Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events
- Thread starter Poitier
- Start date
i've seen everything from Venezuela is majority Afro descendant to less than 5% so idk. i do not that in Venezuela "mestizo" means any mixture not just white/indigenous. every Venezuelan i've met was white
Even in its most profitable city, Brazil’s inequality is getting worse
CIARA LONG | OCT 25, 2017
Despite its status as Brazil’s largest, most lucrative city with a reputation for big business, new research from NGO Nossa Rede São Paulo shows just how deep the metropolis’ inequalities run. And these inequalities are not signs of Brazil’s recession taking its toll on the city, according to researchers working on the report. Instead, they say, the NGO’s ‘Map of Inequality’ has revealed that the city’s government places more emphasis on catering to business interests than it does on helping the public. And moreover, this has been the case since the NGO first began collecting annual research in 2012.
“Governments are structured to defend private interests,” said Jorge Abrahão, the NGO’s research coordinator, at the report’s launch. “There was no significant reduction in inequality or improvement in the quality of life.”
The NGO’s 2017 map looks at indicators of social development across the city. Some indicators show a distinct gap: life expectancy between residents in the neighborhoods of Jardim Paulista, located centrally, and Jardim Ângela, on the periphery, differs by some 24 years. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods with the highest and lowest homicide rates sit right next to one another: Moóca has 1.23 deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants, while Brás has a troubling 38.76.
Other indicators measured by the NGO count access to healthcare, education, and residency among the most important factors. Once again, Rede Nossa de São Paulo showed that the city’s public resources, much like its wealth, is concentrated in a few central areas. The maps also showed that whites are four times more likely to live in the city center, where the majority of formal jobs are concentrated at a rate six times higher than elsewhere in the city.
The study shows that the further away one lives from the city’s center, the higher the likelihood is that resident would be black or mixed race. Gender inequalities in these regions are also startlingly high: wage gaps between men and women São Paulo’s peripheries range between 25 percent and 49 percent, and black women are the most likely to face unemployment. A further 33 districts throughout the city also registered that no hospital beds were available.
José Luiz Adeve, a community coordinator at urban sustainability NGO Fundação Tide Setúbal, said that the mapping of areas falling short on socio-educational measures was fundamental in helping to create functional public policies. Speaking at the launch, Adeve commented: “The most vulnerable areas have less visibility, and, in general, aren’t visited by decision-makers.”
Inequalities in the city’s outskirts were also manifested through other factors, including a lack of social, educational and cultural facilities. More than a third of the city’s districts – 37 of 96 – did not have a public library with children’s literature, thereby shortcutting early childhood development.
São Paulo’s very southernmost neighborhood of Marsilac, in addition to having lower numbers of formal jobs, also had the lowest average salaries of anywhere in the city for formal jobs. The district furthermore has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy, and no data is available to provide the number of socio-educational centers dedicated to culture or sport.
Orlando Alves dos Santos, a sociology professor at Rio’s Federal University and researcher at the Metropolitan Observatory, told The Brazilian Report that while there are correlations between indicators like teenage pregnancy and a lack of public socio-educational resources, they are not causal relationships. “Certainly, they can reinforce or feed one another, but each has its own explanation,” he said.
However, Santos warned, misunderstanding these correlations can result in the state’s deployment of force, rather than creating and implementing effective social policies. “We can see a worsening of repressive, racist policies from the Brazilian state in these working-class areas,” he said. “This is the effect of the criminalization of poverty: the increase of poverty, and the Brazilian state looking at working-class areas as places of crime.”
São Paulo also has some of the country’s most sought-after real estate. Yet property ownership is a further indicator of wealth concentration, according to Oxfam Brasil’s 2017 report on inequality across Brazil. Approximately 1 percent of property owners – 22,400 people – own a quarter of the city’s real estate.
This adds up to 749 billion BRL, 45 percent of the city’s real estate value. By Oxfam’s calculations, this means that each of these property owners would have real estate worth an average of 34 million BRL. “It is necessary to increase the progressivity of taxes and redistribute the resources collected in the form of public equipment, and services to those who need it most,” said Oxfam Brasil’s campaign coordinator, Rafael Georges.
Even in its most profitable city, Brazil’s inequality is getting worse
CIARA LONG | OCT 25, 2017
Despite its status as Brazil’s largest, most lucrative city with a reputation for big business, new research from NGO Nossa Rede São Paulo shows just how deep the metropolis’ inequalities run. And these inequalities are not signs of Brazil’s recession taking its toll on the city, according to researchers working on the report. Instead, they say, the NGO’s ‘Map of Inequality’ has revealed that the city’s government places more emphasis on catering to business interests than it does on helping the public. And moreover, this has been the case since the NGO first began collecting annual research in 2012.
“Governments are structured to defend private interests,” said Jorge Abrahão, the NGO’s research coordinator, at the report’s launch. “There was no significant reduction in inequality or improvement in the quality of life.”
The NGO’s 2017 map looks at indicators of social development across the city. Some indicators show a distinct gap: life expectancy between residents in the neighborhoods of Jardim Paulista, located centrally, and Jardim Ângela, on the periphery, differs by some 24 years. Meanwhile, the neighborhoods with the highest and lowest homicide rates sit right next to one another: Moóca has 1.23 deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants, while Brás has a troubling 38.76.
Other indicators measured by the NGO count access to healthcare, education, and residency among the most important factors. Once again, Rede Nossa de São Paulo showed that the city’s public resources, much like its wealth, is concentrated in a few central areas. The maps also showed that whites are four times more likely to live in the city center, where the majority of formal jobs are concentrated at a rate six times higher than elsewhere in the city.
The study shows that the further away one lives from the city’s center, the higher the likelihood is that resident would be black or mixed race. Gender inequalities in these regions are also startlingly high: wage gaps between men and women São Paulo’s peripheries range between 25 percent and 49 percent, and black women are the most likely to face unemployment. A further 33 districts throughout the city also registered that no hospital beds were available.
José Luiz Adeve, a community coordinator at urban sustainability NGO Fundação Tide Setúbal, said that the mapping of areas falling short on socio-educational measures was fundamental in helping to create functional public policies. Speaking at the launch, Adeve commented: “The most vulnerable areas have less visibility, and, in general, aren’t visited by decision-makers.”
Inequalities in the city’s outskirts were also manifested through other factors, including a lack of social, educational and cultural facilities. More than a third of the city’s districts – 37 of 96 – did not have a public library with children’s literature, thereby shortcutting early childhood development.
