So things at Saútil just keep getting better and better. I don’t really know where to start, so here’s a quick summary:
- office furniture
- first client (French respiratory products)
- two, count ‘em, TWO mentions on major programs (one radio and one cable news channel and their website)
- steadily increasing web traffick – from poor neighborhoods, no less
- more and more information on the site itself
Although my role in the above has been somewhat limited (aside from voicing an unsolicited opinion about office decor), I have been doing a few things on my end in an area that is especially important to me as a Scout and to the overall mission of FMS.
From the get-go, I was concerned that Saútil’s model just wasn’t going to have the social impact that it could or should. The main barrier has always been that this is web platform, and our target audience is not necessarily web-savvy. To remedy this, a colleague and I have reached out to community leaders in two favelas (slums) here in São Paulo to talk to them about how to get our service into their communities, and how to adapt it to suit their specific needs as low-income Brazilians who rely completely on public health.
Jardim Ângela and Brasilândia are two very different examples of favelas. To wit: a quick perusal of Google will tell you that in the 1990s, Jardim Ângela was considered the most violent urban hotspot ON EARTH, and that being a male between 15 and 25 was tantamount to a death sentence there. Of course, much has changed, but there is still much room for improvement. Brasilândia, on the other hand, had a distinctly relaxed vibe in comparison, and although it has the familiar problems of poverty and drugs, it is not a closed-off community, and our first meeting there took place in someone’s living-room with about a million little kids running around.
These two places will be our pilots to see if our model really is viable for low-income Brazilians. Surveys, tutorials, marketing blitzes – everything will happen here, and changes will be made accordingly. It will be a slow process, but a fun one. Most importantly, we are gaining access to some of the most isolated communities in São Paulo in terms of infrastructure and services.
Looking at where we were a few months ago, I think we’re doing just fine.