This Friday (12/8), iFood officially joined conscious capitalism, a business philosophy in which companies have causes as their purpose and commit to generating value for all their customers. stakeholders —such as customers, employees, suppliers, investors and communities.
The company joined the Instituto Capitalismo Consciente Brasil (ICCB), which is part of a global movement started in 2010 in the United States and which seeks to raise awareness among leaders on the topic. Its associates are committed to following the principles of conscious capitalism: having a greater purpose than just generating profit; create value for all stakeholders and have a corporate culture and leaders aligned with these values.
“iFood’s adherence to this movement is a natural consequence of the way we see the role of the private sector in society. Successful companies have to generate impact beyond business, improving the community and being sustainable”, says André Borges, head of sustainability at iFood. “Conscious capitalism talks a lot about companies having a greater purpose, and ours is to fuel the future of the world.”
The announcement of iFood's membership was made at an event held in São Paulo (SP) with the other ICCB partners and in the presence of Raj Sisodia, co-founder of the Conscious Capitalism movement, and Hugo Bethlem, president of the ICCB board.
The ICCB was founded in 2013, three years after the original entity, created in the United States by Raj Sisodia and John Mackey, co-founder of Whole Foods. Together, they wrote the book “Conscious Capitalism: How to Unleash the Heroic Spirit of Business”. In Brazil, the institute has 4,000 members and 180 partner companies.
More positive impact
By being part of ICCB, iFood wants to amplify its positive impacts on society and seek even better results in the socio-environmental field. “We are very aligned with what conscious capitalism preaches. The cool thing is that when we showed ICCB our projects and the impact we generated, they said that this is what they expect from member companies”, adds André.
Some of these projects are the Everyone at the Table (what combat food waste and hunger), the My High School Diploma (which offers delivery people scholarships for the test that entitles them to the certificate) and the Tech Power (iFood education platform with courses and scholarships dedicated to minority groups in the technology area).
With these and other initiatives, iFood seeks to fulfill five public commitments on the environment and education defined in March 2021. By 2025, the company wants to eliminate plastic pollution in delivery, be neutral in CO emissions2, train and employ 25 thousand people from groups underrepresented in technology, train 5 million people for the work of the future and impact another 5 million by encouraging the use of technology in basic education.
“iFood hopes to impact stakeholders creating opportunities through education, having an increasingly sustainable operation, with less plastic pollution and reducing the carbon footprint with cleaner modes. As our business is focused on food, we also have actions to combat hunger and food waste in the ecosystem”, concludes André.