São Paulo’s very southernmost neighborhood of Marsilac, in addition to having lower numbers of formal jobs, also had the lowest average salaries of anywhere in the city for formal jobs. The district furthermore has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy, and no data is available to provide the number of socio-educational centers dedicated to culture or sport.
Orlando Alves dos Santos, a sociology professor at Rio’s Federal University and researcher at the Metropolitan Observatory, told The Brazilian Report that while there are correlations between indicators like teenage pregnancy and a lack of public socio-educational resources, they are not causal relationships. “Certainly, they can reinforce or feed one another, but each has its own explanation,” he said.
However, Santos warned, misunderstanding these correlations can result in the state’s deployment of force, rather than creating and implementing effective social policies. “We can see a worsening of repressive, racist policies from the Brazilian state in these working-class areas,” he said. “This is the effect of the criminalization of poverty: the increase of poverty, and the Brazilian state looking at working-class areas as places of crime.”
São Paulo also has some of the country’s most sought-after real estate. Yet property ownership is a further indicator of wealth concentration, according to Oxfam Brasil’s 2017 report on inequality across Brazil. Approximately 1 percent of property owners – 22,400 people – own a quarter of the city’s real estate.
This adds up to 749 billion BRL, 45 percent of the city’s real estate value. By Oxfam’s calculations, this means that each of these property owners would have real estate worth an average of 34 million BRL. “It is necessary to increase the progressivity of taxes and redistribute the resources collected in the form of public equipment, and services to those who need it most,” said Oxfam Brasil’s campaign coordinator, Rafael Georges.
Even in its most profitable city, Brazil’s inequality is getting worse
Afro-Latino professionals seek more visibility in Miami
BY BRENDA MEDINA
bmedina@elnuevoherald.com
NOVEMBER 02, 2017 11:48 AM
Sisters Yvette Rodríguez and Yvonne Rodríguez are the founders of Afro-Latino Professionals. The group held their first meeting recently at CubaOcho in Little Havana. Sebastián Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Earlier this year, Yvette Rodríguez attended a talk about Afro-Cuban history, culture and experience at a college in Miami. The information was educational but Rodríguez found one element of the gathering a bit shocking.
All the speakers on the panel were white.
“It’s a talk about the Afro-Cuban experience and they could not find a historian, a teacher, a black Cuban person who would also sit on that panel,” Rodríguez said. “That means that the contact network for the people who organized the event, or of the panelists, does not include Afro-Cubans who can talk about these issues. That has to change.”
Rodríguez, a businesswoman and public relations specialist, knows that there are qualified professionals in the community who can tell the stories of Afro-Latinos. But whenever she makes this observation she hears the same question: Where are these people?
After hearing that question “too many times”, Rodríguez decided to take action. Last week, together with her twin sister Yvonne Rodríguez and Miami attorney Yoel Molina, they celebrated the first meeting for the newly formed group Afro-Latino Professionals, a network that seeks to “expand and enhance” the visibility of Afro-Latinos.
“We exist. We are doctors, business owners, accountants, journalists, educators, writers, artists. We are here,” Rodríguez said. “Maybe we have integrated [into American society] in such a way that people assume we are African-American. But I think it’s important that we take ownership of our stories, that we control the narrative.
“Ya está bueno, ya,” she said. “Enough is enough.”
Yvette Rodríguez speaks to the guests during the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals in Miami. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Among the participants in the the recent gathering, which took place at CubaOcho, an art gallery and restaurant on Calle Ocho, were a Puerto Rican professor from Florida International University, a Haitian-American photographer and entrepreneur, a Guyanese art curator, a Dominican educator and communicator and Cuban sociologists, accountants and lawyers.
The professionals shared their stories of success, talked about their projects and the challenges faced by Afro-Latinos in the United States.
Yvette and Yvonne Rodríguez, for example, are perhaps the first Afro-Cuban women to make their way as entrepreneurs in the tobacco industry in Miami. Four years ago, they opened their cigar company Tres Lindas Cubanas and have since traveled to Cuba to learn about the tobacco industry on the island. During their travels to the island, they learned that most of the people who make cigars in Cuba are black women. However, people like them aren’t business owners or the face of the industry.
“We were interviewed about our business and getting all this coverage in large part because we are Black Cuban women who own a cigar company,” Yvonne Rodríguez said. “We realized that we have a powerful platform and we must use it to give a voice to others.”
The Rodríguez sisters and the other members of the group are aware that this lack of presence in the academic, business, medical and other fields is due in part to the legacy of slavery, oppression and poverty in Latin America, which is similar to the United States. This reality has represented obstacles in the path toward success for Afro-Latinos, for whom it has historically been more difficult to obtain a higher education and enter professional fields.
Rumcake Factory owner, Elena Robinson, speaks during the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals held in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
According to a report published by the United Nations, there are about 150 million Afro-descendants in Latin America and this population is generally the most marginalized racial group. Both indigenous and Afro-descendant communities live in the poorest areas and have less access to quality education. The majority also do not own property or have the money to start businesses.
That legacy is also part of the history of Afro-Latino immigrants and their descendants in the United States.
For Yoel Molina, a lawyer who helped create the new network with the Rodríguez sisters, this type of organization is important because it facilitates mentoring and connection between people who share similar experiences.
“Growing up in Miami as a black Cuban is a very unique experience,” said Molina, 43, who studied at Miami Senior High School. “People who are not Cuban asked me how I could be Cuban and black, because they did not understand that there were black Cubans. However, from other Cubans what I got was: ‘Oh, so you are Cuban?’”
Yoel Molina and Juan Bruno chat during a gathering of Afro-Latino Professionals. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Molina said he was pleased with the turnout at the first Afro-Latino Professionals meeting: about 25 people participated. In Miami as in other U.S. cities where he has lived, Molina said he has met many Afro-Latinos who simply didn’t identify as black. That’s something he’s had to deal with since he was a child.
“I would see a black and Latino person, like me, and suddenly that person would say ‘I’m not black, I’m jabao’. I asked my mom what ‘jabao’ was and she said, ‘Ah, that means a person who is not black or white,’” Molina recalled, laughing.
“Qué, qué?” (Say what?)
“Imagine, I was 11 years old and I had to decipher the meaning of that,” Molina added. “I think things have changed since and something like [the Afro-Latino Professionals network] is long overdue.”
