Orr Fellowship - Brazil (Day 5: EFL & Cummins)

Oi,

     Friday was a great day filled with meetings. In the morning we met with Orr Fellowship alumni, DJ and Darrell who spearhead operations for the Entreprenuerial Finance Lab (EFL), a alternative credit evaluation option for lending institutions primarily for use in Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) loans. Since barriers to entry for entreprenurial organizations are often in the form of starting capital, EFL provides a great alternative to the traditional credit bureaus' evaluations of an SME's forecast of honoring their debts. Very much based in the psychology of the individuals leading these SMEs, EFL's software presense in lending institiutions worldwide has resulted in 50k instances of lending to SMEs that wouldn't have found funding in the traditional avenue of credit checks.

     After lunch, we made our way to Cummins where we had a great presentation from the Supply Chain Manager about Cummins' presence in Brazil and its standing as a global company. A neat tour of one of their engine manufacturing facilities followed with an introduction to one facet of their community initiative to improve their community: a sewing school/shop. There, they taught community members the ways of seamsters/seamstresses and paid them for their production of uniforms for the plant as well as items for resale to the Cummins employees. There has been a great response from the community to the center where the sewing school is located, so the waiting list for their classes is always full.

An employee runs a rack of assembled
pistons to the next line

Engine blocks await their assembly

     Friday saw another evening run through the park, which was a really neat sight to see - everyone was out and about. Post-run, we got cleaned up and then headed via taxi to a hole-in-the-wall, family-style Brazilian restaurant. It was quite the experience. We were the first patrons that evening, getting there at 7:30ish, but it filled as our meal progressed. The bartender was excited to have us, and made sure we all sampled a variety of cachacas (the most popular distilled liquor in Brazil, made from sugar cane). Our food order was recommended to us by our server, Christiano, whose English was very helpful. We ordered feijoada (considered the national dish) in its complete form. Feijoada is composed of primarily beans and meat, and can be traced back to the era of slavery in Brazil. The plantation owners would eat the rice, beans and "noble meats" (traditionally beef, pork and chicken) and then the dish would be passed to the slaves' quarters where the additions of the "complete" edition of the dish were made (feet, ears, nose, etc). A lot of the fatty, cartilaginous parts made their way onto our plates, one of which we were sure was a nose - not tasty.

Obrigado,
Barry