Brazil (Spring 2020)

Changing myself and my global perspective of healthcare

By Sindhu

Coming into business school, I had little idea of how much the program would change myself as a person and my global perspective of healthcare.

My background is primarily with U.S. healthcare, but I was excited to see the kind of support and impact I could have in other nations with completely different systems in place. Through my undergraduate program and job prior to Questrom, I have always been focused on a career that served those in need. I was stoked to potentially be part of the Brazil trip as I wanted to support a company and/or foundation that had a social purpose rather than maximizing profits.

After being accepted into the Brazil Global Immersion Seminar, I started getting anxious about the type of work I would be doing and going on an international trip alone. My team got assigned to a foundation, specifically in support of the Healthy Homes project. Being a Health Sector Management student, I was thrilled to be given this project along with a team who was as passionate about the mission as I was.

As I had client management experience from my previous job, I volunteered to take on the role as the primary contact with the client organization, responsible for emails and leading calls with them. In my career, I only had experience with U.S.-based clients, so my goal in every call had been to maximize productivity. After speaking with leaders at the foundation, the conversation progressed in a much slower fashion. I got to understand the way they thought about their trainings, as well as how much effort and care they had put into rural Brazil communities. Prior to our first call, I was primarily focused on completing the project efficiently and then going on the trip to Brazil.

As we got to know the client team more, my standard of quality work and personal connection to the project grew immensely. I finally felt like I could apply typical business school phrases like “value-add” and “measuring impact” while leveraging learnings from my first three class modules into an assignment that would support an incredible program.

As we got closer to spring break, I couldn’t wait to meet them and learn more about the ecosystem they work in. It was exciting to hear them talk about their culture and events surrounding Carnaval. Every step I took in preparation of the trip, whether it be researching my project or getting the necessary vaccinations, felt surreal in terms of actually going to Brazil and experiencing life there. Although the trip had been cancelled, due to COVID-19 precautionary measures, my spark for our project has not faded. I, my team as well, am eager to present our research and recommendations to the client. Though I wasn’t able to experience Brazil in person, I have learned so much about the culture through our interactions and am excited to have a productive conversation with them about the growth and success of Healthy Homes.

Working across cultural boundaries

By Henry

In reflecting on my experience so far, the most rewarding and most challenging aspect of our remote consulting work has been working across cultural boundaries with our client.

My inbox keeps filling up with helpful travel tips and suggestions from various airlines for the trip to Brazil that never happened. I was looking forward to this trip for months, and had done meticulous planning and research to maximize my time in Brazil. When the news about the cancellation of our trip came out last week, I was devastated.

Still, as I sit here in Boston with ever more dire news hitting my newsfeed every day, part of me is glad that I did not have to travel to Brazil under such a foreboding cloud of uncertainty. If the trip had gone forward, I knew that I would have been worried about my friends and family back home, and I would not have been able to experience Brazil to the fullest extent possible.

Our team and the client both found solace in focusing on the day to day work of their organization, and provided us with great feedback on our recommendations during our interim presentation, provided over video-conferencing software. Even though we should have been in Rio this week, presenting in person, our client shared our sentiments that now was not the best time to visit Brazil.

In reflecting on my experience so far, the most rewarding and most challenging aspect of our remote consulting work has been working across cultural boundaries with our client. For someone who is usually quite confident and comfortable interacting with many different stakeholders, I sometimes had trouble translating those skills to a non-native English speaking situation. Our team had to work overtime to adjust to this, and to develop a more culturally competent communications strategy.

Ultimately, despite the initial barriers we faced, I feel as though we have been successful in building a strong relationship with our clients, which translated to greater receptivity towards our initial presentation and hopefully a set of clear next steps to increase the organization’s impact. I hope to get a chance to meet them in person on a future trip to Brazil.

Creating impact at a distance

By Rebecca

I know that while it would be incredibly impactful for us to see the community first hand in order to refine our recommendations accordingly, our client truly understands the community best and will give us meaningful feedback so that we can refine our final report and create the impact we are striving for.

I should be preparing to leave for the airport shortly, but due to the current Coronavirus outbreak, I will be spending my spring break in Massachusetts instead of Brazil. While I am disappointed we won’t be traveling this week, I completely understand the difficult decision BU had to make. I am thankful for how accommodating BU, Professor Flammer, and my client in Brazil have been throughout this entire process.