Follow Brenda Medina on Twitter: @BrendaMedinar
Danielle Clealand, an assistant professor at FIU’s Department of Politics Danielle takes part in a gathing of Afro-Latino Professionals in Miami. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
General picture of the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Barbara Gutierrez and Sonia Bonilla talk during the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Yvette Rodríguez, middle, talks with Cherie W. and Topacio Despierta during the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals held at CubaOcho in Miami. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Afro-Latino professionals seek more visibility in Miami
BY BRENDA MEDINA
bmedina@elnuevoherald.com
NOVEMBER 02, 2017 11:48 AM
Sisters Yvette Rodríguez and Yvonne Rodríguez are the founders of Afro-Latino Professionals. The group held their first meeting recently at CubaOcho in Little Havana. Sebastián Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Earlier this year, Yvette Rodríguez attended a talk about Afro-Cuban history, culture and experience at a college in Miami. The information was educational but Rodríguez found one element of the gathering a bit shocking.
All the speakers on the panel were white.
“It’s a talk about the Afro-Cuban experience and they could not find a historian, a teacher, a black Cuban person who would also sit on that panel,” Rodríguez said. “That means that the contact network for the people who organized the event, or of the panelists, does not include Afro-Cubans who can talk about these issues. That has to change.”
Rodríguez, a businesswoman and public relations specialist, knows that there are qualified professionals in the community who can tell the stories of Afro-Latinos. But whenever she makes this observation she hears the same question: Where are these people?
After hearing that question “too many times”, Rodríguez decided to take action. Last week, together with her twin sister Yvonne Rodríguez and Miami attorney Yoel Molina, they celebrated the first meeting for the newly formed group Afro-Latino Professionals, a network that seeks to “expand and enhance” the visibility of Afro-Latinos.
“We exist. We are doctors, business owners, accountants, journalists, educators, writers, artists. We are here,” Rodríguez said. “Maybe we have integrated [into American society] in such a way that people assume we are African-American. But I think it’s important that we take ownership of our stories, that we control the narrative.
“Ya está bueno, ya,” she said. “Enough is enough.”
Yvette Rodríguez speaks to the guests during the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals in Miami. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Among the participants in the the recent gathering, which took place at CubaOcho, an art gallery and restaurant on Calle Ocho, were a Puerto Rican professor from Florida International University, a Haitian-American photographer and entrepreneur, a Guyanese art curator, a Dominican educator and communicator and Cuban sociologists, accountants and lawyers.
The professionals shared their stories of success, talked about their projects and the challenges faced by Afro-Latinos in the United States.
Yvette and Yvonne Rodríguez, for example, are perhaps the first Afro-Cuban women to make their way as entrepreneurs in the tobacco industry in Miami. Four years ago, they opened their cigar company Tres Lindas Cubanas and have since traveled to Cuba to learn about the tobacco industry on the island. During their travels to the island, they learned that most of the people who make cigars in Cuba are black women. However, people like them aren’t business owners or the face of the industry.
“We were interviewed about our business and getting all this coverage in large part because we are Black Cuban women who own a cigar company,” Yvonne Rodríguez said. “We realized that we have a powerful platform and we must use it to give a voice to others.”
The Rodríguez sisters and the other members of the group are aware that this lack of presence in the academic, business, medical and other fields is due in part to the legacy of slavery, oppression and poverty in Latin America, which is similar to the United States. This reality has represented obstacles in the path toward success for Afro-Latinos, for whom it has historically been more difficult to obtain a higher education and enter professional fields.
Rumcake Factory owner, Elena Robinson, speaks during the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals held in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
According to a report published by the United Nations, there are about 150 million Afro-descendants in Latin America and this population is generally the most marginalized racial group. Both indigenous and Afro-descendant communities live in the poorest areas and have less access to quality education. The majority also do not own property or have the money to start businesses.
That legacy is also part of the history of Afro-Latino immigrants and their descendants in the United States.
For Yoel Molina, a lawyer who helped create the new network with the Rodríguez sisters, this type of organization is important because it facilitates mentoring and connection between people who share similar experiences.
“Growing up in Miami as a black Cuban is a very unique experience,” said Molina, 43, who studied at Miami Senior High School. “People who are not Cuban asked me how I could be Cuban and black, because they did not understand that there were black Cubans. However, from other Cubans what I got was: ‘Oh, so you are Cuban?’”
Yoel Molina and Juan Bruno chat during a gathering of Afro-Latino Professionals. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Molina said he was pleased with the turnout at the first Afro-Latino Professionals meeting: about 25 people participated. In Miami as in other U.S. cities where he has lived, Molina said he has met many Afro-Latinos who simply didn’t identify as black. That’s something he’s had to deal with since he was a child.
“I would see a black and Latino person, like me, and suddenly that person would say ‘I’m not black, I’m jabao’. I asked my mom what ‘jabao’ was and she said, ‘Ah, that means a person who is not black or white,’” Molina recalled, laughing.
“Qué, qué?” (Say what?)
“Imagine, I was 11 years old and I had to decipher the meaning of that,” Molina added. “I think things have changed since and something like [the Afro-Latino Professionals network] is long overdue.”
Follow Brenda Medina on Twitter: @BrendaMedinar
Danielle Clealand, an assistant professor at FIU’s Department of Politics Danielle takes part in a gathing of Afro-Latino Professionals in Miami. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
General picture of the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Barbara Gutierrez and Sonia Bonilla talk during the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Yvette Rodríguez, middle, talks with Cherie W. and Topacio Despierta during the first meeting of the Afro-Latino Professionals held at CubaOcho in Miami. Sebastian Ballestas - sballestas@miamiherald.com
Afro-Latino professionals seek more visibility in Miami
Dominican Republic dreams of becoming Caribbean Hollywood
Dominican Republic dreams of becoming Caribbean Hollywood
newsok.com |
3 mins read
In this May 26, 2017 photo, the Dominican Film Federation booth stands at the 70th international film festival in Cannes, southern France. The government agency's pavilion promoted the country’s varied landscape along with tax breaks and other incentives to lure film companies from other destinations, including other parts of the Caribbean or the U.S. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — In the opening scenes of the latest Vin Diesel action movie, troops in the Dominican Republic chase the hero through a rainforest and down a twisty mountain road. But in real life, the government is doing all it can to welcome the Hollywood star — or anyone else who wants to produce a film in this Caribbean country.
