August 2011

Updates from the Field

Incubation Portfolio:

After mapping the tools and more urgent themes to the Incubation Portfolio, NESsT realized in June a finance, accountability and fundraising workshop with the participation of Amaury Takaki (Actis), Flavia Massuda (Alô Brasil) e Marina Barros (Banco Providência). Now, each organization has to analyze their finance indicators, develop a fundraising strategy and implement it.

In July, NESsT also supported Rede Interação in a 3 days workshop with the team and community leaders to develop their strategic plan. Once it was concluded, the next step is to redesign organizational processes, tools and human resources.

Planning Stage:

Launched in March, the 2011 Social Enterprise Competition had 23 applications and 20 social organizations were selected and invited to attend the first capacity building workshop aimed at organizational preparation and

pre-feasibility study.

With approximately 35 representatives of the three states (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia) and the presence of two special guests - Eduardo Rocha from Trivella Investimentos and Tanya Andrade from INCORES - the workshop generated rich discussions, experience exchange and many interesting ideas. With NESsT support, the organizations have until the end of August to deliver the first part of the study that will base the next steps in the development and structuring of the social business.

Business Advisory Network:

August 10th NESsT had its first BAN Breakfast in Brazil offered by Warburg Pincus and with Serena Carnevale and Luca Molinari support to make it happen. Besides them, the event counted with the presence of other 12 advisors. The breakfast had the objective to share the organization results, discuss strategies and goals, and involve the members more actively.

June 2011

Registrations are closed!

On May 13, 2011 was the application deadline for the Second Social Enterprise Competition from NESsT Brazil. We are pleased to announce that we have received 23 applications from Civil Society Organizations.

Right now we are evaluating the forms, talking with the organizations and soon will post the results of those who will be invited to attend the first training workshop – Organizational Readiness and Pre-Feasibility Study - and to be part of NESsT Planning Portfolio.

Incubation Portfolio...

In April we welcome five new organizations that joined the two other organizations in NESsT  Incubation Portfolio in Brazil. Together with our business advisory network (BAN) we are developing a work plan based on the needs from the Portfolio raised during the update of their Performance Management Tools. The main topics to be discussed are: Fundraising, Finance and Accounting, Human Resources and Marketing.

If you have expertise on these topics and would like to engage more with civil society organizations through volunteer work, contact us! (nesstbrasil@nesst.org).

We are happy to have your help!

In parallel ...

We are supporting Rede Interação with the aim to improve their organization management. The work will go through four modules: strategic planning, process review, development of job descriptions and update schedule, design methodology and indicators to monitor and evaluate performance. Envolve yourself in the process!

April 2011

NESsT Brazil Completes Second Social Enterprise Competition, Launches Third

NESsT Brazil announces the completion of its Second Social Enterprise Competition. After nearly a year of work, NESsT completed the business plan development phase with six civil society organizations: Gastromotiva and Vivenda da Criança in Sao Paulo, União Popular de Mulheres Pró-Melhoramento da Roupa Suja in Rio de Janeiro, and Companhia Circo Picolino, INCORES and Instituto Terraguá in Salvador.

Through the month of March, the NESsT team and its Business Advisory Network (BAN) held meetings with the various organizations to assess the benefits and risks of each project in order to select the four organizations who will join the NESsT Portfolio (for the Incubation Stage) this month.

The winning organizations will receive a grant of up to US$20,000 each, and technical and managerial support to implement their respective social enterprises. The award ceremony will take place on April 12th, 2011, during a cocktail reception at the office of Squire Sanders & Dempsey.

We sincerely thank our partners who have contributed and helped us organizing the event!

In March, NESsT has also officially launched its Third Social Enterprise Competition in Brazil, which is now open until the end of April. To read more click here.

On April 11th and 12th, NESsT will attend the ABVCAP Conference. NESsT will have a dedicated stand for the entire duration of the event, and will speak briefly during the conference on the morning of April 12th. We look forward to seeing and attending you at our stand!

Para Portuguêse clique aqui.

March 2011

NESsT Brazil Launches 2011 Social Enterprise Competition

Civil society organizations (CSOs) from Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are invited to apply to the 2011 Social Enterprise Competition launched by NESsT in Brazil.

To learn about competition requirements and how to apply, please read here.

February 2011

NESsT attends event on strategic planning for nonprofits

On February 7, NESsT attended an event in partnership with IBM, ATN and Instituto Razão Social that centered its theme on the main barriers and difficulties in strategic planning for nonprofit organizations.

