The fourth edition of the BTG Pactual and Ago Social acceleration program featured classes, panels, workshops, exclusive mentorships, and awards at the closing event.
By Clara Machado
Instituto Juruá was one of the ten Civil Society Organizations (OSC) selected to participate in the 4th edition of the BTG Soma Meio Ambiente acceleration program, in a process that had more than 100 entries from organizations that work with conservation of Pantanal, Atlantic Forest biomes, Cerrado, and Amazon.
The acceleration program is a BTG Pactual initiative focused on promoting financial sustainability, management development, and positive impact expansion to drive social transformation. Ago Social is a partner of the project and a reference in empowering entrepreneurs and social organizations in Brazil, with a team of more than 50 specialists who act as teachers and mentors in their programs.
There were six months of online training, with 72 hours of training meetings, including classes, panels and workshops with the participation of professionals from different market segments, 80 hours of mentoring, and evaluation boards composed of highly qualified guests.
“The classes were attended by guests who are specialists on the subjects, each class being a different method, usually with slideshow, conversations, and sometimes with simultaneous rooms reserved for smaller groups. The use of interactive platforms to exercise the content was also used,” reports Nathalia Messina, a socio-environmental analyst at Instituto Juruá who participated in the training.
The training content was divided into different modules: financial sustainability, leadership and management, and impact expansion. After completing the modules, Instituto Juruá team stood out and were awarded a special mentorship by renowned chef Alex Atala.
“With the mentors, we work on specific products chosen according to the training approaches and priorities of Instituto Juruá. We chose to work on the Portfolio, the Institutional Presentation and the Annual Report, focusing on the indicators that qualify such materials,” complements Nathalia.
The closing of the training took place in person in November, on the “Giveback Day”, in São Paulo, with all participating organizations. The event was an intense exchange of experiences and new connections. The organizations briefly presented their work and told how the program helped in the structuring and the impact promoted by them. The public present was composed of representatives of organizations such as Fundação Boticário, Fundação Atá, as well as program mentors and funders. After the presentations, there was a conversation with Roberto Klabin, former president and current vice president of Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica. Relevant issues were discussed, such as future prospects for the conservation of Brazilian biomes, sustainable business, and private investments in nature conservation.
“Although we were virtually working together all these months, nothing replaces eye to eye contact in human relationships. At that moment it was possible to feel the connection, as well as everyone’s goals and be inspired by it,” says Andressa Scabin, executive director of the Juruá Institute who participated in the training and was present at the closing event.
During the closing event, a surprise for participating organizations was announced. Representatives were invited to receive a cash prize, collected from funders, to be invested in the organizations’ projects. “With this award we intend to apply the knowledge acquired during the program to improve our strategic planning and we are also going to invest in a new fundraising front, to diversify our revenues and in the future we can ensure the execution of our activities in the long term” says Andressa.
