The young man from Paraisópolis who created a system to make deliveries where the Post Office does not enter

Shopping online is comfortable, practical, agile and became a worldwide craze after the Covid-19 pandemic, when physical stores closed to follow the norms of social distancing. But, in São Paulo, the poorest don’t have that chance.

In the largest and richest city in Latin America, orders do not go up the hills of the favelas or enter areas considered at risk, such as the streets of the Brasilândia, Itaim Paulista and Parelheiros neighborhoods. People interviewed by BBC News Brasil, who live in these regions, said they need to ask for their orders to be delivered to neighboring neighborhoods, considered “safe” by delivery services — such as the Post Office.

Troubled by this situation, 21-year-old Paraisópolis resident Giva Pereira founded Favela Brasil Xpress. This is a network of couriers who live in the favela itself and deliver goods where the Post Office and carriers hired by e-commerce companies do not enter.

The company was created in September 2020, amid the need to make it possible for donations made during the pandemic to reach the homes of residents of the second largest favela in São Paulo.

“We defined that for every 50 houses in the favela there would be a volunteer resident, who we call the president, to monitor the needs of each family. They analyzed who most needed food baskets, lunchboxes and donations. But, for fear of being robbed, on account of because of the prejudice against the favela and the fear of getting contaminated with the coronavirus, many donors did not go up the hill and we assembled the food baskets and delivered them ourselves,” he said.

Giva stated that this coordination naturally created a logistics network in the favela. It worked as follows: volunteers would pick up the items at donor homes or companies to take to Paraisópolis, where they were distributed door-to-door to the neediest families, identified by the street presidents.

“The community of Paraisópolis has had a very large disordered growth since its appearance and this caused a disorganization in the numbers of the houses. The delivery person puts the address on the GPS, but he cannot find it. The residents, on the other hand, know everything and deliver it without any problems.” the young entrepreneur.

With the growth of e-commerce, Giva Pereira’s idea was then to suggest partnerships with companies so that the residents themselves could make the deliveries.

Sought by the article, Correios said that “they are studying the formalization of a partnership to carry out deliveries to the aforementioned addresses” with Favela Brasil Xpress.

How does it work

Favela Brasil Xpress implements a distribution center at the entrance to the region where delivery services are unrestricted. In the place, which can be a container or a room, the goods are stored.

At the time of purchase, the customer only needs to put his home address. Passing through the distribution center is done automatically and has no extra cost for the consumer.

Currently, Favela Brasil Xpress has partnerships with Americanas, Dafiti, Total Xpress and Via Varejo. The initiative won the BBM Logistics Award, considered the sector’s Oscar, in the startup category.

According to a survey by consultancy Outdoor Social Inteligência, in the 15 largest favelas in the country, 38% of respondents said they shop online, mainly in the clothing sector. This represents that 62% of this audience still does not buy and is not assisted by digital commerce.

Outdoor Social Inteligência also pointed out that it had identified an upward trend in online purchases and that “there is still a lot to be done and invested”.

Investment and national expansion

In nine months of operation, Favela Brasil Xpress already has 90 people hired in Paraisópolis alone. With 41 employees with a formal contract, including operators and couriers. All workers live in the favela itself.

The project has already been implemented in Heliópolis, the largest slum in São Paulo, in Cidade Julia (Diadema, in Grande SP), in Capão Redondo (south of the capital), in addition to the slums of Rocinha and Vila Cruzeiro, both in Rio de Janeiro .

The project’s creator, Giva Pereira, says that the project’s success attracted the attention of several companies and investors. According to him, there are ongoing negotiations to take Favela Brasil Xpress to other regions of the country.

The current expansion plan foresees 50 new bases in 50 favelas in Brazil by the end of 2022, in addition to the modernization of the current system to improve the speed of deliveries. Today, Favela Brasil Xpress delivers approximately 800 orders per day, in Paraisópolis alone, valued at around R$ 500 thousand.

