Brazil’s annual congress for credit co-operatives, Concred, brought together over 6,000 in-person and online participants to explore the role of co-ops as sustainable and inclusive economic models.
Organised by apex Confebras in collaboration with finance co-op Sicoob, the event took place on 7-9 August in Belo Horizonte, the capital of southeastern state Minas Gerais. Over 70 organisations supported the conference.
Brazil is home to 779 credit co-operatives employing 100,000 people. Recent data from the Brazilian Central Bank shows the number of members of credit co-ops has increased in recent years, from 17 million in 2022 to 19 million in 2023, including individuals (around 80%) and companies.
The country’s long co-operative history was the focus of Financial co-ops: history, perspectives and challenges (Cooperativismo Financiero, Percurso histórico, perspectivas e desafios), a recent book by Ênio Meinen, director of systemic coordination, sustainability and institutional relations at Sicoob; and Marcio Port, president of Sicredi South/Southeast Central. Both made keynote speeches urging more people to write about co-ops.
Their book looks at the credit co-ops in Brazil and worldwide, compares co-ops with other business models, looks at legal frameworks and suggests ways forward to deal with challenges facing the sector.
“What motivated the early day pioneers still applies today,” said Port. In a changing world, he added, co-ops must find a way to drive technological innovation while navigating the challenges it poses, including regarding privacy and ethics.
Writer and philosopher Lúcia Helena Galvão delved into this topic during her keynote, highlighting that humans must evolve with technology. Quoting Plato, she argued that inadequate knowledge is worse than total ignorance. Selfishness and self-interest can lead to the regress of humanity, she warned, despite technological innovations – but learning to win together can form the basis for a “humanised technology”.
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Her tips for co-ops as they adopt new technology were to learn to reject things that are violent or dehumanising; define goals, taking into account their values; accept life as it is and explore opportunities; maintain internal serenity/tranquillity, consulting their values and principles; be responsible and generous; promote unity, harmony and fraternity; and reflect on how to advance technology in favour of humanity.
During another session, Gestão de Travessia offered advice on how co-ops can navigate crises. A facilitator, educator and writer, de Travessia encouraged co-ops to “embrace the chaos”, “relax, and start navigating the waters”. She added that overcoming crises requires solidarity and resilience as well as discovering new ways of doing things and helping people maximise their wellbeing.
The conference featured over 100 experts, including British writer John Elkington, considered the father of the concept of sustainability, who talked about his most recent book: Green Swans: The Next Boom of Regenerative Capitalism.
“We live in an exponential world, in which new technologies have driven important social changes, very quickly and disruptively,” he said. “Suffice it to say that in the last 15 years, the world has changed much more than in the previous 50 years.”
To survive in this volatile, uncertain and complex time, he thinks it is necessary to reinvent capitalism to make it more ethical and responsible towards people and the environment. Co-operatives, he said, are important agents of transformation in a new world that values human and sustainable businesses.
“Co-operatives, especially credit co-operatives, give me a lot of hope for the future because they really care about sustainability,” he said. “I see that they have been committed to people and the planet long before this issue gained popularity and relevance. So much so that co-operatives are leading the way in granting microcredit in different countries, including Brazil.”
The UN declaration that 2025 will be the International Year of Cooperatives offers the sector a golden opportunity to improve its visibility, he said. “We need to take advantage of this moment to better publicise what you do, especially in relation to the ESG [environmental, social and governance] agenda.”
Delegates were also offered advice on how to promote an organisational culture that drives sustainability. Estevan Sartorelli, co-founder of Dengo Chocolates, encouraged co-ops to spend time examining the culture, values, practices, and behaviours within their organisations. What matters is not how much people know about sustainability, he said, but how they put into practice the little they know.
In practical terms, co-op leaders should know the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) and familiarise themselves with the Agenda for 2030, he said. They should then identify the SDGs directly related their business and establish targets and indicators for their business, put in practice the little they know about the SDGs, communicate what they do, and monitor impact.
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Sartorelli said Dengo Chocolates emphasised SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production), by focusing on sustainable agriculture and working towards a more just and sustainable supply chain.
The conference also explored the topic of regulation – high on the agenda of credit unions worldwide. Ailton de Aquino Santo, director of legislation and regulation supervision at the Central Bank of Brazil, argued that financial co-ops will remain on the Central Bank’s strategy agenda due to their role in increasing transparency, education, and competitiveness. The support provided by financial co-ops to their communities during Covid-19 also boosted their growth, he said.
The Central Bank has a range of tech tools that can help financial co-ops develop – such as Pix, an instant payment platform created to cut costs and democratise access to electronic payments in Brazil. Co-ops are working to integrate the Pix system, said Santo.
Another Central Bank initiative is Open Finance, through which the regulator aims to bring innovation to the financial system, promote competition, and improve the offer of financial products and services.
Santo said he was not sure financial co-ops were fully using this opportunity, adding that the initiative could help financial institutions open more new accounts, with those using it enjoying a 34% increase.
Similarly, the Central Bank is encouraging financial co-ops to use its Drex Platform, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) ecosystem, which, it says, can increase transaction speed and transparency.
Santo warned that digital transformations bring opportunities and challenges to the sector. And with 23.4% of people having credit only outside the co-op system, there is scope to expand the member base – especially in the North-East region, where credit co-ops do not currently operate. Co-ops can also grow by expanding into new products and services, he said.
In terms of risk, Santo warned co-ops to paying attention to costs while expanding, reforming governance so more women can take senior executive roles, managing tech challenges such as cybersecurity, and co-operating for greater scale and efficiency.
One initiative to boost inter co-operation between the country’s co-ops is already under way with Confebras UNE, a platform for co-ops to share ideas, practices, and trade. Describing the project, Telma Galletti, superintendent at Confebras Une, argued co-ops can gain economies of scale and cut costs by using the platform. The working group leading the project comprises representatives from different Brazilian co-op sectors and federations.
In another session, Brazilian economist and author Eduardo Giannetti shared his view on some of the macroeconomic challenges facing the country’s businesses, including co-ops. He highlighted three key trends: globalisation starting to slow; the end of low inflation; and a slowdown in China’s economic growth.
He expects India and Indonesia to become fundamental markets, and told co-op leaders to turn this to their advantage by increasing exports and international trade.
