Empower 50 Future Leaders of Impact in Brazil

As we put 2016 behind us, Social Good Brazil is ready to open its 2017 Lab with open arms and an open heart.

You might be confused about what exactly is SGB Lab. Let us clarify a bit for you. SGB Lab is a four-month long social innovation and entrepreneurial laboratory that helps bring to fruition ideas that use technology and online media to build a better and more sustainable world. Since its founding, the Social Good Brazil Lab program has formed the bridge between innovative spirits and successful innovations, supporting over 330 social entrepreneurs and more than 170 innovative initiatives from all over Brazil.

From someone who has an idea written on the back of a napkin to a private/public sector employee, Social Good Brazil Lab is for anyone who dares to dream. Last year, we received almost 400 applications and after careful review, our team selected 50 applicants to become LABBERS.

Lab includes three in-person meetings, each 4-day long. All of the meetings are held in Pedra Branca, a place filled with entrepreneurial spirits and a corporate partner of us. Other than these in-person meetings, SGB also offers online webinars and provides Labbers with mentors who are experts in the area. By the end of this four-month long journey, the top 3 initiatives being voted upon will receive jumpstarting seed money and present on Festival.

Every in-person meeting targets one aspect of Labbers’ initiatives, such as their business model, impact model and social management. What was missing from Lab 2016 is the financial piece, but now there will be one day dedicated to develop an applicable financial model, teaching the Labbers how to achieve financial sustainability.

Also, as a part of the application process, applicants need to submit a video. Last year’s videos were directly sent to the SGB team; however, this year, the videos will be uploaded directly to YouTube. Pursuing the idea of open innovation, SGB encourages people from both the SGB and Labbers’ network to comment, which helps the SGB selection committee make decisions. Even if some applicants end up not being selected, they can still use this process to help their initiatives receive comments and new ideas.

Registration for Lab 2017 opens on February 7th. If you are interested in joining the Lab family and creating an impact on other people’s lives, register to be a Labber (www.sgb.org.br/lab).

Links:

• Registration for Lab 2017
• Social Good Brazil Website

The third and the last in-person Lab meeting happened last week, from October 20th to 22th. As usual, the meeting was held in the City of Pedra Branca, just outside of Florianópolis. Approximately 30 finalists were brought together for this intense 3-day session, designed solely for Pitch presentations. Pitch is a 5-min presentation that introduces the goal, the potential and the current progress of the project and also the motivation behind creating such a project.

The first day focused on the final trimming of Labbers’ Pitch presentations. The day started out with Olavo Pereira Oliveira giving a presentation on how to speak in public. Through the illustration of an example, HigherMe, Olavo talked about the importance of making eye contact, proper pause, voice volume and body language. The afternoon was free time. Labbers mostly worked on their Pitch projects individually, but advices and ideas were also exchanged. The bond between them had demonstrated itself. People were not afraid of giving criticism because everyone was fully aware that they were pushing each other to grow. At the end of the day, all the Labbers participated in a game called Musical Chairs, but with slightly modified rules. Every round there were two less chairs; however, different from a normal game, as long as everyone sat down, no one had to leave the circle. You could see people sitting on each other’s laps, forming a human puzzle. Through this interactive way of teaching, everyone learned the importance of collaboration. No one has to lose in order for someone else to win. The Labbers pushed for each other’s success. They made each other’s growth possible.

The second day was the day of actually delivering the Pitches. Many famous people from NGOs and other sectors all gathered in Pedra Branca to be the judges in order to select the top 4 Labbers that will present on the day of the Festival. Having put in a lot of time and energy, all the Labbers were ready to present their ideas and make their voices heard.

The third day started with some reflections. In the morning, led by Carol Andrade, the executive director of Social Good Brazil, all Labbers gathered to share what they had learned and how they felt after the previous two days. What accompanied bursts of laughter and occasional tears were mutual growth and new inspirations. They’ve grown individually and they’ve grown as a family, the Lab family. Even though this meeting marked the end of Lab 2016, the inspiration and the determination to make this world a better place will definitely pass on to the next round of Labbers, who will come here searching for a sense of purpose, a community and a tool to turn their ideas into reality and Labbers of 2016 have for sure found all of them.

Links:

• Learn more about Lab and Social Good Brazil.