While I wish we could present all of the work we have done over the last two months to our client in person, I am excited we still get to share it, even if it is virtually. My team has been working hard to create a strong recommendation to the problem our organization faces. I also think thus far, this has been a tremendous learning opportunity for myself.

I selected a project working with an impact investing B-corp, due to my new-found interest in the impact investing space. This is an interest that has grown throughout my time at BU. However, I am realizing through this process that my understanding of impact investing was extremely limited. I thought people who worked in impact investing worked at an asset management firm and that was the scope of the industry. This project has taught me that this is not the case. The bulk of our project was assisting our organization with their for-profit side of the business, namely the consulting services they offer. Their sustainable finance program has business and impact consulting at the core. Before diving into this project, I didn’t realize there were firms such as this one that support companies, specifically in this case financial institutions, create business models to support socially and environmentally responsible management programs. I find the work this organization is doing fascinating and am thankful I got to partner with them on this project.

Since the decision not to go to Brazil, I have been grappling with this idea of making an impact at a distance. In the past, I have felt you truly can’t make a lasting impact when you don’t fully understand the community. While I still believe this to be true, I do think my team and myself will be able to create impact given the work we have already done. We have worked hard to understand the impact investing space and how it operates in Latin American countries as well as across the world. We have learned as much as we possibly can from a distance. I know that while it would be incredibly impactful for us to see the community first hand in order to refine our recommendations accordingly, our client truly understands the community best and will give us meaningful feedback so that we can refine our final report and create the impact we are striving for.

Overcoming adversity: understanding Brazil & social impact from afar

By Alexa V.

[W]hat I think the purpose of this class aims to teach is that having a voice, maintaining diversity of thought, and caring about communities enough to want to make the right choices, the right decisions, and form right strategies is timeless. As proprietors of the future of business, it should be our mission to lead organizations towards accountability and sustainability to the best of our ability.

On Wednesday March 4^th I was sitting at work setting my out of office message, and preparing to work from home the next day during the hours leading up to boarding my American Airlines flight to Rio de Janeiro. Normally, I religiously check my personal email, however, this day was different, as I was overcome with excitement to travel to Brazil and check-off South America on my ‘scratch-map’. My phone buzzed relentlessly, and at a glance my phone-screen lit up with notifications from the group message for our Brazil consulting project. The first lines of text read: “That’s some unfortunate news!” and I froze knowing that a quick check of my email would likely confirm the trip cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. This feeling was all-too-familiar, as two weeks prior I had been notified that the Vietnam Global Immersion course that I was originally signed-up to take had been cancelled. The first cancellation was disheartening, however, I was determined to make the best of my Spring 2020 spring-break experience, which led to me joining the Brazil Social Impact Immersion course. With the latest wave of cancellations my hopes of traveling somewhere exotic to learn something new were dashed.

Despite the change in logistics, and the sudden inability to travel to Brazil to meet with our slate of host companies that were more than prepared to offer a taste of what social impact really means to them; I realized that due to globalization, social impact can occur on small and larger scales from afar. So what does it really mean to be socially impactful? Textbook definitions state that social impact is the “effect an organization’s actions have on the well being of a community,” but I’d like to broaden the scope in which that definition can ring true. The world and the individuals within it that exist form a relationship that in my mind is akin to a kaleidoscope; not just a tube containing mirrors and pieces of colored glass or paper, but instead perspective. Perspectives of those whose reflections produce changing patterns that may be visible and unique. In other words, social impact to me is not just an occurrence at the organizational-level, but can also be entertained on a personal-level. For example, organizations such as Patagonia radiate their impact on the triple-bottom-line, where it substantiates its commitment to sustainability through recycled plastic, its endorsement of the ‘re-useable economy,’ and its financial pledge to a number of social initiatives and other environmental ‘grass-root’ groups. However, in examining the concept of social impact through the lens of this course, it is evident that social impact can occur at the granular-level, as individuals seek to drive and inspire lasting change.