The filming here of some scenes from "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" is a sign of progress in efforts to persuade the film industry to use the Dominican Republic's lush mountains, white-sand beaches and colonial architecture as a backdrop.
"Now, we are on the map," said Yvette Marichal, director of a government agency created in 2010 to woo film production companies to the country and to regulate their activities here.
Marichal spoke in a recent interview after returning from the Cannes Film Festival, where her agency had a pavilion promoting the country's varied landscape along with tax breaks and other incentives to lure companies from other destinations, including other parts of the Caribbean or the U.S.
Besides the Vin Diesel action flick, which grossed more than $300 million at the box office this year, the country's film credits have grown to include last year's Netflix production "True Memoirs of an International Assassin," as well as "47 Meters Down," which stars Mandy Moore and opens in the U.S. on Friday.
There are small-screen offerings as well, including the Turkish version of the competition series "Survivor," which moved from the Philippines to the Dominican Republic's Samana area in the north, as well as the Greek version of the same program, which is moving from Argentina's Patagonian region, and a Swedish production of "The Bachelor."
All or part of 45 foreign productions, including full-length movies, documentaries and reality TV shows, were filmed here last year. There were another 20 full-length movies for the domestic market, compared to three in 2010.
In the past, the country played host to some notable films. Parts of "Apocalypse Now" were filmed here as were scenes in "Godfather II" representing Cuba. In the 2006 movie adaptation of "Miami Vice," the Dominican Republic stood in for Haiti, the other country occupying the island of Hispaniola. Those occasional productions inspired former President Leonel Fernandez, who was looking for ways to diversify the economy and bring jobs to the country of more than 10 million.
"That bit of investment in the Dominican Republic without any type of incentives motivated the president," said Omar de la Cruz, who served on an advisory board that helped launch a more concerted effort to attract the film industry.
In 2010, the government established tax credits for productions costing at least $500,000 and exemptions on such things as import duties for audiovisual equipment. The movie "A Dark Truth," starring Andy Garcia, was the first to take advantage of the new law in 2011.
In addition to the incentives and marketing, universities in the Dominican Republic began offering courses to provide the technical skills that production companies could use to find the local production and technical workers they are required to hire under the law. In 2013, the prominent Vicini family opened Lantica Media, which operates what it describes as the Caribbean's most modern studio and sound stage facilities in a partnership with Britain's Pinewood Studios.
Among the movies that Lantica Media worked on is "xXx: Return of Xander Cage," which required hiring 300 local people with technical skills, providing valuable experience for them to work in future major productions, said Rafael Nunez, a production director at the company's location in San Pedro de Macoris on the southern coast. The facilities were also used in "47 Meters Down" and "True Memoirs of an International Assassin."
Marichal credits some of the success to the country's varied landscape. "It is incredible how we have almost all ecosystems on this little island," she said. "The only thing we lack is snow but for that we have studios."
The benefits are difficult to measure, but Marichal's office says that film production in 2016 injected nearly $87 million into the economy and created 4,000 direct jobs. Most lucrative for the country are the long-running reality TV series, which bring crews staying six months or more at a time. There is also the benefit of promoting the country, already among the Caribbean's top tourist destinations.
"It encourages me to see how much the Dominican Republic has achieved in so little time," Marichal said.
Dominican Republic dreams of becoming Caribbean Hollywood
newsok.com |
3 mins read
In this May 26, 2017 photo, the Dominican Film Federation booth stands at the 70th international film festival in Cannes, southern France. The government agency's pavilion promoted the country’s varied landscape along with tax breaks and other incentives to lure film companies from other destinations, including other parts of the Caribbean or the U.S. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — In the opening scenes of the latest Vin Diesel action movie, troops in the Dominican Republic chase the hero through a rainforest and down a twisty mountain road. But in real life, the government is doing all it can to welcome the Hollywood star — or anyone else who wants to produce a film in this Caribbean country.
The filming here of some scenes from "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" is a sign of progress in efforts to persuade the film industry to use the Dominican Republic's lush mountains, white-sand beaches and colonial architecture as a backdrop.
"Now, we are on the map," said Yvette Marichal, director of a government agency created in 2010 to woo film production companies to the country and to regulate their activities here.
Marichal spoke in a recent interview after returning from the Cannes Film Festival, where her agency had a pavilion promoting the country's varied landscape along with tax breaks and other incentives to lure companies from other destinations, including other parts of the Caribbean or the U.S.
Besides the Vin Diesel action flick, which grossed more than $300 million at the box office this year, the country's film credits have grown to include last year's Netflix production "True Memoirs of an International Assassin," as well as "47 Meters Down," which stars Mandy Moore and opens in the U.S. on Friday.
There are small-screen offerings as well, including the Turkish version of the competition series "Survivor," which moved from the Philippines to the Dominican Republic's Samana area in the north, as well as the Greek version of the same program, which is moving from Argentina's Patagonian region, and a Swedish production of "The Bachelor."
All or part of 45 foreign productions, including full-length movies, documentaries and reality TV shows, were filmed here last year. There were another 20 full-length movies for the domestic market, compared to three in 2010.
In the past, the country played host to some notable films. Parts of "Apocalypse Now" were filmed here as were scenes in "Godfather II" representing Cuba. In the 2006 movie adaptation of "Miami Vice," the Dominican Republic stood in for Haiti, the other country occupying the island of Hispaniola. Those occasional productions inspired former President Leonel Fernandez, who was looking for ways to diversify the economy and bring jobs to the country of more than 10 million.
"That bit of investment in the Dominican Republic without any type of incentives motivated the president," said Omar de la Cruz, who served on an advisory board that helped launch a more concerted effort to attract the film industry.
In 2010, the government established tax credits for productions costing at least $500,000 and exemptions on such things as import duties for audiovisual equipment. The movie "A Dark Truth," starring Andy Garcia, was the first to take advantage of the new law in 2011.
In addition to the incentives and marketing, universities in the Dominican Republic began offering courses to provide the technical skills that production companies could use to find the local production and technical workers they are required to hire under the law. In 2013, the prominent Vicini family opened Lantica Media, which operates what it describes as the Caribbean's most modern studio and sound stage facilities in a partnership with Britain's Pinewood Studios.
