FGV-EAESP offered, in its week of immersion, a discipline focused on ESG in the capital market. Fintech APUS supported the innovative initiative and offered a prize to the highlights of the unprecedented challenge, in which the institution's students accepted the challenge of rethinking the current capitalism model.
APUS ESG CHALLENGE sought to encourage students to reflect in order to understand the relationships between different dimensions of the same problem: the company's performance and its contributions to society. “It is believed that the consideration of environmental, social and governance factors (ESG), in the investment analysis and corporate management process, should be at the center of financial management, in the quest to ensure that the company has access to financial resources to maintain and expand the business”, says EAESP Finance professor Wesley Mendes, who has professional and academic expertise centered on governance mechanisms, ESG factors and value creation, corporate finance, behavioral finance and generation of knowledgement in business management.
Organized in seven teams, 30 students of the immersion discipline ESG Factors in the Capital Market, of the Graduate Course in Business Administration (CGAE) of FGV-EAESP participated, between September 29 and October 9, in the APUS ESG CHALLENGE, developed and coordinated by Professor Wesley, who has been working since 2011 in the PhD and Master (academic) program with a focus on Finance at FGV-EAESP. The challenge launched as a mission for students the design of an Executive Guide, dedicated to the application of good practices in ESG, both for investors and for investees. In the end, the teams were evaluated by an examining board formed by high-level executives from important market players, from different industries.
In the view of APUS co-founder Bruno Mazzei, ESG is the most important topic on the world agenda, the path to sustainable awareness. “It is essential to bring ESG into the daily lives of companies and finance, in favor of a world that focuses on the real needs of people. These are issues that require effective attitudes and immediate practices to transform reality”, says Bruno.
For Thiago Pirágine, CEO of APUS, “this generation needs and must lead this change, since it is formed by the new professionals who are entering the market to influence with this new mindset both past generations and new generations. APUS was born with this essence and will increasingly support and promote initiatives that help companies and people in this transition ”.
For APUS, this is the time. The world was shaken by Covid-19 and the principles of sustainability (environmental, social and economic) that for many were just activist flags, now make it clear to everyone that more than a conscience is a need for survival. According to Thiago, “we live in a world where individualistic thinking no longer fits because everything affects everyone. It is the human being being forced to take responsibility and to look at his surroundings”.
Based on an intense dynamic, APUS ESG CHALLENGE allowed the teams to immerse themselves, via virtual meetings, in the routines and practices of key players in the capital market value chain. Invited executives participated, such as: Daniel Maria / Banco do Brasil; Adriana Freitas Albanese / Aegea; Aline Tozak / Klabin; and Henrique Noya / Mongeral Aegon. In addition to the presentation of preliminary reports, the groups made a final oral presentation to the evaluation board.
In order to build their Guide to Best Practices and Investments for ESG Investors, the team of students entitled Team C, winner of the challenge, raised several data and surveys that reveal the importance of companies' investments in this area. McKinsey's global survey indicates, according to students, that 70% of consumers are willing to pay up to 5% more for products and services that express concern about social and environmental factors. In addition, data indicates that, in the investor's view, companies that adopt best ESG practices are more transparent, more competitive and represent less risk and greater return for shareholders. The incorporation of ESG in companies also reduces costs, improves the relationship with employees and productivity, makes it easier to face times of crisis and generates new business opportunities. The team's work detailed, in the three ESG areas, the main criteria that should guide the actions. The opportunities for online contact with market players during the challenge were very important, in the opinion of the students, in order to guide the construction of the guide.
“ESG is a new dynamic, not only professional, but also about making, living, consuming”
For student Vinícius Piotto da Silveira Guimarães, from the winning team, “the initiative to bring this challenge agenda into FGV was fantastic. ESG aspects involve part of my life in many ways, not only in relation to the way of doing business but in relation to the way I behave in relation to society. By putting this challenge to us, FGV-EAESP and APUS, with a fantastic teacher at the helm as Professor Wesley Mendes, create opportunities for future leaders to experience not only a dynamic of doing business, but a way of life. I was very happy and love to participate”, says Vinícius.
The student, who is 20 years old, considers it important that young people are increasingly involved in this theme, whatever their area of study, since they will be responsible for applying a series of criteria for decision making. “We talk today about applying ESG aspects within corporations, but I also have to understand how I will apply ESG in the way I behave when I leave my house. It is a new dynamic, not only professional, but of making, living, consuming”, says Vinícius. In this sense, considering the financial market, he believes that sustainable finance is here to stay; and in the moral aspect, the ESG helps to understand what is the position of people in the world. “We have to relinquish this linear economy bias, based on 'my consumption and disposal', to begin to understand how 'I consume and return'.
Understand that capitalism exists, that it is for profit, but that it is necessary to change the way of doing business and living”, he says.
For Júlia Monteiro, also a member of the winning team, participating in the challenge “was very important to deepen this content, to see the importance of this theme and for us to be motivated to engage more in this thought, incorporating ESG into our life and the labor market". “This is a vision that the market will embrace, moving change, and it is important that our generation has this mindset, because it is from now on that it will make life, cities, the way business is done also change. For administrators and entrepreneurs, the importance of ESG today is greater than any other topic, because the world will only come out if we come together to save the environment, people, create a pleasant working environment and promote the inclusion of different cultures, gender and race”, says Júlia.
She recalls that the Climate Clock, installed in Union Square, in New York, records that we have seven years to save the planet and prevent climate catastrophe (the clock counts down the years and even seconds left for humanity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to give the Earth a 67% chance of keeping the world below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming). “When a company adopts an organizational culture of sustainable development, of ESG, and sees that its performance improves, it also moves the world in the direction of change, paving the way to guarantee the future”, says Júlia.
“The best way to grow consistently is to grow with awareness”
For Thiago Pirágine, the challenge attests to the company's purpose of contributing to the acceleration of market efficiency in the Brazilian banking sector. We are sure that the best way to grow consistently is to grow with awareness. The market is changing a lot with new technologies, with the arrival of open banking, and countless opportunities are opening up to offer consumers options that are simpler, more transparent and more advantageous. This means that the consumer has information, tools, freedom and control in hand to assume a leading role and make the best decisions in relation to his money, making his life project the best way possible”, says Thiago. "Initiatives such as this one of the challenge promoted together with FGV-EAESP inspire us to continue with even more conviction on this path", he highlights.
The Challenge will be replicated to other national and international educational institutions. The project's expansion process will be announced by the end of the year.
THREE TEAMS WERE AWARDED WITH THE APUS ESG UNDER 30 TROPHY.
1st place - TEAM C
Gustavo Gonçalves Secorun Borges
Júlia Esteves Monteiro
Luma Pimenta Soares Maia
Vinícius Piotto da Silveira Guimarães
2nd place - TEAM F
Bruno Bacci de Martins Trigo
Lucas de Almeida Pires
Mauricio Bisker Finkelstein
3rd place - TEAM D
Enzo Jurca Paiva
Guilherme de Arruda Sgarbi
Guilherme Guimarães Oliveira dos Santos
Victória Brant de Carvalho Roquetti
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