Paraisópolis puts favela on the e-commerce map

With more than 1 million orders received, Paraisópolis has definitely introduced favelas on the e-commerce route in Brazil.

The second largest favela in the city of São Paulo, in the south zone, the community reached the historic milestone in July, after the most varied products began to reach homes in the region, such as the home of university student Jaqueline Amorim, 26, who did not contain the tears when receiving your purchase made over the internet on Iratinga street.

“You have no idea! Since I was born, nothing came here. Even when I got married, the mixer I bought or the bed I got, I had to pay shipping to pick it up at the store or Giovanni Gronchi [no Morumbi]. We had to miss or be late for work”, says the resident.

She is one of the street presidents, as the local leaders who organized themselves to face the challenges of the pandemic were called. Jaqueline currently works at the G10 Favelas, a group of favela leaders and entrepreneurs focused on the economic development of the communities in which they operate.

The unlocking of deliveries in the community was carried out by the logistics company Favela Brasil Xpress, led by Givanildo Pereira Basto, 22, and Gilson Rodrigues, 37, also in charge of the G10 Favelas and who led the movement of street presidents, today also at the service of the startup.

The two social entrepreneurs tackled two major logistical bottlenecks in favelas: the lack of a zip code and a service that could reach the homes of more than 100,000 residents of the community.

On his front of action, Giva, in one of the peaks of Covid in the country, in April 2021, borrowed a bike and cycled 30 days through the favela where he lives, even under fever and tired, making deliveries in a pilot signed with Americanas.

On the other hand, Gilson Rodrigues mapped, with the street presidents, and signed a partnership with Google so that streets, alleys and corners of Paraisópolis gained the Plus Code, a geolocation code created by the technology giant that names places with few characters and precision. of 3 m^two.

“If you look at the city hall map, Paraisópolis is a stain. There are no streets. And it’s not like that. There are people living here”, says the community leader, nicknamed the “mayor” of Paraisópolis.

The new CEP, with letters and numbers —like 97HF+MX— guided Giva, who has a degree in systems analysis and development, to set up a delivery routing and package traceability system. “During the pandemic, everyone asked for things and received them at home. We didn’t. I myself asked for books for college and had to address the delivery to friends from outside the favela. Here, it wasn’t enough. I wanted to change that”, says Giva. And he, who lost 10 kg in the tests with the bike, changed that reality.

After showing that it was possible to perform the service without risk —”insecurity is not fought with security, but coexistence”, he says — for delivery people and parcels, in February this year, he saw the initiative win the Urban Logistics Challenge, of the Consulado do Reino United.

With the prize money and a R$ 15,000 loan from the G10 Bank, in addition to mentoring with Guilherme Bonifacio, founder of iFood, Giva hired a helper and started deliveries with Americanas.

From 20 packages a day, it saw the last mile operation grow at the speed with which it attracted more companies — today there are nine more, with DHL, Total Express, Magalu, Riachuelo, Shopee, Mercado Livre, Casas Bahia, Brasileiríssimo and GFL — and 400 hired people. All goods ordered over the internet by residents of Paraisópolis are sent to the G10 warehouse and from there distributed to their final destination.

“It’s a win-win for everyone. The resident, for receiving them at home, the companies, because they are successful in delivering, the favela, because the labor is from here, and the FBX, for promoting this change”, says Giva.

With the base set up in Paraisópolis and driven by daily prayer to the sound of “A Answer”, by Thalles Roberto”, in which the chorus says “I live for miracles”, Favela Brasil Xpress fulfills what in logistics is called the last mile (last mile) with tuc-tucs, bicycles, electric cars and vans, delivering objects weighing up to 30 kg, ranging from a R$2 key fob to a R$15,000 cell phone.

“Americanas already had partnerships with the G10 and invested in this business model aiming at the social impact, which occurs on the income of the delivery person, who is a resident of the favela and receives a scholarship, and on the environment, since deliveries use sustainable vehicles “, says André Biselli, operations manager at Americanas, which has already recorded more than 700,000 deliveries in favelas.

Income for couriers ranges from R$2,500 to R$4,500, and Giva says that much remains to be done, so much so that he has already raised R$900,000 in capital to put FBX in another 50 favelas.

The company, which is already considering deliveries with drones, currently operates in Heliópolis, Cidade Júlia, Capão Redondo and Brasilândia, in SP, Rocinha and Vila Cruzeiro, in RJ.

About to make Favela Brasil Express the first unicorn company in Paraisópolis, with R$ 7 million in revenue, Giva says that his success made his mother famous.

“It’s just that in the city where I came from, in Imaculada (PB), I asked to deliver basic food baskets. And everyone now just talks about Dona Maria’s son. And I’m happy to reciprocate what she, a cleaning assistant, did for me”, says he, who dreams of seeing FBX in 368 favelas in the country where the G10 operates and who has Gilson as his idol.

Gilson, who has paintings by Mandela, Martin Luther King and Juscelino Kubitschek, among others, in his room, points out that the success of FBX boosts social projects in the favela, since part of the company’s profit finances and maintains, for example, Mãos de Maria, who distributes food to vulnerable families. “Companies’ donations have decreased, but people’s hunger and need have not.”

The success of FBX, which delivers from Monday to Saturday, always on the same day that the packages arrive at the G10 headquarters, is due to its assertiveness, since in a year of operations it has a rate of 99.9% of deliveries. “There was only one that was not made, which was from a card machine, which, when we went to deliver, the guy who asked for it had already given up on the business he was going to open and had it returned”, says Giva.

In addition to starring in the podcast “Rico e bem novinho”, to encourage young people to undertake, and being known for having a black Beetle as a baby, Giva, who had already created a flood sensor for the community, breaks his head to do the reverse movement in logistics.

“I know that all that comes in is money that leaves the favela. I’m still going to deliver the products made in the favela, so the profit stays here.”

For this, as well as expanding the FBX and attracting more companies, the social entrepreneur works on a marketplace where 14,000 commercial points in the favela will be able to advertise their products, which can be delivered anywhere in the city with FBX.