Among the movies that Lantica Media worked on is "xXx: Return of Xander Cage," which required hiring 300 local people with technical skills, providing valuable experience for them to work in future major productions, said Rafael Nunez, a production director at the company's location in San Pedro de Macoris on the southern coast. The facilities were also used in "47 Meters Down" and "True Memoirs of an International Assassin."
Marichal credits some of the success to the country's varied landscape. "It is incredible how we have almost all ecosystems on this little island," she said. "The only thing we lack is snow but for that we have studios."
The benefits are difficult to measure, but Marichal's office says that film production in 2016 injected nearly $87 million into the economy and created 4,000 direct jobs. Most lucrative for the country are the long-running reality TV series, which bring crews staying six months or more at a time. There is also the benefit of promoting the country, already among the Caribbean's top tourist destinations.
"It encourages me to see how much the Dominican Republic has achieved in so little time," Marichal said.
https://news.impactalpha.com/centra...-deals-vcs-back-immigration-tech-533bbc1d877c
Central America and the Caribbean have not generally been considered a global growth story. But relative stability, young and growing populations, GDP-growth that outpaces that of the U.S., and a dearth of capital for entrepreneurs suggest opportunities for investors in the region’s 20 countries. Delivery of essential services for the poor and emerging-middle classes in Central America and the Caribbean would appear to be a growth industry.
Antigua, Guatemala, will be the meeting ground next week for investors and new and growing ventures taking on the region’s health, energy, education, food and housing challenges. The occasion is the Latin America Impact Investing Forum, or FLII, hosted by social venture-incubator Alterna Impact November 8–9. The FLII will bring together more than 300 local leaders, investors and entrepreneurs looking to mobilize even more capital than the approximately $400 million impact investors placed in Central America in 2014 and 2015 combined.
Read, “A dozen founders and funders to watch in Central America and the Caribbean,” by Dennis Price on ImpactAlpha:
A dozen founders and funders to watch in Central America and the Caribbean
Who’s who at next week’s gathering in Antigua of the region’s emerging impact ecosystemnews.impactalpha.com
There’s still time to register for the FLII Central America and the Caribbean. Use code IMPACTALPHA_NETWORK_50 for a 50% discount:
FLII CA&C
Alterna organiza la tercera edición del Foro Latinoamericano de Inversión de Impacto Centroamérica y el Caribe - FLII…www.eventbrite.com
#Dealflow: Follow the Money
Aqua-Spark backs aquaculture ventures Proteon Pharmaceuticals and Cryoocyte. The Dutch aquaculture fund has made 15 sustainable aquaculture investments over the last two years. Poland-based Proteon has developed an antibiotic-free method of killing bacteria like salmonella in fish and poultry. Aqua-Spark was the sole investor in its $4.1 million Series A round. “We’ve been looking at disease-battling companies from the beginning,” Aqua-Spark co-founder Mike Velings told AgFunderNews. Aqua-Spark also co-led (with Vodia Ventures) the $4 million Series A round for Cryoocyte, which is working on technology for freezing fish eggs. The technology could be important in preserving long-term biodiversity in aquaculture.
Investors back peer-to-peer lenders LenDen Club and CASHe. Peer-to-peer lending, in which individuals provide small loans to other individuals, has taken off in India since the country “demonetized” last year, removing existing 500- and 1,000-rupee notes from circulation. Lending app CASHe, which provides short-term personal loans of $150 to $1,500 to salaried young professionals, raised $3 million in debt financing from IFMR capital (after raising a $3.8 million equity round in April). LenDen Club, which also provides personal loans, raised $500,000 from an undisclosed investor. The company has handled transactions worth 170 million rupees ($2.6 million) in the past three years. About 30 peer-to-peer startups operate in India; some have reported doubling loan originations since demonetization.
UBS introduces impact equities fund. The Swiss bank is the latest to roll out a stock fund aimed at positive social and environmental impacts. UBS pledged earlier this year to commit $5 billion towards the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and raised $325 million for TPG Growth’s $2 billion The Rise Fund. UBS Asset Management’s open-ended impact fund will target 40 to 80 companies focused on “solutions to global challenges such as climate change, air pollution, clean water and water scarcity, treatment of disease and food security,” International Investment reports. Standard Life launched its Global Equity Impact Fund last week.
See all of ImpactAlpha’s recent #dealflow. Send deal tips and news to thebrief@impactalpha.com.
#Signals: Ahead of the Curve
Venture capitalists are investing in immigration tech. More than half the founders of $1 billion U.S. startups were born abroad (see, “Immigrants and the American Economy). An Obama-era rule, postponed by the Trump administration, would have given foreign-born entrepreneurs access to special visas. The National Venture Capital Association and other entrepreneurs in September filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court to save the rule. Now, some VCs are putting their money where their mouths are. Catalyst Investors, a $1-billion New-York-based firm, recently led a $21 million round for Envoy Global, which helps employers navigate immigration and visa procedures for foreign-born workers. (General Catalyst, based in Cambridge, Mass., with $3.7 billion in assets, joined the round.) Unshackled Ventures, backed by Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective, is looking to invest $25 million in foreign-born entrepreneurs by hiring them as students, taking over their visa process and backing their startup ideas with $300,000. Crunchbase has rounded up eight other VCs that together have invested more $50 million in seven immigration-related startups: 500 Startups, CIT GAP Funds, ff Venture Capital, First Round Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Pelion Venture Partners, and RRE Ventures.
#2030: Long-Termism
How high is your carbon footprint? Check your ZIP code. Urban sprawl is pushing up levels of greenhouse gases even as cities get more green. A UC Berkeley study found that population-dense cities contribute less greenhouse-gas emissions per person than other areas of the U.S. The average carbon footprints in the cities’ networks of suburbs can be twice the average. “Unfortunately, while the most populous metropolitan areas tend to have the lowest carbon footprint centers, they also tend to have the most extensive high-carbon footprint suburbs,” said grad student Christopher Jones, who worked on the study. (This interactive map shows average annual household carbon footprint by U.S. ZIP code.)
Mayors of a dozen cities around the world have signed the C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration, pledging to get their cities to zero-emissions by 2030. But cities also need to look for ways to contain urban growth to ensure that future development is both dense and green. In the developing world, the per capita numbers are much lower, but tend to follow a similar pattern. Household income, vehicle ownership, and home size contribute to larger carbon footprints; all are considerably higher in the suburbs. Increasing suburban density alone won’t help. Dense suburbs have significantly higher carbon footprints than less dense ones, the researchers found, largely because of higher incomes and greater consumption. They also tend to generate their own — you guessed it — high-carbon suburbs.