While sitting in the second pre-trip session, as a new addition to the course, it was illuminating to ‘crowd-source’ ideas with fellow classmates to brainstorm how to overcome potential challenges faced by companies in Brazil that have missions dedicated to impacting the community for the better. Whether it was the group that was working on profitability modeling for sustainable furniture made with excess lumber in the Amazon, or discussing methods of garnering financial support for a non-profit who’s goal is to provide electricity and solar panels to ‘favelas’ or other off-the-grid communities; it was like peering into a kaleidoscope of perspective that championed sustainable change. For my group’s project, our stakeholder desired inorganic growth for its sustainable consulting business. This project could not have hit closer to home, as I currently work in the Finance industry, and have experience in mergers and acquisitions, as well as have completed MBA coursework in “ESG” (environmental, social and governance) investing. Although finance is not the primary mode or function of thought when examining the idea of social impact, what it does provide is a method of funding, accountability and guidance when it comes to responsibly championing organizations toward creating lasting impact. Amidst further research for this project, I found a report done by the Callan Institute, which conducted a 2019 ESG Survey among 89 U.S. institutional investors regarding their approaches to ESG investing practices. The majority of the findings listed included that 42% of firms surveyed incorporated ESG factors into the investment decision-making process, key sectors of ESG investment included non-profit organizations, government, health-care and education, and 57% of firms claimed that ESG investing was spurred by a fiduciary responsibility to make smarter, and more-sustainable choices. However, the most interesting finding was the discovery of the ‘diversity effect,’ which the research stated as the fact that investors with more diverse boards and committees were more likely to incorporate ESG investing practices. To me, this is an example of a kaleidoscope; when you have an intelligent, educated and diverse population working together, individuals and organizations are more likely to share perspectives and strive to create lasting social impact.

Although we are unable to travel to Brazil to witness and hear the testimony of these firms and non-profits towards the positivity of social impact, what I think the purpose of this class aims to teach is that having a voice, maintaining diversity of thought, and caring about communities enough to want to make the right choices, the right decisions, and form right strategies is timeless. As proprietors of the future of business, it should be our mission to lead organizations towards accountability and sustainability to the best of our ability.

So much more

By Taylor

We leave in a few days for Brazil. Up until now, this trip has seemed so far into the future and I cannot believe it is finally here. As we add the finishing touches to our presentation, pack for all the different activities, and check the weather, it is feeling more and more real.

I am eager to meet the team we have been working with. After each call we have with them, I feel more connected, to them as people, but also to their cause. I can tell they care so deeply about the work they are doing, and it makes me want to go above and beyond for them. I anticipate being there in person and seeing the work they are doing in real life will strengthen that desire.

Most of my work experience is in the corporate sector and I came to BU for the social impact program, searching for a way to bridge my background, gain new skills, and ultimately pivot into the social impact sector where I can work for a mission driven organization. Working on this small project has reinforced that longing and made it even more clear that this is what I need to be doing. What a relief that I am on the right path.

On our first call with the team, they compared themselves (their model) to SolarCity. They make solar energy more accessible by leasing solar panels to people who cannot afford to buy them. That is where the similarities end, because their model creates so much more value than SolarCity.

Every piece of their work is so thoughtful and community oriented. They hire locals in the community to install the solar panels, generating economic stimulation and empowering individuals to try a different career path, providing their own energy source. As they install these solar systems, they are lowering monthly bills for the families, increasing their disposable income. They are also conducting educational programs for the children in the community – teaching them about the benefits of solar.

We have come up with some impact measurements for the group, in hopes of attracting more funding and making a statement that they are creating a substantial impact in the community. I look forward to meeting with them and drilling down even further how they can take advantage of these measurements.

I cannot wait to see the work they are doing in real life, learn more about the neighborhoods, culture, and history. I think this visit will be unlike any of my other international travel because I have been seeing the country and culture through a business lens, rather than through the eyes of a tourist.

I am also looking forward to visiting Brazil in general. I think I have been so focused on the project that I almost forgot about all the ancillary activities that come with traveling to a new country. I have been practicing my Portuguese on Duolingo and am embarrassed to say my accent has far from improved. If anyone else we meet in Brazil is half has nice as the team we have been working with, I think I will be fine, even if my accent is awful.

Learning Brazil’s role in the environment

By Alexa W.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the role that our client plays in the broader system of environmental sustainability. [...] I’m more excited than ever to be involved with a client focused on the sustainability space and give them feasible tools to act now and scale success. [...] Hopefully, I can inspire others to be more aware of Brazil, and more aware of their role in environmental sustainability as business leaders, consumers, and humans.

With one week until our trip, I’ve been thinking about what traveling to Brazil for the first time means to me. Through preparing for our business visits, client presentation, and time in the Amazon, I’ve learned about Brazil’s history, its people, and the sustainability and social inclusion initiatives that are striving to make a difference. I’ve also realized that I have so much more to learn, and want to spend my time during the trip listening and observing as much as possible.

