South Summit: John Elkington and Luiza Helena Trajano are the highlights of the second day in Porto Alegre

John Elkington and Luiza Helena Trajano are the highlights of the second day of South Summit Brazil in Porto Alegre

Topics such as ESG and the presence of women in the innovation and business ecosystem were discussed throughout the day at Cais Mauá

The second day of the South Summit Brazil in Porto Alegre this Thursday (21) was marked by transforming Cais Mauá into a great space for debate around contemporary themes within the innovation and business ecosystem. Issues such as ESG and the presence of women in the world of entrepreneurship were among the highlights of the day, mainly through big names who took to the event’s stages. Among them were the British John Elkington, considered the “father” of sustainability, Luiza Helena Trajano, president of the Board of Directors of Magazine Luiza, and Tarciana Medeiros, president of Banco do Brasil.

Elkington was one of the highlights of the content journey at South Summit Brazil within the Innovation Session, signed by Rio Grande Seguros e Previdência. The Brit presented twice throughout the day, on the panels “Building business in a positive way” and “The capital of biodiversity” – this second alongside Lara Birkes, biodiversity and climate leader at Nature Tech Collective. On stage, Elkington delved deeper into the ESG topic, and believes that the planet will undergo many profound and positive transformations in the coming years, despite the great challenges the planet is currently going through.

“We have three major horizons within the area of sustainability: responsibility, resilience and regeneration. When I see scientists’ climate graphs, I confess that I get scared, we have never seen anything like this before. We know that we need to act in a short space of time in a sustainable and I believe that, in the next 10 or 15 years, we will see more changes on the planet than in the last 50. Many paradigms will be broken, and this is a challenge for all of us”, Elkington told the audience.

In the morning, one of the main topics at South Summit Brazil was the presence of women in the business world, a topic discussed by two of the country’s top executives today. Luiza Helena Trajano and Tarciana Medeiros were together on the panel “Reinventing the retail sector: how two Brazilian giants innovate and renew” and spoke about how two of today’s main national companies operate in a technological and digital world, and led by two female figures progressive and who broke barriers.

Tarciana Medeiros and Luiza Helena Trajano were together on one of the panels at South Summit Brazil. Credit: Thirty Seventeen | 3017 (@trintadezessete)

“We are prepared for this new post-pandemic moment, which has accelerated many things. We need to value our country. If we don’t do this, who will? Our spirit is very focused on entrepreneurship, we do a thousand things at the same time. We have potential very large. We don’t have earthquakes or other natural phenomena, and on the other hand we have a very rich and large culture”, said Luiza Helena, president of the Board of Directors of Magazine Luiza.

“Brazil is one of the biggest innovation hubs in the world. And the world needs to know what our country has. An event like South Summit Brazil takes a little of what we have to the planet. Banco do Brasil is a startup 215 years, and which is reinvented every day. I have been at Banco do Brasil for 24 years, and during this period I have followed 24 different banks. Technology is a reality in our daily lives. After the pandemic we are experiencing a process of digital acceleration, with the need to adapt very quickly”, said Tarciana Medeiros, the first female president in the history of Banco do Brasil, in more than 200 years.

Other attractions on the second day of South Summit Brazil were the Israeli Uri Levine, headliner of the program and who had already performed on Wednesday, as well as Paula Ganem, regional head of capital markets for Canada and Latin America at the Stock Exchange. New York Values; Guilherme Horn, CEO of WhatsApp; Nizan Guanaes, CEO of N.ideias; Alex Szapiro, managing partner at SoftBank LatAm; between others.

Ten Startup Competition finalists revealed

The Startup Competition, promoted within the South Summit Brazil program, took, this Thursday (21), another step towards finding out who the winners of the 2024 edition will be. In a new stage of the competition, the 10 startups that will compete were announced in the five categories (Highlight; Most Scalable; Most Innovative; Most Sustainable; and Best Team). Brazilian startups AlterVision, AmFi, Palenca, Ostera, CROMAI, IBBX and B4Waste were selected. The others are Evolution Intelligence Ltd. (Israel),  PhageLab (Chile) and Mitiga Solutions (Spain).

These 10 startups were selected after the 50 finalists of the Startup Competition presented their pitches to a committee of experts during the first two days of South Summit Brazil, at Cais Mauá. After evaluation, the two best startups were chosen within the five thematic pillars (Enterprise; Fintech; Health; Industry 5.0; and Sustainability & ESG).

Among the finalists, seven are from Brazil and the rest come from Israel, Chile and Spain. The winners will be announced at the event’s closing ceremony this Friday (22) afternoon.

The ten Startup Competition finalists gathered. Credit: Thirty Seventeen | 3017 (@trintadezessete)

Jeff Hoffman will be featured on the last day of South Summit Brazil

In addition to announcing the five winners of the Startup Competition, the last day of South Summit Brazil also hosts several panels that will debate and present current topics in the innovation and business ecosystem. One of the highlights of the journey will be headliner Jeff Hoffman, founder of Priceline.com/Booking.com, who will speak at the Innovation Session, signed by Rio Grande Seguros e Previdência. Other important names on this Friday’s schedule (22) will be Gabriela Comazzetto, general manager of TikTok’s global business solutions for Latin America; Thibaud Lecuyer, CEO of Loggi, one of the unicorns present at South Summit Brazil; Luana Ozemela, vice president of social impact at iFood; Marcos Piangers, CVO of Piangers Corp.; among other names.

About South Summit Brazil

A global meeting point between investment funds, companies and startups, South Summit Brazil arrived in Porto Alegre in 2022. It emerged in Madrid 11 years ago and has already generated 13 USD Bi raised by startups throughout the Startup Competition. In the 2023 edition, the 22 thousand square meters of area welcomed 50 countries, 3 thousand startups, 900 speakers, 150 sponsors, more than 100 investment funds, 30 of which were international, around 600 investors, which generated USD 19 billion in investment available for LATAM and USD 123 billion of funds under management. South Summit Brazil is co-organized by the Government of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and IE University, and will take place on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of March, at Cais Mauá.