even more than I had thought I would.

The article tells the story of an emergent Brazilian chef and restauranteur, Rodrigo Oliveira, and his flagship establishment (Mocotó), as promised.  That was great.  But that was not all.  The piece also told the story of a business run using a "holistic business model."

Today, Oliveira focuses on his employees as much as his customers. . . .  Oliveira pays for his employees’ part-time education. And their kids’ health care. And daily jiujitsu and yoga classes in the room he built upstairs. It’s a rarely encountered, holistic business model that contributes to his restaurant’s roaring success. . . .

 . . . 

Beneath the street level they’re boring out new dormitories for employees, for a quick nap and shower between jiujitsu, work and class. . . .

He also seems to be attentive to the greater local community beyond his customers and employees, preferring (to date) to expand his business locally rather than into larger metropolitan areas.  Good business?  Yes!  But it seems like more than that.  This business appears to have more than one bottom line!

Perhaps this is not a remarkable story, in the end.  Regardless, I wanted to share it.  Another Brazilian social enterprise, Ashoka, gets a lot of attention.**  But it's now clear to me that we can and should look beyond larger, storied examples of social entrepreneurship for other manifestations of social enterprise in action in Brazil.

 

*Yes, Steve Bainbridge, I do read  your wonderful posts on food and beverage pairings, including this one on my birthday earlier this month.

**Actually, much to my surprise, Ashoka is a U.S. organization that networks social enterprises across the globe.  So, it's not even Brazilian!  Having been in Rio teaching for a few summers and known of its presence there, I  assumed it was a Brazilian organization.  Please forgive the error.  Hat tip to co-blogger Haskell Murray for pointing it out to me.