Market roundup: The economy is in the favelas

Slum Summit in Paraisópolis wants to show the economic force of Brazil’s favelas

São Paulo’s Paraisópolis, the second-largest Brazilian favela, is hosting the Slum Summit 2022 through Sunday. The event aims to bring together big names from the entrepreneurial market, as well as community leaders, government representatives, journalists, artists, and chief executives of large firms, to discuss how entrepreneurship can bring solutions to favelas.

The summit. Organized by G10 Favelas, an association of the ten largest favelas in Brazil, this year’s edition will feature 20 panels and more than 70 speakers, with names from major retail groups such as Hélio Muniz, the CEO of Fundação Casas Bahia, to big financial market players such as Pedro Juliano, Head of Investment at JPMorgan.

• G10 Favelas estimates at least 1,500 participants during the three days of the event.

Why it matters. “Anyone who is not selling or investing in the favelas is losing money,” Gilson Rodrigues, president of G10 Favelas, tells The Brazilian Report. “The summit brings visibility to this part of the economy, which needs and wants to receive investments, not donations,” he adds. 

• “Economically speaking, we are not a...