CEOs and senior executives of 47 companies from various segments have united with the goal of training 3 million afro-descendant professionals for the Brazilian market and taking 10,000 of them to leadership positions by 2030. The Movement for Racial Equity (Mover) started to be formed in 2020 and has the goal to accelerate racial inclusion and also fight structural racism within companies as well.
This year, the group is going to start investing R$15 million in training and employment public notices. Among the participating companies are giants such as Mondelez, Coca-Cola, Gerdau, BRF, Ambev, Carrefour, UnitedHealth, Via, XP and Heineken.
Liel Miranda, CEO of Mondelez in Brazil and also Mover’s president, believes it is possible to obtain the desired results because the movement has clear goals, a strategic plan set up with the support of organizations and institutions that fight for racial equality, and an annual budget of R$15 million, considering initially a three-year investment cycle.
The amount was raised among the members, which, in addition to signing a commitment to work for racial inclusion inside and outside their companies, also need to contribute with a minority (R$250,000) or majority (R$500,000) quota, says Mover´s CFO Marina Peixoto. In 2022, part of this budget will begin to be allocated in public notices for training and employment, aimed at black people and organizations, with the support of the Baobá Fund.
Among the 47 CEOs Ms. Peixoto is talking to in pursuit of achieving Mover’s goals, three declare themselves black or mixed race: Edvaldo Vieira, CEO of Amil – UnitedHealth Group, Mauricio Barros, CEO of DHL, and Eduardo Santos, 34-year-old executive leading the Brazilian operation of the Swiss language school EF Education First, owner of the English Live platform.
Last year, Mr. Santos learned about Mover through Liel Miranda, who called him: “Edu, for us to develop 10,000 professionals for leadership positions, having English is fundamental”. Mr. Santos joined the group and says that he is now studying how the courses offered by his company can be included in the training in which Mover will invest.
In the strategic agenda outlined by Ms. Peixoto with Mr. Miranda, Mr. Santos and the other CEOs, although 80% of the budget is allocated to public notices and training organizations, it is defined that member companies need to do their homework with their own resources.
“It’s no use creating a multi-million fund for the community, if at home these companies do not have representation and consistency in racial equality policies,” says Ms. Peixoto. One of the first challenges that Mover faced during its structuring in 2021, says the executive, was finding that a large part of the members did not have a finalized demographic census — which prevented the group from obtaining an accurate picture of how many black people it had in its total workforce and in which positions there were gaps in representation.
“Companies are at very different stages of maturity, in terms of racial issues. We made it a priority for them to carry out this census now in 2022 and we set the goals based on preliminary data, the members’ turnover numbers and the Ethos Institute survey,” she says. Although the country’s population is made up of 56% of black people, they make up only 35% of the workforce in companies, according to the latest survey by Ethos.
Associates also committed to creating more inclusive recruitment, and in 2021 participated in events targeted at black talents, where they made available a total of 800 jobs — from trainees and up, mostly in management positions. Creating a more inclusive selection and environment also depends on awareness and companies will intensify racial literacy, says Ms. Peixoto. Last year, 200 Mover volunteers were trained by the Instituto Identidades do Brasil (ID_BR).
Liel Miranda, with Mondelez, also defends that this agenda should not only belong to CEOs and that it needs to include the entire workforce. He cites a live transmission promoted by Mover in November, about racial literacy, and aimed at more than one million employees.
At home, Mr. Miranda says that Mondelez redirected its internship program and filled 80% of its positions with black and mixed race people. “But we need to go even further, not stop at entry positions. Therefore, we have the goal of having 34% of black and mixed race people in administrative and leadership positions by 2024.” Currently, Mondelez has approximately 37% black employees, with 24% of them in administrative positions.
Source: Valor international