Participating organizations included Instituto Kaplan, Gotas de Cristal, Artemísia, Vivenda da Criança, Espiga Dourada, Caspiedade and Pérola, besides the partners.

They all contributed to the discussion with their insights and experience generating forums for discussion related to collaborative network towards a sustainable third sector.

The debate will continue online. Interested participants may access the webpage by clicking here.Or by contacting gilberto.boari@atn.org.br.

To read a newsletter about this event, please click here.

December 2010

NESsT Brazil holds later stage workshop on Strategic Communications

On the morning of November 22th Brazilian NVF portfolio organizations BemTV and Piabanha attended a strategic communication workshop held by NESsT.

The objectives were to reinforce the strategic role of communications to organizations, discuss the communications plan of each organization, and to foster the implementation of communication tools such as one called: Human Centered Design Tool.

The meeting took place at Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ office in Rio de Janeiro.

Specials speakers included: Rejane Pieratti (leader of Avina, founder of Associação de Amigos and management consultant for Third Sector) and Thiago Padovan (Social Designer, founder of Formiga).

Rejane spoke about the importance of communications for third sector organizations, and Thiago presented the Social Design as a methodology that can be used to overcome complex organizational issues; he also spoke about the Human Centered Design Tool.

Following the workshop, the following next steps were decided by NESsT:

• Review and update Piabanha’s Business Plan – until the end of the year (2010).

• Strategic plan of BemTV – December, 2010.

• Review of both communication plans – January, 2011.

• Implementation of communication plans – starting in February, 2011.

Business Plan workshop for Early Stage porftolio organizations a success

Seven NVF Brazilian Early Stage social organizations have entered the Business Plan competition stage.

The workshop to prepare them to elaborate their plans occurred on December 13 and 14, in São Paulo, and on December 16 and 17 in Salvador.

While Squire Sanders & Dempsey offered their office to this event in São Paulo, in Salvador our host was DAG Construtora. In total there were 14 participants in the workshop representing: Espiga Dourada, Gastromotiva, União Popular de Mulheres Pró-Melhoramento da Roupa Suja and Vivenda da Criança, in São Paulo, and Companhia Circo Picolino, Incores and Instituto Terraguá, in Salvador.

The workshop’s first day was aimed to introduce the business plan process in the competition, to exchange feasibility study experiences and to discuss the document session by session. During the second day the discussion centered on financial statements and projections in detail and discussed the Feasibility feedbacks with each organization.

Feedback was gathered from the NESsT team, BAN members and other supporters and will be considered for the business plans.

The objectives were fully achieved!

As next steps NESsT will be:

• conducting one-on-one support for Business Plan development.

• receiving business plans - February 18th.

• analysing business plans - until March 18th.

• holding roundtables with the evaluators - until March 25th.

• providing feedback to the organizations - April 4th.

November 2010

NESsT Participates at ONG Brazil Event

More than 500 NGOs participated in the event ONG Brazil held in Rio de Janeiro on November 25-27.

NESsT was an exhibitor at the show and offered a mini-course about Social Entrepreneurship as a way of strengthening the financial sustainability of social organizations. Around 80 people attended the presentation given by NESsT´s Enterprise Development Manager, Mariana Nicoletti.

NESsT was able to meet several organizations and companies representing Brazil´s main third sector players.

The event provided a great opportunity to spread our mission, to launch the Brazil Legal Guide and to talk about the next NESsT Venture Fund competition.

October 2010

NESsT Featured on Brazilian Sustainability Magazine

Portal Eco Desenvolvimento a brazilian website dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development, has recently included a new column written by Mariana Nicolletti, NESsTs Enterprise Development Manager from Brazil.

The column was inaugurated with "Empreendedorismo", an article on social entrepreneurship featuring cases and information from NESsTs work.

To read this article and follow Mariana's column, click here.

August 2010

NESsT's Social Enterprise Competition in Brazil moves forward to Feasibility Study stage

NESsT continues to support Brazilian CSO's through the development of its second Social Enterprise Competition, started on 2009.

Having completed the Organizational Readiness and the Pre-feasibility study elaboration stage, the remaining organizations have now entered a new phase: the Feasibility Study.

NESsT Brazil developed two feasibility study workshops, on July 21 and 22 in São Paulo, and on July 26 and 27, in Salvador.

