AMBA & BGA LATIN AMERICA CONFERENCE 2024
our business,” Schalka affirmed as he outlined the company’s business model of planting 1.2 million trees each day to give back more than double the 450,000 trees the company harvests daily to develop products that reach two billion people worldwide. “In addition to the 1.7 million hectares where we plant trees, we have 1.1 million hectares – a quarter of the size
of Switzerland – that we are preserving. We are required by Brazilian legislation to preserve 20 per cent [of the land we hold], but we are preserving 40 per cent because we believe that biodiversity and the conservation of natural forests are fundamental to the future of the planet.” While Suzano is not directly working in the Amazon, the challenge posed by deforestation in the region is prominent in Schalka’s mind. “We need to solve the land problems that we have in the Amazon,” he exclaimed, pointing out that while there are only a few people who make money from deforestation itself, there are a great many who make a living from work that is reliant on it taking place. “We need to give another source of income to these people to address the social problems,” he advised. For Schalka, the higher education sector has more work to do in conveying the criticality of sustainability’s principles. “Very few people at undergraduate level and even at postgraduate level are trained to understand the concept of sustainability. We know the problem, but we are not discussing how society will change and how industry will undergo decarbonisation processes for the future... We have to understand this and train students for the future economy and environment they will face.” Another issue that schools and universities should work on, according to Schalka, is widening access to quality education, as his sights turned to the current situation in Latin America’s most populous nation. “In Brazil, we have access to education for almost 100 per cent of the population at a young age, but we do not have a lot of people gaining access to a good quality of education and we need to change that.” Levelling the playing field for women and those defined as Black in Brazil is of particular interest to the former Suzano CEO, as he explained: “We used to hire employees from specific schools, but we also need to bring in people who are not so well prepared [in terms of their education]. The average Black population at the best Brazilian schools is below their representation in society. “If you have a programme that can better reach and train those who are underrepresented, we will be in a much better position for the future. We have been working with different NGOs on this issue, but if the best schools represented here can do more on this, [the outcome] would be very positive.”
can also be challenging in a global context, she added, because there are often variations in publication practices and access to resources in different localities. Some 37 per cent of Esade’s faculty members are international, as are 73 per cent of the school’s new faculty hires in the past year. Together, they hail from 21 different countries and, for Vila, this underlines the need to ensure that Esade’s evaluation processes have the flexibility to recognise different profiles and different types of contributions. Vila then detailed the different aspects of faculty contributions that form the basis of Esade’s system, encompassing research; course design and innovation; teaching delivery; and measures around service and engagement. The session ended with Vila sharing some lessons learned at Esade. Processes of evaluation, in her experience, should be consistent, transparent and based on clear guidelines with respect to promotion criteria from the moment of hiring. This will alleviate the chances of any faculty member raising concerns of unequal treatment. She also spoke of the value of using constructive feedback to guide colleagues in their professional development. alignment with the organisation – these are the three qualities Walter Schalka seeks in MBA recruits. Schalka, the former CEO of the Salvador-based paper and pulp giant Suzano, expounded on the importance of these attributes in conversation with AMBA & BGA CEO Andrew Main Wilson. Schalka had just stepped down after 11 years at Suzano and emphasised the importance the company places on having an entrepreneurial and lifelong learning mindset. “We have been transforming in recent years and we need people who will love this process of change. We’d also like to have people who are not just interested in keeping the status quo but look ahead by thinking beyond what the business is doing right now,” he remarked. For Suzano, sustainability is central to any discussion around implementing change for the future. “Sustainability is intrinsic to Building a better tomorrow for everyone Entrepreneurial spirit, a love for learning and values in
Ambition | DECEMBER 2024 | 21
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online