Over the past week, the cohort 6 teams have gotten to know quite a bit more about the Brazilian market and their respective partners’ industries.
With the help of our local partners and enthusiastic translators, we were able to survey Brazilians of all age ranges, meet with impressive entrepreneurs and business owners, find more amazing foods from all regions of Brazil, and for some of us — even eat all types of Brazilian fast food on delivery (ahem, Team Arcos Dorados).
We were also able to squeeze in a little bit of cultural activity on Wednesday. We visited the Meninos do Morumbi, which is an organization founded by Flavio Pimenta that takes in children from all parts and classes of the neighborhood, teaches them music, dance, and art, along with other educational and social programs to keep children in school.
Flavio had quite an active agenda for us, and got the entire group to drum and dance — a miracle considering it was very early in the morning!
During the Saturday presentations, it was quite surprising how much every group had learned about Brazil –from the different social classes and cultural backgrounds, to the infrastructure needs for e-commerce to take off, to the fast food supply chain, and so on. It was clear that many of the preconceptions we had about Brazil were shattered by this trip, and we learned how to keep our minds open, or–in Prof. Lakhani’s words–find out if there really is not a fire hydrant just because there is not a familiar-looking one in sight.
And then there is the other perspective of the trip – we got to savor the taste of real caipirinhas in many fruity flavors, overdose on delicious Brazilian stews and meats, and even learn the basics of Samba! It is clear to us that Brazil is a fast growing but also fun-filled country with much diversity. There is no doubt that many of us have fallen in love, and will be returning for the World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games!
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