As business school students, we’re trained to be immediate problem solvers, process change agents, and spreadsheet analysts. But experiencing another country adds a whole other dimension – what we interpret to be a given challenge or solution may have many other factors at play. One of my goals is prevent myself from making assumptions, and instead ask “why” and other clarifying questions. I look forward to actually being onsite with our client in order to better understand their goals and interact with them in person.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the role that our client plays in the broader system of environmental sustainability. There are many passionate and innovative groups working to effect change in the Amazon, which is promising. And yet, I understand that the people who live in the Amazon, regulation, political trends, and the global economy influence all levels of conservation, deforestation, emissions, and economic development in Brazil. Even though we’re learning about the role the Amazon rainforest has on regulating our climate (not to mention biodiversity), and how deforestation has a major negative impact, I understand the market incentives that lead to deforestation and expansion of farming. Despite the urgency of global warming, there is no easy answer, and there is no quick solution.

One of the most important things I’ve learned in my MBA program so far is the idea of systems thinking: how stocks (resources) and flows (rate of input or output) are connected, and how resilient a system can be – like our climate’s tolerance for high CO2 emissions – before accelerating into something worse. Systems thinking also identifies how we can leverage change in a system, such as adjusting feedback loops, incentives, and rules for how the system operates. So, as an organization, it’s important to understand the broader system that one is a part of. And yet, as I’ve also learned during the program, we can’t just keep analyzing the problem in front of us and craft the perfect solution that solves everything. We need to be motivated to act, and can do this by starting small and focusing on the bright spots – what’s working now and how can we scale success?

Because of this, I’m more excited than ever to be involved with a client focused on the sustainability space and give them feasible tools to act now and scale success. What’s more, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of all of the organizations we meet during our trip and share with others at home what I’ve learned. Hopefully, I can inspire others to be more aware of Brazil, and more aware of their role in environmental sustainability as business leaders, consumers, and humans.

Consulting and impact investing

By Kathleen

I feel like the work we are doing for our organization has been meaningful to the stakeholders in the organization and the research I am doing is exposing me to new types of consulting and impact investing that I have not been exposed to before.

I have always been curious to travel to Brazil as I find it interesting how booming their economy is and how the country fits in with the many other cultures surrounding them in Latin America. In a comparative economics class in my undergraduate education, I was assigned a final research paper on Brazil. I focused my research on the economy and where it can grow, but also the issues that it is currently facing. I learned that while Brazil is the largest economy and a growing economy in South America, it also has a myriad of issues related to social welfare.  I found it fascinating that as one of the ‘BRICS’ economies, it was growing so quickly and had potential for even more growth with the abundant amount of natural resources. However, the country was riddled with poverty, crime, corruption and inequality. This contrast, (along with the 2016 Olympics and 2014 World Cup!) piqued my interest in the country and was added to my bucket list of places I wanted to travel.

As the trip to Brazil approaches quickly, I am getting very excited to take my MBA educational experience outside of the classroom. When I saw that the social impact program had a program in Brazil it seemed like the perfect opportunity to check Brazil off my bucket list, but also experience it in an educational setting so that I can learn further about the economy in Brazil and see first-hand the issues they are facing.  These past few weeks researching about the organizations we will be visiting and working with has been very eye opening to see the different types of projects that are being worked on. While I have limited experience in Impact Investing and Social Impact in general, I find it very meaningful that there are so many organizations doing this type of work in Brazil and Latin America as a whole.

Additionally, I find the problems that we are consulting them on very interesting and unique, but also problems that US firms also face. Our project is focusing on helping them identify areas they can inorganically grow their business. This is something that most firms are thinking about and seeing this issue in the impact investing/consulting space is interesting and exciting. I feel like the work we are doing for our organization has been meaningful to the stakeholders in the organization and the research I am doing is exposing me to new types of consulting and impact investing that I have not been exposed to before.

Overall, I am looking forward to the trip both to meet and learn from the organizations in the social impact field in Brazil, to experience the culture, and bring back what I learned to the US and apply it to my MBA experience to further my education.

Conundrum

By Madeline

This conundrum of how to incentivize Brazil to keep one of the largest carbon sinks undeveloped and to take on the cost of minimizing carbon for the rest of the world, is one that I am looking forward to diving into deeply.

