Innovation

Evelyn Tanache is an entrepreneur who decided on opening a franchising unit of the food sector in a shopping center located in a city in the southeast of Brazil, Uberlândia. The franchising unit was founded in 2012 by herself and her father, initially. Even though it demanded hours of work and dedication, motivated by the success of the endeavor, Evelyn decided to open another franchising unit of the same network in another shopping center of Uberlândia, two years after the first one, i.e., 2014. The enterprises were created due to identification of a gap in the market, regarding the desire potential clients had for the type of food – Asian – provided by the franchising network in these locations. Both franchising units count on fifteen employees each.

Starting her own business meant not only the possibility of financial independence and job satisfaction, but also the opportunity to fulfill a desire the entrepreneur had always had: to help people. Thus, in 2015, nearly three years ago, Evelyn started providing financial consulting to close friends, as well as to her employees and their families, in order to help them manage their finances more effectively and consequently help them get closer to fulfilling their dreams.

Inspiration

“Helping others is part of who I am,” Evelyn stated. The business leader identified an opportunity to help others, starting from the employees of the franchising units she owned, as well as from their families. The initial idea was to help them by providing something she states “is very deficient in our education,” which is financial consulting. She says a lot of people lack the kind of knowledge regarding managing their finances, due to an incomplete education Brazilian people are provided, considering these issues.

Also, the entrepreneur stated she herself had no savings when she first started the businesses and she had to learn how to manage the little financial resources she had. In this scenario, the business leader decided to provide financial consulting for her employees as well as for their families, with no fees charged, as a way of helping others and a way of providing something they wouldn’t get for free from the current educational system. She doesn't charge the people who benefit from the consulting because (i) she “doesn’t find it fair to charge from someone who doesn’t know how to manage their finances,” and (ii) she wants to do some good to society, in some way. Since Evelyn has an undergraduate diploma in Business Administration and she has also taken an MBA course in Managing, she decided helping others manage their finances would be a good way to do both.

The entrepreneur uses the shopping center facilities or gathers with her employees at their households to do the consulting, so resources to do so are never a restricting issue for the consulting to actually happen. When questioned if she sometimes lacks time to do the consulting, she states they always find a moment, even if it is late at night, to help others, because “when you want to do something, you find time to do so,” especially if it regards changing people’s lives.

Overall impact

Through this innovative way to help others, Evelyn has gained the attention of more than just her employees and their families. Other people who have come to know she helps others, voluntarily, on how to manage their finances, came to her asking for help as well. The entrepreneur posts her initiative on her social network profiles, so this, combined with word of mouth, has made more people contact her asking for financial advice.

Due to demand and to the fact that other people came to know the initiative, Evelyn has also been invited to lecture for people who lack this kind of knowledge. She usually lectures for free, as well, in order to reach more people as well as help them enhance their knowledge on how to effectively manage their finances, and by doing so, fulfill their dreams related to conquering material goods.

The initiative that began in 2015 has now benefited approximately 250 people, considering the franchising units’ employees, their families and other people who participated in Evelyn’s free lectures regarding personal finances management. Moreover, the business leader estimates an increase of approximately 100% in the savings of the people who benefit from the consulting.

Business benefit

The main contribution Evelyn states is that the initiative also helps improve the franchising units’ productivity. Once “an employee who is treated nicely, works better.” The business leader tries to link her passion of helping people to the way she treats her employees in their workplace. The owners and the employees usually reunite once a week, and they usually take some time off the meetings to talk about the employees’ personal lives.

It is in moments like these that the entrepreneur gets to know their fragility and how she can help them. Thus, it can be observed that the business leader keeps that spirit of helping others and treating them nicely on her daily routine in the workplace, helping the employees not only through the financial consulting, but also in other aspects. She has even helped employees by advancing their monthly salaries, when they had some special need; as well as helping find medical appointments for one of her employees’ son when she couldn’t afford one.

All these attitudes combined make her coworkers feel they are being treated nicely, contributing to their job satisfaction and consequently less turnover and more productivity.

Social and environmental benefit

The people who benefit from the initiative provide feedback to the entrepreneur, stating that the way Evelyn teaches is very easily understood, which helps them embed the ‘new’ knowledge in their current knowledge. Through this initiative, the business leader helps achieve goal #4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), since it helps assure inclusive and equitable education, promoting learning opportunities for all throughout their lives.

By helping others better manage their personal finances, the entrepreneur helps, even if in a micro level, “increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship” (target 4.4 of SDG 4), since the knowledge gained can be used for other purposes, other than personal financial managing.

The concepts and issues learned from these consulting can be used for entrepreneurial issues, as well as for business management, contributing to increased job opportunities these benefited people may have in the future.

Interview

Evelyn Tanache, Mrs