Rio 2016 Committee Supports Small Businesses to Boost Sustainability

The Olympic Games Organizing Committee in Rio wants to create a record for holding the most sustainable Olympic Games ever. According to CEBDS, the Brazilian partner organization of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Games are helping to accelerate the spread of sustainable business processes in Brazil.

In partnership with the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee and with input from some of Brazil’s largest companies, the CEBDS has prepared a handbook to help Brazilian companies of all sizes implement sustainable procurement practices. That will serve to raise standards in the Brazilian supply chain and increase the competitiveness of the country’s small and medium companies.  

Joao Saravia, director of Rio 2016’s $1.15 billion procurement budget, left out some big companies in the tender list, when he was looking for a supplier of hundreds of new office tables for the organizers’ office. He instead signed a deal with a small supplier, Motiva, and helped them through the certification process of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for using timber only from responsibly managed forests.

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Source and Image: Rio2016.com

Vikas is a staff writer for the Sustainable Development news and editorial section on Justmeans. He is an MBA with 20 years of managerial and entrepreneurial experience and global travel. He is the author of "The Power of Money" (Scholars, 2003), a book that presents a revolutionary monetary economic theory on poverty alleviation in the developing world. Vikas is also the official writer for an international social project for developing nations "Decisions for Life" run in collaboration between the ILO, the University of Amsterdam and the Indian Institute of Management.