We stopped by São Paulo on our way to Rio, where we were greeted with some seriously bad weather, rain and storms, which meant limited sightseeing and localised flooding! But enough about the weather and onto Impact Hub São Paolo!

I contacted Impact Hub São Paulo through the Impact Hub Passport website, and within a few days I had an appointment with Carol, who greeted us when we arrived. Easy peasy!

Impact Hub São Paulo is located on Rua Bela Cintra in the Consolação and Bela Vista district. It is hidden away in an almost mystical doorway entrance, up a short staircase where you arrive at the lobby.

This opens up into a generous chill-out social area. Further on from there leads to the space designed for co-working as well as secluded meeting and presentation rooms. 

After a quick tour around, we set ourselves up and Carol gave us an introduction on the main features at Impact Hub São Paulo.

IMPACT HUB SÃO PAULO: THE INSIDE DEAL

It’s a very diverse community as you may well expect from any Impact Hub. Some of São Paulo’s treasured members include Lab60+, Transparência Brasil, Médicos Sem Fronteiras, UmComum, Neurônio, Mobicity, and Mitsidi, some of which we briefly spoke to about the great things they are achieving and their impact on the local community.

Carol was very excited to tell us about an Impact Hub that will be opening very soon in the Pinheiros Barrio. It will be an innovative and energetic space that is exactly what a successful Impact Hub is all about. The whole impact ecosystem will meet at this new social center to create innovative labs and prototype the future they want in their city.

Check out the promo video here.

We also discovered some interesting initiatives that have really taken off at Impact Hub São Paulo.

FUCKUP NIGHTS:

For those who don’t know, these are talks where people stand up and tell you how they f***ed up in their careers or failed at a business project amongst other things. It’s insightful to understand the potential pitfalls of starting a new business or project as well as to recognise things to look out for and ways to save money.

FAMILY DINNER:

Another initiative that Impact Hub São Paulo partakes in is the Family Dinner. This basically entails inviting a family of non-local descent to come to Impact Hub and cook a meal, native to them. Hubbers pay a fee to experience a new cuisine and hear stories from the family about their home country, all whilst raising a little money and meeting some new friends.

MEET THE HUBBERS:

On our visit we were keen to speak to some of the Impact Hub São Paulo members. We were excited to hear what kind of work
they did and how they were able to impact those around them. Manoel Galdino works at Transparencia Brasil, a company working hard to stop all corruption in the country and recent winner of a prize from Google for their effort. We also spoke to Bruno ‘Birdman’ Arantes, who is working on an awesome bird recognition app for Merlin Bird ID; the amazing Morris Litvak from Maturi Jobs, who is helping older people get back into work and share their experience with others; Giovani B. Farraro from Mobicity, who is helping employers help their employees to work more effectively; and finally William de Casva Garbini from PBW Motion Graphics, who is doing kickass video and animation work!

We also asked the hubbers for one word to describe being part of Impact Hub; the big answers were: Family, Networking and Friendly.

OUR TAKE: 

All in all, we had a thoroughly great day meeting new people, hearing inspiring stories, and swinging on the Impact Hub São Paulo swing!

For those travelling the country, it might be of interest to know that you can find Impact Hubs in Belo Horizonte, Manaus, Floripa, and Recife; with an additional two more being added in the near future in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.

NON-IMPACT-HUB BUSINESS:

We feel that our review of the city would probably be given with a lot more enthusiasm had we perhaps experienced it with dry feet! However, we did get to visit a few awesome places. Here are our recommendations:

• Beco de Batman/Vila Madelena: For those who follow us on social media, you may be aware that we LOVE street art. Luckily for us, the trendy area of Vila Madelena doesn’t disappoint. One street, Beco de Batman, has some magnificent work, probably the best on our visit to South America so far. Check it out!

• Other Must See’s: Japanese food market – Liberdad, Ibirapuera Park, Mercado Municipal, Altino Arantes Building (great view), Rua Augusta & Vila Madelena for nightlife
• Drinks: Caprihinas and Italian style coffee

• Food: Pao de Queso, Brigaderor and of course the local rice, beans and meat dish!

Thanks for having us Sao Paulo, we will return for the better weather ☺

To find out more:

• Catch the first post in this series: Design Store on Tour – The Impact Hub Passport World Trip
• Visit the Impact Hub Passport website to learn how our members can visit every Impact Hub in the world for three days a year, every year!