Onward! Please send news and comments to TheBrief@impactalpha.com.
Central America and the Caribbean have not generally been considered a global growth story. But relative stability, young and growing populations, GDP-growth that outpaces that of the U.S., and a dearth of capital for entrepreneurs suggest opportunities for investors in the region’s 20 countries. Delivery of essential services for the poor and emerging-middle classes in Central America and the Caribbean would appear to be a growth industry.
Antigua, Guatemala, will be the meeting ground next week for investors and new and growing ventures taking on the region’s health, energy, education, food and housing challenges. The occasion is the Latin America Impact Investing Forum, or FLII, hosted by social venture-incubator Alterna Impact November 8–9. The FLII will bring together more than 300 local leaders, investors and entrepreneurs looking to mobilize even more capital than the approximately $400 million impact investors placed in Central America in 2014 and 2015 combined.
Read, “A dozen founders and funders to watch in Central America and the Caribbean,” by Dennis Price on ImpactAlpha:
A dozen founders and funders to watch in Central America and the Caribbean
Who’s who at next week’s gathering in Antigua of the region’s emerging impact ecosystemnews.impactalpha.com
There’s still time to register for the FLII Central America and the Caribbean. Use code IMPACTALPHA_NETWORK_50 for a 50% discount:
FLII CA&C
Alterna organiza la tercera edición del Foro Latinoamericano de Inversión de Impacto Centroamérica y el Caribe - FLII…www.eventbrite.com
#Dealflow: Follow the Money
Aqua-Spark backs aquaculture ventures Proteon Pharmaceuticals and Cryoocyte. The Dutch aquaculture fund has made 15 sustainable aquaculture investments over the last two years. Poland-based Proteon has developed an antibiotic-free method of killing bacteria like salmonella in fish and poultry. Aqua-Spark was the sole investor in its $4.1 million Series A round. “We’ve been looking at disease-battling companies from the beginning,” Aqua-Spark co-founder Mike Velings told AgFunderNews. Aqua-Spark also co-led (with Vodia Ventures) the $4 million Series A round for Cryoocyte, which is working on technology for freezing fish eggs. The technology could be important in preserving long-term biodiversity in aquaculture.
Investors back peer-to-peer lenders LenDen Club and CASHe. Peer-to-peer lending, in which individuals provide small loans to other individuals, has taken off in India since the country “demonetized” last year, removing existing 500- and 1,000-rupee notes from circulation. Lending app CASHe, which provides short-term personal loans of $150 to $1,500 to salaried young professionals, raised $3 million in debt financing from IFMR capital (after raising a $3.8 million equity round in April). LenDen Club, which also provides personal loans, raised $500,000 from an undisclosed investor. The company has handled transactions worth 170 million rupees ($2.6 million) in the past three years. About 30 peer-to-peer startups operate in India; some have reported doubling loan originations since demonetization.
UBS introduces impact equities fund. The Swiss bank is the latest to roll out a stock fund aimed at positive social and environmental impacts. UBS pledged earlier this year to commit $5 billion towards the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and raised $325 million for TPG Growth’s $2 billion The Rise Fund. UBS Asset Management’s open-ended impact fund will target 40 to 80 companies focused on “solutions to global challenges such as climate change, air pollution, clean water and water scarcity, treatment of disease and food security,” International Investment reports. Standard Life launched its Global Equity Impact Fund last week.
See all of ImpactAlpha’s recent #dealflow. Send deal tips and news to thebrief@impactalpha.com.
#Signals: Ahead of the Curve
Venture capitalists are investing in immigration tech. More than half the founders of $1 billion U.S. startups were born abroad (see, “Immigrants and the American Economy). An Obama-era rule, postponed by the Trump administration, would have given foreign-born entrepreneurs access to special visas. The National Venture Capital Association and other entrepreneurs in September filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court to save the rule. Now, some VCs are putting their money where their mouths are. Catalyst Investors, a $1-billion New-York-based firm, recently led a $21 million round for Envoy Global, which helps employers navigate immigration and visa procedures for foreign-born workers. (General Catalyst, based in Cambridge, Mass., with $3.7 billion in assets, joined the round.) Unshackled Ventures, backed by Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective, is looking to invest $25 million in foreign-born entrepreneurs by hiring them as students, taking over their visa process and backing their startup ideas with $300,000. Crunchbase has rounded up eight other VCs that together have invested more $50 million in seven immigration-related startups: 500 Startups, CIT GAP Funds, ff Venture Capital, First Round Capital, Globespan Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Pelion Venture Partners, and RRE Ventures.
#2030: Long-Termism
How high is your carbon footprint? Check your ZIP code. Urban sprawl is pushing up levels of greenhouse gases even as cities get more green. A UC Berkeley study found that population-dense cities contribute less greenhouse-gas emissions per person than other areas of the U.S. The average carbon footprints in the cities’ networks of suburbs can be twice the average. “Unfortunately, while the most populous metropolitan areas tend to have the lowest carbon footprint centers, they also tend to have the most extensive high-carbon footprint suburbs,” said grad student Christopher Jones, who worked on the study. (This interactive map shows average annual household carbon footprint by U.S. ZIP code.)
Mayors of a dozen cities around the world have signed the C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration, pledging to get their cities to zero-emissions by 2030. But cities also need to look for ways to contain urban growth to ensure that future development is both dense and green. In the developing world, the per capita numbers are much lower, but tend to follow a similar pattern. Household income, vehicle ownership, and home size contribute to larger carbon footprints; all are considerably higher in the suburbs. Increasing suburban density alone won’t help. Dense suburbs have significantly higher carbon footprints than less dense ones, the researchers found, largely because of higher incomes and greater consumption. They also tend to generate their own — you guessed it — high-carbon suburbs.
Onward! Please send news and comments to TheBrief@impactalpha.com.
The BAP Panel wants to increase the black community’s influence on the market
By Luana Dalmolin | October 17 2017
Luanna Teófilo, like most blacks, was a victim of racism in the company where she worked. The episode served as motivation to bet on her business (photo: Luis Simione).