“This is proof that the favela consumes in the online market. Before, the resident made the purchase and put the address of work or someone who lived outside the community. Today, he will put his zip code, pay the normal price and receive at the door of the house”, says Giva Pereira with pride.

This is still the reality of 26-year-old university student Elisangela da Silva Cardoso. She lives in Itaim Paulista, in the far east of São Paulo, and always asks to deliver her orders to neighbors or the office where her mother works.

“Months ago, I started using the option to deliver to the post office near my house, because this is provided for on the website. I received it twice, but the following ones put an ‘unknown recipient’ notice and returned it to the sender.” , said.

When contacted, Correios said that deliveries “are regular” at addresses in the neighborhoods of Brasilândia, Itaim Paulista and Paraisópolis, questioned by the report based on complaints from residents. “For a punctual evaluation, it is necessary to inform details such as the tracking code of the claimed objects”, informed the delivery service through a note.

The Post Office also said that “there are some locations with a differentiated mode of delivery of parcels, either because they do not have favorable security conditions for workers, customers and parcels, or because they do not meet the conditions for home delivery (as provided for in Law 6,538 /78 (Postal Law) and MCOM Ordinance No. 2729, of May 28, 2021).”

In these places, they explain, customers must pick up the order in indicated units.

According to the coordinator of the digital marketing MBA at FGV, Andre Miceli, all applications will have space to work in social contexts and solve problems like these.

“Any social group that gathers about a common characteristic creates space for a content offer, because it uses the subject to capture the attention of people in that group. From a business point of view, it makes perfect sense and we should see an expansion of this type of solution in the coming years,” he said.

According to the professor at FGV, there is still a lot of room for the growth of this type of initiative. He claims, for example, that iFood is present in 2,000 cities in the country, the Post Office in just over 2,000 and Loggi in 600. While the country has 5,570 municipalities.

“It will be more and more common to see large companies trying to participate in these projects. But local initiatives have the advantage because they have the language, the knowledge of that group and the notion of what arouses their interest. This proximity makes all the difference,” said Andre Miceli

Favela Stock Exchange

The G10 Favelas, which brings together the leaders of the ten largest favelas in Brazil, launched the Favelas Stock Exchange, in partnership with investment manager DIVI•hub, on Friday (19th). Through the platform, which has the permission of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the assets, it became possible to buy fractions of companies operating in Brazilian favelas, starting at R$ 10.

The following day, Saturday (20), the Paraisópolis favela received celebrities such as the presenter Luciano Huck, Luiza Helena Trajano, owner of Magazine Luiza, and the mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes, for the opening ceremony of the sale of actions. The event had the right to the traditional bull and bell that symbolize the New York stock exchanges and, more recently, also the B3 in São Paulo. In addition to attracting investors for projects developed within the favelas.

Gilson Rodrigues, founder of G10 Favelas and president of União dos Moradores and Comércio de Paraisópolis, said the group’s intention is to build a bridge between favela startups and entrepreneurs.

“There are 18 initiatives that can be scaled up by these investors so that both can be well. We want to organize, mentor and raise funds. Our projection for Favela Brasil Xpress is to install 50 new bases and make 1 million deliveries in the first six months of 2022”, he stated.

Gilson says that the favela has a great potential for consumption, but today he feels blocked because he doesn’t have the comfort of receiving his orders at home.

Our market is powerful and, if stimulated, could be even bigger. The way we see it to climb is through franchising. So that entrepreneurs from other favelas can have access to our system and implement it in their communities,” he said.

The Favela Brasil Xpress expansion plan also includes a service for the collection and delivery of goods to the homes of small entrepreneurs in the favela. In this way, for example, a woman who makes dish towels will be able to make her products available on a large marketplace and count on a fast and cheap delivery service.

In addition to the franchise option, Favela Brasil Xpress itself may send a team to create a base and build a structure in the region.

“Insecurity is not fought safely, but with coexistence. For this reason, we are going to bring companies from outside the community, with the view that the favela is a power and has opportunity. Everyone will want to invest because it’s worth it, not for charity “, concluded the creator Giva Pereira.