Eight organizations are now working on their feasibility studies. They are: Vivenda da Criança, Espiga Dourada and Gastromotiva, from São Paulo; União Popular de Mulheres, from Rio de Janeiro; and Biblioteca Maria das Neves Prado, Terraguá, Associação Picolino de Artes do Circo and Enter Jovem, from Bahía.

During the workshop, one of the organizations belonging to the later stage portfolio gave the participants its insights and recommendations for the process. Márcia Corrêia and Daniela Araújo, from BemTV, told the participants about their experience during the feasibility stage, including the difficulties faced, the actions taken and the strategies used, as well as their achievements.

Additionally, the participants had the chance to interact with each other, sharing their ideas, projects and lessons already learned. This conceptual discussion, based on the organizations’ real cases, has been proven by NESsT to be an effective methodology.

The result of the workshops was an intense experience and knowledge exchange, which will be sure very useful to the participant organizations.

NESsT will now start with the one-on-one support to help them develop their Feasibility Studies and Business Plans.

July 2010

News from the NESsT Venture Fund Portfolio

NESsT Brazil is working with the 3 organizations selected to conform its portfolio on their social enterprise consolidation and development: BemTV, from Niterói (RJ), Projeto Piabanha – Associação de Pescadores e Amigos do Rio Paraíba do Sul, Itaocara (RJ) and Ahimsa – Associação Educacional para Múltipla Deficiência, São Paulo (SP).

All three organizations have been receiving operational and management support. In addition, the first two have been awarded a grant, while Ahimsa continues to work on its business plan improvement to overcome some internal challenges.

On July 23, a workshop was offered to these organizations in São Paulo. The objectives were to discuss the governance in Third Sector, budget planning and accountability. The opportunity also helped NESsT to consolidate the first Brazil Legal Guide (a document addressing legal issues related to social organizations and social enterprises).

The event had a very special guest: Marcelo Coimbra from Coimbra e Focaccia Advogados and NESsT BAN
member, who talked about governance, and Beatriz Amary and Fabio Kann from Actis promoting the discussion about budget and accountability.

November 2009

Brazil Social Enterprise Competition Award Ceremony. At an awards ceremony attended by Brazilian businesspeople, donors and supporters, NESsT announced the winners of the 2009 NESsT Social Enterprise Competition to promote excellence in social enterprise development among local nonprofits in the areas of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

The winning organizations are now part of the portfolio of the NESsT Venture Fund in Brazil and will receive continuous technical and financial assistance from

NESsT.

Bem TV of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro and Projeto Piabanha of Itaocara, Rio de Janeiro were awarded US$ 10,000 each to develop their “social enterprises” addressing social problems in the areas of education and youth, and economic development and the environment, respectively. 

 “Support from NESsT will enable Bem TV and Projeto Piabanha to extend economic and social benefits to communities in need across Rio de Janeiro, while strengthening their financial sustainability. We congratulate them both for their great business plans,” said Gonzalo San Martín, Enterprise Development Director, NESsT .

NESsT staff and local business advisors in Latin America screened the finalists against the four criteria that NESsT considers key in measuring social enterprise performance: 1) enterprise performance; 2) social impact; 3) organizational development; and 4) financial sustainability.

The competition was made possible thanks to the support of Banco Real and the Ashmore Foundation. The ceremony and reception was sponsored and hosted by PWC.

Bem TV and Projeto Piabanha winners of the 2009 NESsT Social Enterprise Competition. The 2009 Social Enterprise Competition is part of an ongoing process by NESsT to develop social enterprises in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.

“We’ve been delighted to have had the competition in Brazil this year, allowing us to provide long-term support to contribute to the development of social enterprises in this region,” said Gonzalo San Martín, Enterprise Development Director, NESsT.

Bem TV teaches adolescents from low-income areas around the city of Niterói how to use communications media such as video and photography to mobilize and engage their communities in local development goals. With NESsT support, Bem TV will be able to continue to run its photography and video production company aimed at helping civil society organizations better communicate their programs and results.

Projeto Piabanha breeds small young native fish species to sell to large hydroelectric companies in the region of Itaocara for repopulating nearby waters affected by their resence. It also sells commercial fish species to local municipal governments who then donate the fish species to low-income community farmers, who are trained to breed them using sustainable breeding practices and then to sell them to the larger community. NESsT will help Projeto Piabanha further increase awareness of environmental issues in the region and contribute to mitigating the risk of extinction.