“Take them out!” ordered the general manager of a leading international corporate communications company. It was September 2016. Luanna Teofillo, 36, worked in the business area of such a company when she was discriminated against by her then chief in front of the entire team. The “them” referred to her braids. That same day, when she returned home, she looked at her wish list and decided it was time to invest in her dream: opening a consumer panel specializing in the Afro-oriented public. A year ago, the BAP Panel (from the expression in English ‘Black American Princess’, which is used to refer to middle-class black women) took its first steps.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
The episode had a series of developments that led to Luanna’s dismissal (she was literally escorted out of the company in front of the entire office) and a labor action brought against her by the company. The first hearing took place in July this year and her struggle is to make her case emblematic of institutional racism. At the time, Luanna created a page on Facebook and the hashtag #tiraisso, which she used to talk about her story, as well as gathering reports of discrimination in corporate environments and which was eventually taken down due to a civil action brought by her former boss.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
It is a fact that the whole thing ended up boosting Luanna’s desire to strengthen the voice of the black community and increase its influence in the market. Her intention is to bring diversity to research and evangelize the market and she says:
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
“It’s not always useful to do general research. There are codes to communicate with the Afro public”
She cites a few examples of products and services that, according to her assessment, were shipwrecked for not listening to the opinion of its target audience, as is the case of the TV series produced by the Globo TV network, Sexo e as Negas (Sex and the Negresses), which was accused of portraying blacks stereotypically and even in a racist manner. “This scenario is starting to show signs of change with companies investing in research with a racial slant, such as Airbnb, in which we participate. I see these cases as opportunities to open the dialogue and get closer to these companies,” she says.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
Currently, the BAP Panel has a base of 5,000 registrations, aiming to reach 10,000 panelists by December of this year, and has delivered more than 5,000 researches. Its main business partner is a Swedish company called Cint, which provides respondents for surveys of customers such as Airbnb, Netflix, Uber, Nestlé, Asics, Nike, Google, Facebook, Subway among others, Brazilian and international. The average cost for the customer that contracts the Panel is 12 reais per sample.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
Subscribers also receive their share (the fee ranges from $0.50 to $2.50 per survey), and when they accumulate $12.50 they can redeem the amount via PayPal or else choose a product or service from an Afro entrepreneur in the BAP Store. This model integrates the “cycle of prosperity” that the business proposes.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
UBUNTU: STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIPS TO CREATE A CYCLE OF PROSPERITY
In practice, the panel establishes a bridge between companies that need to better understand their consumer, the people who want to give their opinions and the Afro entrepreneurs. This is the application of the Ubuntu Africanist principle for business. The BAP Panel model was inspired by a solution she developed while working as a panel manager for a consumer panel in Paris, where she lived from 2010 to 2012 and where she did a Master’s degree in Linguistics at the Sorbonne University. It was in this company that she came up with the idea of offering products as rewards to the panelists and, thus, keep the money circulating within the platform itself. With this project, the company received a French government investment for startups and Luanna had the insight of what would become her own business years later.
Luanna studied Linguistics at the University of Sorbonne in Paris, where she lived from 2010 to 2012. It was there that she acted as panel manager of a panel of consumers and gained experience in this segment.
The BAP Store initiative, which is part of the panel, took shape a little earlier. It was 2013 when on a trip to New York, Luanna became aware of the size of the black community market and came across products of all kinds. With a stuffed bag, she returned to Brazil, announced the products on a Facebook page, organized bazaars and parties and soon saw the products run out. She perceived a niche there. It was the beginning of the BAP Store, which today has six fixed partners. For the future, the idea is to stop being just an e-commerce and a BAP Panel rewards center to become a marketplace, where each Afro entrepreneur will have their own virtual store within the BAP universe.
DESIGNING THE FUTURE: EXPANDING THE ACTION AND ENLARGING THE PARTNER NETWORK
The Panel, which still operates at MVP, has been compiling an average growth of 138% per month in its main metrics, which include the number of active participants, survey respondents and response rate, which now ranges from 35% to 45%. The next steps envisage the expansion of the network of panelists and partners for the BAP Store. For this, Luanna has a powerful network that she has built over the years. From the blog Efigênias, which talks about cultura negra (black culture), to the ecosystem of startups of which it is part of the mentoring program, Black Rocks. It was also through Black Rocks that she reunited with Adriana Barbosa, of Feira Preta, and received an invitation to attend the Mulheres Digitais (Digital Women) event. “I have a network of Afro entrepreneurs and professionals who help me develop my ideas and strengthen this system,” she says.
Among the short-term goals are to increase the panelist’s useful life and response rate. Some of its bets are to raffle products, shorten reward redemption times, and award points to panelists who recommend the Panel. In addition, it aims to broaden its support for cultural initiatives, as is the case of the play É samba na veia, é Candeia: anyone who signs up for the BAP Panel through the exclusive link of the play competes for a couple of tickets for the show, and each subscription made reverts to financial support for the performance of the show. Another example of an initiative supported by the Panel is the independent site Alma Preta. It is worth checking the interview with Luanna for the portal, which tells a little about her trajectory, here.
Expanding the performance of the BAP Panel is also among its plans, which has already begun to become a reality. Recently, in July of this year, another venture was born, part of the BAP universe, the B4B (BAP for Business), the market research arm. The first survey was on the employability of the população preta (black population), carried out in partnership with EmpregueAfro and Etnus Consultoria e Planejamento. It was the first time that three black-owned startups conducted a study of the type in Brazil and it was presented at the Whow Innovation Festival. Later this month, another research will come out of the oven and will address the Afro-descendant and political theme, with the participation of the Zumbi dos Palmares University. And so Luanna is steadfast in her life purpose.
DRAFT CARD
By Luana Dalmolin | October 17 2017
Luanna Teófilo, like most blacks, was a victim of racism in the company where she worked. The episode served as motivation to bet on her business (photo: Luis Simione).
