STOCKHOLM, Sweden–If you are looking to create greater social impact in your communities—or your credit union wants to increase the impact it is having—you may want to look to the extensive initiatives underway at credit unions in Brazil.

The efforts include everything from broad financial education efforts to helping micro-entrepreneurs get a start to annual meetings that attract more than a million people.

All of that and more was shared during the World Credit Union Conference here by Mario Zwierewicz, president of Sicredi Campos Gerais e Grande Curitiba PR/SP, during a session titled “Social Impact at Scale.”

The 120-year-old Sicredi is one of two large credit unions/CU systems in Brazil (the other is SICOOB; see separate coverage in the CU Daily) that operate on a slightly different model than that familiar to U.S. credit unions. It is a centralized back office system that has beneath it 768 credit unions serving 22.1 million members (18.2 million individuals and 3.5 million companies), with $132 billion in assets, which is 7.1% of Brazil’s total assets. 

The credit unions all operate under similar branding. 

On ‘Solid’ Ground

In the country, Sicredi credit unions are first in credit to small business, first in non-payroll deductible personal loans, second in rural credit, and sixth in total loan and deposits. 

Overall, it employs 45,000 workers and offers more than just financial products, including Social Security, payments, group buy plans, foreign currency exchange, toll badges and more. 

Zwierewicz said the cooperative model in Brazil is solid because it is built on trust and institutional support, and that Brazilian cooperatives are strongly represented within the legislative branch. 

Sicredi’s motto is “Building a more prosperous society together.”

The Social Impact Initiatives

Zwierewicz outlined other social impact initiatives that are a part of Sicredi’s work, including:

Foundation

Its Foundation supports social projects of collective interest focused on education, culture, sport, environment, security, social inclusion and more. The foundation has been involved during its life with 7,324 projects and has invested $13.7 million. 

Financial Education

With 49% of Brazilians saying money is their main concern, and 72% saying their financial health directly affects their mental and emotional well-being, Sicredi is very active in financial education for all ages.

Zwierewicz said its educational programs have reached 5.3-million kids and teenagers, have educated 250,000 educators and been involved in programs at 4,900 schools in 780 cities. 

Overall, Zwierewicz said Sicredi’s educational content has been consumed by 37 million people using everything from comic books to educational vides (27 million views).

Youth Committees

Sicredi also oversees 28 committees with 2,000 young people across the country. The programs offer personal and professional development aimed at attracting and retaining young people in cooperatives, according to Zwierewicz.

Support for Women

Thirty percent of the entrepreneurs supported by Brazilian are women, Zwierewicz said, representing $2.6 billion in total credit granted to women entrepreneurs in 2024. Overall, he said there 85,000 female businesses have been financed by Sicredi.

Member Meetings

In 2024, Sicredi credit unions held 43 Member Meetings at which 16,000 people attended in total. Overall, 1.43 million members participated via its digital broadcasts.

“We encourage members to participate in the cooperative meetings and decision-making processes,” Zwierewicz said. “The assemblies bring transparency and increase our relationships with members.”

Business Roundtables

Sicredi hosts Business Roundtables, including 148 events with 2,870 participants in 2024. 

“We gather small businesses together so they can talk to each other about their products,” Zwierewicz  explained. “Each business person has two minutes to talk about what they do and produce. Then they change and move to different tables. One of the great impacts we can have is to help money circulate in the community, increasing revenue and knowledge.”

Social Entrepreneurship Fund

Sicredi has created a new Social Entrepreneurship Fund for micro-entrepreneurs and individuals who are trained at Empreenda Sicredi and who are eligible for grants of up to $1,000 per person. They are nominated by the Youth and Women’s committees, with the funds distributed at the branch level.

“We promote financial inclusion because these entrepreneurs are either members or become members so they can receive the funds,” Zwierewicz  told the meeting. “They also receive some free education in basic business management.”

Zwierewicz said 51 branches are now active in the Social Entrepreneurship Fund 

Changing the World

Why does Sicredi do all of that?

“Cooperativism is the great segment that is going to change the world and is doing that already,” Zwierewicz said. “It’s the segment where everyone prospers together and we can build a better world.”