Carpentry company founds social institute and increases in 88% the family income of helped people

The Institute Leo Social is a non-profit institution, a social sector of the company Leo Madeiras, that has as its purpose the productive inclusion and decent housing. It has trained more than 9 thousand students, of which 43% are working with carpentry. Until the moment, it has promoted at 88% the family income of the participants.

The institute, founded by a group of employees and shareholders of Leo Madeiras, was born from the own company’s purpose: to develop the carpentry sector, contributing to the sustainability of this market’s segment, so important to the country’s economy.

Fernanda Canal, director of the institute, talks on the beginning of the endeavor in 2006, when the company initiated its social worked, aimed to people in vulnerable situations:

“The leadership, at the time, was inspired by the work of the ‘Sustainability Management Workshop’, held during an international conference of Ethos Institute – ‘the role of a socially responsible company in a sustainable society’-, in which Leo Madeiras was mentioned as an example”, finishesher.

Fernanda Canal, director of the institute

In Fernanda Canal’s words, what led to the creation of the institution was Leo Madeiras’ focus in adding social actions focused on its performance within the carpentry value chain.

Scenario for the Institute creation

At the time of the institute’s creation, there were already initiatives and projects aimed to sustainability of the carpentry sector: in the environmental aspect with the FSC certificate – Forest Stewardship Council; in the social aspect, giving carpenter’s access to management training and new credit lines; and the economic aspect, creating new businesses for carpentry throughout services that helped in the sales. With that, Leo Madeiras understood that the new social initiative should be within the scope of the search for the sustainability of the carpentry and in the formation of new carpenters, filling a void that was, at the time, of lack of qualified labor in the sector.

Institute’s activities

The main initiative of Leo Social is the Escola da Marcenaria (‘Carpentry School’ in english), with courses of technical training in carpentry and personal development, whose audience is people interested in developing professionally in carpentry, including people in social vulnerability. The age range of the participating students is from 18 years old – being 36 the average age of those currently assisted.

The Institute has as its purpose and objective to promote inclusion throughout work and decent housing, in a sustainable way, having as its main challenges to get a self-sustainability that allows the growth of the Escola da Mercenaria and the directing of resources to new related initiatives, especially towards housing.

The Institute’s location is in Barueri, metropolitan region of Grande São Paulo, along to the Leo’s Distribution Center.

Follow the project on social media – Facebook and Instagram.

To support this project sharing the courses of Carpentry School and to get more information or adopt a student through donations, access the institute’s page clicking here.