In early June, we had the pleasure of hosting Edu Lyra, along with his partners Carlos Jorge and Le Maestro, for a public lecture on social entrepreneurship in the favelas of Brazil.
Edu and his colleagues are part of the organisation Gerando Falcões, a social enterprise bringing education to the favelas. The organisation uses a network-based strategy to provide a vital service to the poorest communities in Brazil.
Their projects are focused on sports and culture for children and teenagers, as well as professional qualifications for young people and adults, including those who have spent time within the penal system. These programmes aim improve skills to create an engine of income generation for families.
Gerando Falcões has a management model inspired by the governance mechanisms of the Brazilian brewer AmBev, with goals, performance indicators, management rituals, career plans, and rewards for employees. One key principle of this model is to balance a burning belief in social purpose, which drives young people forward, with the capacity to manage effectively and achieve real results in the long term.
What is Gerando Falcões?
What is Gerando Falcões?
The Group currently operates in six favelas and has plans to reach ten by the end of 2019. They reach other localities through a selective selection process where community leaders are asked to stand up for their communities in order to receive training and logistical support. The model is a revolutionary one, because it focuses on projects that are already progressing in their localities.
In his lecture, Edu described how it all started with his book Jovens Falcões, and with his determination never to give up. Edu is an inspirational leader, and he transmits this inspiration to others in his public speaking. He grew up in a single-parent family in the favelas, his father having been jailed for drug trafficking, but his own story is living proof that when youngsters have the support they need, they can achieve great things.
Edu is committed to making favelas a thing of the past, but for now he is taking the favela to places it has never been before, not least the London School of Economics and Political Science.