Live for delivery women, Adriana Barbosa, from Feira Preta, and the iFood team give tips for those who want to achieve their big dream
At 55 years old, Elaine is not only a single mother of two children: she also works as an iFood delivery girl and, after 30 years out of school, she returned to studying. In January 2022, she started classes, after receiving one of the 2,000 scholarships from the My Secondary School Diploma program, aimed at couriers and delivery partners who want to complete their studies.
Elaine's dream now is to graduate in Nursing. “I really want to be able to give my children a quality life. I always wanted to finish my studies, but I don't have enough income. I have many goals, but in short, I want to have more opportunities and be an example for them.”
Elaine's story — as well as that of former delivery girl Jennifer, who was hired by iFood and wants to pursue a career in data architecture — was told by Sylmara Ramon, from iFood's Partner Education team, at the beginning of the edition 2022 of Encontro com Elas, held on March 7th and available to everyone here, on the iFood para Entregadors channel on YouTube.
In this meeting with the delivery partners, mediated by Natasha Gabrieli, from the iFood Diversity and Inclusion team, the entrepreneur Adriana Barbosa told the participants about her journey, which also began as a delivery girl on the streets of São Paulo (SP) — but with coxinhas and lunch boxes prepared by her great-grandmother to increase income at home. Today, she is in charge of Feira Preta, the largest fair in Latin America bringing together entrepreneurs, artists and researchers of black culture.
“I come from a family of black women, and it was from my great-grandmother that I learned to have an entrepreneurial attitude based on three points: what I know, what I have in my hands and what I am capable of doing,” he said. Adriana. “She had tremendous vision. When he started selling food, he asked me to make a business card and deliver it to the construction sites to publicize it.”
And so Adriana learned what she calls “sevirology”. “Necessity also creates opportunity”, says the entrepreneur. A few years later, she opened her first business: a thrift store selling her own clothes. “I turned to my great-grandmother’s entrepreneurial attitude and started exchanging pieces with friends to have more sizes to offer,” he recalls.
Tips for entrepreneurs
From this experience, Feira Preta was born, in 2001. “It came from a dream of bringing together more people: entrepreneurs, artists, researchers, everyone involved in the production of black culture. I had zero dollars in my pocket, but a lot of sparkle in my eyes and energy in my heart”, he says.
Growing the business and establishing itself was not easy, especially in the financial field. Therefore, the entrepreneur gave some tips on how to organize your finances so as not to have problems or go into excessive debt — such as setting goals, having an emergency fund and using technology to organize these plans.
For Adriana, entrepreneurs must combine attitude (i.e., proactivity to resolve issues), vision (understand how to solve the problem and read reality from different angles) and collaboration. “Be in a network, don’t be afraid to ask for help”, he says.
His advice for anyone who wants to start changing the game of their life is to follow three steps. “Write today what your dream is. It could be small, it could be buying a bicycle. The important thing is to fit into your life, into your purpose. Then, map out the people you can count on. And talk to people a lot, seek knowledge”, says Adriana.
All of this, for her, feeds the spirit of doing things differently and writing her own life narrative. “An entrepreneurial attitude means being in charge of your own story, knowing that you are the one calling the shots.”
What iFood offers for delivery girls
In the live, Sylmara highlighted iFood's main programs for the professional development of partner couriers: My Secondary School Diploma (which has 167 women among the beneficiaries), Potência Tech (which aims to train and employ people from underrepresented groups in technology) and the iFood Decola courses, which cover a variety of topics, such as financial education and entrepreneurship.
“We have this vision that goes from basic education, with a program to support those who do not have a high school diploma, to employability in the future”, says Sylmara. “We believe in the transformative power of education. And our inclusion pillar opens the doors to more women.”
Bruna Cristina, from iFood's Advantages and Partners area, also spoke to the delivery women at the event. She listed some foodtech initiatives that benefit women, such as personal accident insurance and specific health aid, such as compensation of R$ 10,000 in cases of diagnosis of breast or cervical cancer, in addition to maternity aid of R$ 500 .
Read more:
From earnings to education: discover iFood actions for delivery people
Pink October: iFood offers free mammograms to delivery women
iFood will have 50% of women in leadership and 40% of black employees by 2023
iFood education platforms have new features for 2022
