In rural Brazil, entrepreneurship offers a pathway out of poverty. Since 2018, TechnoServe, in partnership with Fundação Vale, has been working with communities in the Brumadinho municipality of Minas Gerais, improving livelihoods by helping people create their own businesses.
Hard-hit artisanal cheese makers will benefit from access to capital and technical assistance
Young people in Brazil often struggle to find employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas. TechnoServe, Anglo American, and the Inter-American Development Bank are helping people like Mariana dos Santos Pinho gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to find meaningful employment and take charge of their lives.
TechnoServe and the Vale Foundation launched the AGIR (Apoio e Geração e Incremento de Renda) program in September 2018 to support communities in broadening their local economies by targeting key sectors and providing entrepreneurship training and support.
In 2017, TechnoServe and the Global Coffee Platform published a study on smallholder coffee production that identified opportunities for potential benefits to coffee farmers from improved farm profitability and increased efficiency along the supply chain.
In 2011, TechnoServe, Instituto Ventura, and food company Inaceres partnered to catalyze economic growth for smallholder farmers in Brazil by building a sustainable, inclusive, and competitive outgrower model for heart of palm.
In the Piauí state of Northern Brazil, honey production can provide a key source of income for farmers living in rural poverty. As market demand for certified honey increases globally, switching to organic and fair trade production can help farmers to tap into premium markets – and prices.
Building on past successes has helped TechnoServe's Crescer program and the entrepreneurs it supports to improve strategies for stronger community economies.
TechnoServe is implementing two programs in Brazil with the global mining company Anglo American, taking a market systems approach to creating prosperity through enterprise development.
In the south of the Brazilian state of Bahia, three organizations are uniting to implement an economic development project that is generating benefits for 60 farmers who live on settlements created after agrarian reform.
