‘Last mile’ solution for Brazilian favela born from pandemic

By TATIANA POLLASTRI and DAVID BILLER
Associated Press

SAO PAULO (AP) — Packages have only just started reaching doorsteps in Sao Paulo’s second-biggest favela, Paraisopolis. It’s thanks to a bespectacled 21-year-old with a degree in information technology. Inspired by community-led distribution of food kits and donations during the pandemic, Giva Pereira founded a logistics startup to handle what retailers call “the last mile” in his hardscrabble community, where delivery drivers are loath to enter. His fledging company got financing from a small, favela-focused lender and he hired locals familiar with Paraisopolis’s twists and turns. He partnered with one of Brazil’s biggest retailers. And this week, his company delivered its 100,000th package.