Having never traveled to Brazil before, I initially thought I would drive around the country to get a full picture of the different areas. Then, I quickly realized the vast size of the country. Once I began to dig in to the different areas and things the country has to offer, I felt foolish thinking I could see it all in a week. Learning about each of the different cultures of the five regions, and within that the many different states was eye opening. The south region seems to have a strong European influence, while the southeast region is more metropolitan and brings in much of the country’s GDP. The Midwest region is mostly desert and, contrary, the north and northeast regions are tropical and lush.

This lush Amazon region is what interested me in Brazil in the first place. In taking many environmental sustainability and social impact classes, we learn a lot about the effects of carbon on our environment, health, and community. The costs of increased levels of carbon in our atmosphere is one of the most important issues facing the world today. In addition to the cost, who must pay to mitigate these societal costs. We talk a lot about how corporations should pay in the form of a carbon tax or should be responsible for their carbon output. However, something which we studied in one of my classes was the idea that we can also “open the drain” rather than simply “turning off the spout” of carbon. This happens through carbon sinks in our environment. The ocean is one of the largest sinks. Another one of the largest carbon sinks on our planet is the Amazon forest. However, the Amazon also takes up a large amount of land and space in Brazil that could be monetized and developed. This conundrum of how to incentivize Brazil to keep one of the largest carbon sinks undeveloped and to take on the cost of minimizing carbon for the rest of the world, is one that I am looking forward to diving into deeply.

Aside from the environmental aspect, I am thrilled to be learning from and helping a financial firm in Brazil to discover the differences between our business practices. Thus far in the project, there are so many similarities between what is important to clients and the technical aspects of the field. In addition, it is so interesting to see the differences of culture in the workplace, and I very much look forward to going to our client and see it in person.

Finally, I am very excited to see the neighborhoods of Rio and be immersed in the culture and history of the country; to see the bruises as well as the beauty. I am looking forward to exploring the city through an academic lens so that I can get an inside look that I wouldn’t get as a tourist in the country.

Genuine opportunity to better the lives of rural Brazilians

By Hannah

I feel that my team has a genuine opportunity to better the lives of rural Brazilians. Grades seem less significant when the true measure of success lies in implementing sustainable changes for real people.

Amidst the frenzy of Mod 3 ending, I am starting to wrap my mind around my upcoming trip to Brazil. Up to this point, my field seminar has felt like any other class: a team project, individual research and class time. However, the project’s scope is to assist a real client with a real business need. Not only will my team make recommendations based on our research, we will have the opportunity to present those recommendations to the client in Rio.

This is the exact type of opportunity that prompted me to leave work and return to school full-time. I am hoping to apply the classes that I have taken thus far to create a broader understanding of international business and, subsequently, communities in need. Already, I have had the opportunity to apply my new technical and quantitative skills to this project. As I am just finishing up my core classes, I have been living in the world of math, data and value propositions for the last 7 months. Reading a 10-K, understanding the macroeconomics of a country or even making sense out of data, has a lot more purpose when directed at real world solutions.

Our client has a very unique position to largely impact the health and sanitation of rural villages surrounding Rio. Because of this, my drive to do research and to create meaningful suggestions is much deeper than in previous projects. I feel that my team has a genuine opportunity to better the lives of rural Brazilians. Grades seem less significant when the true measure of success lies in implementing sustainable changes for real people.

In addition to the scope of the project, I am also excited to experience the culture in Brazil. From client phone calls and individual research, I can see the extroverted and generous nature of Brazilians. Every phone call starts with small talk, and it is clear that a large emphasis is placed on enjoyment. For instance, Carnival, an annual festival, recently occurred and our client mentioned that most national business halt for several days for people to go enjoy it. I am excited for the food, the music, the culture and the people. So far, the language barrier has not proved to be a substantial obstacle, but I am sure it will feel more present once there.

My project has also led me to learn a lot about the natural resources and environmental landscape of Brazil. The environment is rich and, therefore, heavily engulfed in Brazilian businesses and in daily life. There are many natural resources that dictate occupation, sanitation and production capabilities. I am thankful for the opportunity to experience it with my class in Manaus.

I am looking forward to the opportunity to make sense of the last 7 months of fast-paced learning in this unique and out-of-my-comfort-zone place. Not only do I hope to bring value to Brazil through my team’s project, I hope to gain a better understanding of international business and complex economies.