O deb re cht 's social p rojects create development oppo rtunities for ...

was to become as trustworthy for them as they were
for me. When the Odebrecht Group was founded in
1944, I inherited a liability - Emílio Odebrecht & Cia.’s
debts – and an asset in the form of these supervisors.
Guided by intuition, I proposed that they work as my
partners, sharing results instead of merely receiving
wages. Those men decided to respect a recently graduated
engineer, and over time they learned to tru s t
him. The results soon showed that my hunch was right:
t h rough decentralization, planned delegation and
partnerships, we were able to pay off the debts, consolidate
a successful company and ensure that the older
supervisors had the wherewithal to re t i re with peace
of mind. Since then, I have become convinced that it
is possible to establish a virtuous cycle in which discipline
generates respect, which is the basis for
strengthening trust.
O I – Going back to sustainable development, how is
that concept being applied to the Odebrecht Found
a t i o n ’s work?
NO – The Odebrecht Foundation is active in the field of
local development in partnership with the Ay rton Senna
Institute, the Kellogg Foundation and the BNDES
(national socioeconomic development bank). We are
concentrating on three regions of the Brazilian nort h-
east: the Middle Jaguaribe, in the semi-arid region of
Ceará; the Goitá Basin, in the transitional area between
the forested zone and desert backlands of Pern a m b u c o ;
and the Southern Lowlands of Bahia, about 150 km South
of Salvador, where the climate is predominantly humid.
In these three micro -
regions, the regional aspect
involves all the communities
in which action taken
to promote development is
decided on and successfully
implemented. In the case
of Bahia’s Southern Lowlands,
we are carrying out
p roduction chains for manioc
(cassava), aquaculture ,
and p u p u n h a(spiny peachpalm),
as well as establishing
a number of for- p ro f i t
and non-profit org a n i z a-
tions that focus on gro w i n g
and valorizing human,
social, productive and environmental
capital. Our aim
N o r b e rto Odebre c h t
N o r berto Odebrecht was born in the northea s tern Brazilian city of
Rec i fe in 1920. Fo u r teen years late r, he started working at his fa t h e r,
Emílio Odebrecht ’s co n s t ruction co m pany in Salva d o r, Bahia. In 1944, he
founded Co n s t ru t o ra Norberto Odebrecht. That is how the Odebrecht
G roup got its start.
N o r berto Odebrecht ’s first book, De que necessitamos? (What Do We
Need?), was published in 1968, marking the beginning of a series of
writings aimed at sys temizing the Odebrecht Entre p reneurial Tech n o l og y
(TEO), the set of philosophical co n cepts and principles that is the Odebrecht
G ro u p’s hallmark.
A f ter handing over the chairmanship of Odebrecht S.A.’s Board of
D i rectors to his son Emílio in 1998, Norberto became President of the
O d e b recht Foundation , an institution he hel ped found in 19 6 5 .
S i n ce he took the helm at the Foundation, he has become a sch o l a r
of the Third Sec t o r, to which he attributes a dec i s i ve role in the sea r ch fo r
solutions to the problems facing Brazil tod ay. Using his ex pe r i e n ce as an
e n t re p reneur and educator, he is helping hone the work of the Odebrecht
Foundation and the organizations it aids.
in this and the other regions included in this program is
to go beyond promoting “economic growth” and contribute
to the development and valorization of these four
kinds of capital.
O I – What is the final, essential objective of the Odeb
recht Foundation’s work?
NO – By operating a network of institutions made up
of the living forces in each region, we are seeking to
make an impossible dream possible through a vision
for the future and everything that enables us to change
p resent conditions and build a desirable future. To
make this happen, each of our projects is being followed
up on, evaluated and judged on the basis of its
contribution to the quality of life of its final beneficiaries.
Development re q u i res innovation. To innovate,
one must change people’s perceptions and behaviors.
Change requires more than individual development.
People must learn to develop together and adapt
to new conditions through dynamic partnerships that
are continually updated to keep pace with changing
needs, opportunities and situations.
O I – Could you conclude this interview with a summ
a ry of your views on development and social change?
NO – Development is synonymous with social development,
which presupposes social change. And social
changes arise from the right attitudes and behaviors,
which cannot be imposed from the outside. We cannot
bring about development through centralized or topdown
interventionist policies. Concepts like “top” and
“bottom” are no longer
applicable to modern socie
t y, which is organized as
a network, not a pyramid.
Instead of guiding people
we must trust them. And
when we put our trust in
people, we deconcentrate,
decentralize, delegate,
p a rtnerize, partake and
s h a re. Only then will it be
possible to create hope
and motivation, pro m o t e
the collective intelligence
and strengthen people’s
t rust. Once again, the society
of our dreams is a s o c i-
ety of tru s t with a minimum
of bure a u c r a c y.
august • 2003
Odebrecht Informa 5