In June 2023, the iFood launched its program in Salvador to accelerate the growth of black entrepreneurs, iFood Believes. And, on Black Consciousness Day (November 20), some of these entrepreneurs served their specialties in the food area of the Afrofuturismo Festival, held in Pelourinho, also in the capital of Bahia.
iFood, one of the sponsors of this event, installed Vila iFood there, a space where lectures and which housed a food area made up of Afro-entrepreneurs who participated or are participating in iFood Believe.
“I spoke to many entrepreneurs who are in Vila. I wanted to know how iFood Believe is contributing to the advancement of your business. I was extremely happy to realize that we are in the right direction”, reports Luana Ozemela, vice president of Social Impact at iFood.
“This initiative fuels our big dream of having a future with more equity. We are committed to being agents of change and driving the development of diverse people. This is how we are building the future.”
And the iFood team was present not only with Luana, but also with the entire Equity team, led by Angel Vasconcelos, Equity director; João Barcelos, delivery specialist and iFood ambassador.
The voices of the black community
During the Festival, renowned guests from the black community gave talks on topics such as ancestry, health, entrepreneurship, technology, education, innovation and employability.
Among the panelists, some highlights were biomedical scientist Jaqueline Goes — who spoke about the scarcity of black researchers and affirmative studies that address the specificities of diseases in the black population (and who became the new Scientist Barbie); Bárbara Carine, professor at the Federal University of Bahia and founder of the Maria Filipa model anti-racist school; Deh Bastos, renowned creative, partner at Map (and who became a character in Turma da Mônica); Viviane Elias Moreira, COO of Edutech, MBA professor at Fiap and one of the main leaders of the Black Movement; Igor Leão Rocha, co-founder of Afrosaúde, a startup focused on mental health and Alexandre Ribeiro, founder of the English teaching platform Da Quebrada para o Mundo.
“As a celebration, the first day of the festival ended with the Cortejo Afro show and the second day, with the Ile Aiye show. During Black Awareness Month, there is still a lot of talk about racial prejudice and iFood Believe, which became a concrete delivery for the population, emerges stronger from this experience. We are very grateful for the participation of all the panelists and Afro-entrepreneurs who shared so much talent with us”, says Angel.
Check out the photo gallery from the event
The positive impact of iFood Believe
For Angel, the event celebrated the acceptance of iFood Believe, strengthening diversity and boosting business for this audience. “We are going to do some more tests in Salvador and we are already evaluating the possibility of expanding the program to São Paulo”, he states.
O first balance sheet of iFood Believe points out that for the majority (64%) of participating entrepreneurs, the business is responsible for at least half of the family income. The profile shows that 70% are women (the majority are between 25 and 44 years old), 70% are in their first business and 78% work alone, without employees.
“Our objective is to enhance the businesses of black entrepreneurs, offering more visibility within the application. To improve performance on the platform, we offer performance consultancy, as well as management and operation training through iFood Decola, iFood's free education platform aimed at partners”, explains Angel. “In addition, entrepreneurs have easy access to a line of credit with reduced rates, financially supporting the business.”
