Over the next three years, small businesses that supply services and products to the Odebrecht Organization will undergo a training process together with the Brazilian Micro and Small Company Support Service (SEBRAE). The work, included as part of an agreement that the President of SEBRAE, Luiz Barretto, and President of the Odebrecht group, Marcelo Odebrecht, signed on November 30 in São Paulo (SP), is focused on micro and small companies from five states – Maranhão, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Paraná. In order to execute the project, the two partners will invest approximately R$ 3.3 million. “The focus is to qualify the administration of the 165 small businesses involved with the project, including the adoption of new technologies,” said Luiz Barretto.

This signing will also make it possible for SEBRAE and the Odebrecht Foundation to enter into a General Cooperation Agreement in order to offer free technical courses and consulting to Civil Society Organizations of Public Interest (OSCIPs) and cooperatives from rural Bahia. These institutions are part of the evelopment and Integrated Growth Program with Sustainability for the Southern Bahia Lowlands Environmental Protection Areas Mosaic (PDCIS), supported by the Odebrecht Foundation and partners from government and private initiative. Also with a completion period of three years, the workshops will include local production projects such as heart of palm, manioc root and vegetable and fruit cultivation, piassaba handicrafts, fish farming, tourism and civil construction, in addition to promoting and valuing cultural expressions.

The initiative should reach more than 80,000 people and seeks among its results: increased income generation for rural workers, improved management and training for the involved businesses based on the concepts of cooperation, leadership and entrepreneurship.