BFBC Women’s Forum 2021 Empowers Brazil's Top Female Business Leaders and Their Role in Brazil’s Economic Reform Post-Covid-Era

Brazil Florida Business Council holds its Annual Women's Forum 2021. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) April 09, 2021 - TAMPA, FLORIDA - Brazil Florida Business Council (BFBC), an independent, non-profit business association based in Tampa, Florida, takes on the virtual world with its annual Women’s Forum 2021. The forum featured a remarkable lineup of speakers of Brazil’s women leadership and their impact on the economic recovery and the long-term transformation towards Brazil’s sustainable and gender-inclusive future. The speakers included Corrine Richard. President of Mosaic Fertilizantes, Michelle Robert, CEO of Gerdau Summit, and Martha Seillier, Special Secretary of the Secretariat for Investments and Partnerships Program for the Ministry of Economy. The discussion was moderated by Sueli Bonaparte, Founding President and Chairman of BFBC, and took place on March 31, 2021, through Zoom. Throughout the forum discussion, each speaker had the chance to explain their company’s economic, ESG, gender inclusion, and foreign investment goals for the post-COVID era.

“Mosaic has been disclosing our sustainability goals for more than 10 years, no one in the fertilizer business has been doing that. Our recent ESG targets for 2025 are very aggressive and include improvements for greenhouse gas emission reduction, freshwater use reductions, diversity, and inclusion as well as operating safety,” Corinne Richard said, “We have a very long-term vision about our investments in Brazil and we’re supportive of all the initiatives that are coming from governments to facilitate a more effective business environment and to promote more competitiveness of Brazilian industries.”

In addition, the speakers had a chance to emphasize their leadership roles in a male-dominated industry and how they have impacted their community to promote a more gender-inclusive workplace. Being the first female president for Gerdau’s, an industrial steel supplier mostly dominated by male workers, within its 120-year-old term, Michelle Robert plans for more opportunities for women in the company’s workplace despite the recent pandemic events. “We have created new policies that mandate all (job) openings to be 50% of women or persons with a disability as candidates. The training programs will have 50% of women. For internship programs, we have hired 60% of women.” said Michelle Robert. “There are a lot of challenges and it’s clear that we have some (gender) gaps, but we have a lot of good companies that recognize the issue. It starts with us (company’s leadership) in creating a safe and inclusive environment.”

These extraordinary female business leaders are paving the path for Brazil’s economic future and plans to put Brazil on the international market with foreign investors. “One reason to invest to Brazil is that we are huge, in terms of land, population, and size of market. The fact that we lack infrastructure and a few things in Brazil is a great opportunity for investors. Brazil is going to grow a lot. Even when the crisis is big, our market is growing and the consumer market is getting larger,’ mentioned Martha Seillier in the last thoughts of the forum.

The Brazil-Florida Business Council, Inc. ("BFBC") is an independent, non-profit business association based in Tampa, Florida. The BFBC was established in 2014 to forge closer ties between the business communities of Brazil and Florida by fostering bilateral trade and investment opportunities in both regions. The BFBC will provide a forum to nurture the exchange of ideas, foster networking opportunities, facilitate and drive economic growth.

For more information about upcoming Brazil Florida Business Council events, visit https://brazilfloridabusiness.com/events.

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