“Take them out!” ordered the general manager of a leading international corporate communications company. It was September 2016. Luanna Teofillo, 36, worked in the business area of such a company when she was discriminated against by her then chief in front of the entire team. The “them” referred to her braids. That same day, when she returned home, she looked at her wish list and decided it was time to invest in her dream: opening a consumer panel specializing in the Afro-oriented public. A year ago, the BAP Panel (from the expression in English ‘Black American Princess’, which is used to refer to middle-class black women) took its first steps.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
The episode had a series of developments that led to Luanna’s dismissal (she was literally escorted out of the company in front of the entire office) and a labor action brought against her by the company. The first hearing took place in July this year and her struggle is to make her case emblematic of institutional racism. At the time, Luanna created a page on Facebook and the hashtag #tiraisso, which she used to talk about her story, as well as gathering reports of discrimination in corporate environments and which was eventually taken down due to a civil action brought by her former boss.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
It is a fact that the whole thing ended up boosting Luanna’s desire to strengthen the voice of the black community and increase its influence in the market. Her intention is to bring diversity to research and evangelize the market and she says:
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
“It’s not always useful to do general research. There are codes to communicate with the Afro public”
She cites a few examples of products and services that, according to her assessment, were shipwrecked for not listening to the opinion of its target audience, as is the case of the TV series produced by the Globo TV network, Sexo e as Negas (Sex and the Negresses), which was accused of portraying blacks stereotypically and even in a racist manner. “This scenario is starting to show signs of change with companies investing in research with a racial slant, such as Airbnb, in which we participate. I see these cases as opportunities to open the dialogue and get closer to these companies,” she says.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
Currently, the BAP Panel has a base of 5,000 registrations, aiming to reach 10,000 panelists by December of this year, and has delivered more than 5,000 researches. Its main business partner is a Swedish company called Cint, which provides respondents for surveys of customers such as Airbnb, Netflix, Uber, Nestlé, Asics, Nike, Google, Facebook, Subway among others, Brazilian and international. The average cost for the customer that contracts the Panel is 12 reais per sample.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
Subscribers also receive their share (the fee ranges from $0.50 to $2.50 per survey), and when they accumulate $12.50 they can redeem the amount via PayPal or else choose a product or service from an Afro entrepreneur in the BAP Store. This model integrates the “cycle of prosperity” that the business proposes.
https://www.painelbap.com.br/
UBUNTU: STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIPS TO CREATE A CYCLE OF PROSPERITY
In practice, the panel establishes a bridge between companies that need to better understand their consumer, the people who want to give their opinions and the Afro entrepreneurs. This is the application of the Ubuntu Africanist principle for business. The BAP Panel model was inspired by a solution she developed while working as a panel manager for a consumer panel in Paris, where she lived from 2010 to 2012 and where she did a Master’s degree in Linguistics at the Sorbonne University. It was in this company that she came up with the idea of offering products as rewards to the panelists and, thus, keep the money circulating within the platform itself. With this project, the company received a French government investment for startups and Luanna had the insight of what would become her own business years later.
Luanna studied Linguistics at the University of Sorbonne in Paris, where she lived from 2010 to 2012. It was there that she acted as panel manager of a panel of consumers and gained experience in this segment.
The BAP Store initiative, which is part of the panel, took shape a little earlier. It was 2013 when on a trip to New York, Luanna became aware of the size of the black community market and came across products of all kinds. With a stuffed bag, she returned to Brazil, announced the products on a Facebook page, organized bazaars and parties and soon saw the products run out. She perceived a niche there. It was the beginning of the BAP Store, which today has six fixed partners. For the future, the idea is to stop being just an e-commerce and a BAP Panel rewards center to become a marketplace, where each Afro entrepreneur will have their own virtual store within the BAP universe.
DESIGNING THE FUTURE: EXPANDING THE ACTION AND ENLARGING THE PARTNER NETWORK
The Panel, which still operates at MVP, has been compiling an average growth of 138% per month in its main metrics, which include the number of active participants, survey respondents and response rate, which now ranges from 35% to 45%. The next steps envisage the expansion of the network of panelists and partners for the BAP Store. For this, Luanna has a powerful network that she has built over the years. From the blog Efigênias, which talks about cultura negra (black culture), to the ecosystem of startups of which it is part of the mentoring program, Black Rocks. It was also through Black Rocks that she reunited with Adriana Barbosa, of Feira Preta, and received an invitation to attend the Mulheres Digitais (Digital Women) event. “I have a network of Afro entrepreneurs and professionals who help me develop my ideas and strengthen this system,” she says.
Among the short-term goals are to increase the panelist’s useful life and response rate. Some of its bets are to raffle products, shorten reward redemption times, and award points to panelists who recommend the Panel. In addition, it aims to broaden its support for cultural initiatives, as is the case of the play É samba na veia, é Candeia: anyone who signs up for the BAP Panel through the exclusive link of the play competes for a couple of tickets for the show, and each subscription made reverts to financial support for the performance of the show. Another example of an initiative supported by the Panel is the independent site Alma Preta. It is worth checking the interview with Luanna for the portal, which tells a little about her trajectory, here.
Expanding the performance of the BAP Panel is also among its plans, which has already begun to become a reality. Recently, in July of this year, another venture was born, part of the BAP universe, the B4B (BAP for Business), the market research arm. The first survey was on the employability of the população preta (black population), carried out in partnership with EmpregueAfro and Etnus Consultoria e Planejamento. It was the first time that three black-owned startups conducted a study of the type in Brazil and it was presented at the Whow Innovation Festival. Later this month, another research will come out of the oven and will address the Afro-descendant and political theme, with the participation of the Zumbi dos Palmares University. And so Luanna is steadfast in her life purpose.
DRAFT CARD
- Project: Painel BAP
- What it does: provides respondents for market research, with an enfasis on Afro public
- Partner(s): Luanna Teófilo
- Staff: 1 (the partner)
- Headquarters: São Paulo
- Beginning of activities: September 2016
- Initial investment: R$ 30 thousand
- Billing: NI
- Contact: contato@painelbap.com.br
mbewane
Knicks: 93 til infinity
The 2nd edition of the Ateliers de la Pensée just ended in Dakar. It's basically meetings organized by economist Felwinne Sarr (who I've talked about before) and Philosopher Achille Mbembe on all issues around Africa and its diaspora, they had like 30 or 40 economists, philosophers, writers, politicians, social activists, etc...discuss Africa and it's future. It pisses me off because it's like a huge movement happening among french-speaking Africans but there seems to have been no coverage at all in english, not that I'm surprised by that.
I just found this article about Felwinne Sarr's book which, it seems, is STILL not translated in english...We should justify ourselves no more: Felwine Sarr’s Afrotopia
I'll keep trying to find info in english. Though I know Achille Mbembe is translated, really worth checking out.
I just found this article about Felwinne Sarr's book which, it seems, is STILL not translated in english...We should justify ourselves no more: Felwine Sarr’s Afrotopia
I'll keep trying to find info in english. Though I know Achille Mbembe is translated, really worth checking out.
@Diasporan Royalty have you been to Haiti?
Just asking