Ceu sells locally sourced, sustainable chalk bags to rock climbers to fund a rock climbing school in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This model can be expanded into other adventure sports and other at-risk communities failing to take advantage of their adventure tourism resources.

For the last 10 years, I have been traveling to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro, a city famous for its beaches, music, and nightlife, also has world class rock climbing on the cliffs that erupt out of the city, creating its unique beauty. On the slopes of these cliffs, massive shanty-towns (favelas) have spawned from decades of Brazilian social inequalities. In 2004, I traveled to Brazil and wanted to climb the famous Two Brothers peak but was told it was too dangerous due to roving bands of kids with guns. I realized that the local resource for climbing presented a unique opportunity for kids from the slums of Rio since the climbing was situated directly within their community. Climbing offers the opportunity for at-risk youth to replace the risks of drugs, violence, and gangs, with the healthy risks of rock climbing. It also provides an opportunity for employment within eco-tourism. With the help of two grants, our climbing school, the Centro de Escalada Urbana (CEU), is being developed in one of the largest slums of Brazil. Ceu is developing a 12 meter climbing wall that will allow for access to adventure sports to kids who have never before had access to such healthy adventures.

In order to fund this adventure school, we have created a Social Impact Adventure company that allows customers to participate in our mission. When a customer purchases one of our chalk bags, a student from our school is sponsored to go climbing. All of our chalk bags are made in the favela communities which we serve. Ceu believes a sustainable business model can fund this movement of using adventure to change at-risk communities and spread to other hubs of adventure sports where the local youth watch from the slums as Western tourists enjoy their adventure resources. Ceu plans to expand this movement beyond Rio and partner with surfing schools in central america, mountaineering schools in Peru and the himalaya, as well as scuba diving schools in Thailand, etc. This impact adventure brand would be a distinct way for consumers, passionate about adventure, to participate in giving at-risk youth access to that same spirit of adventure, forever changing their lives for the better.

Problem

Rio de Janeiro is subject to some of the greatest inequalities of any urban area in the world. The favelas (slums) of Rio are infamous for their poverty and violence. These favelas are also built directly on the slopes of some of the best urban rock climbing in the world. Ceu believes these rocks are an eco-tourism resource and is facilitating the communities ability to take advantage of them for youth development, confidence building, as well as eco-tourism and job creation. There are approximately 200,000 residents of the Rocinha Favela community where Ceu has opened its first school. There are millions of residents of favelas within just the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Solution

A boy in the favelas has risk engrained in his life. Rather than falling into drug gangs, drug use, and violence this boy develops a passion for climbing. He gets a job working as a climbing guide and taking Brazilian and tourist climbers up the Two Brothers formation that rises above the tin roofs of his community. He has exposure to people from all over the world, he learns english, he is confident, he is passionate about climbing, he lives a long healthy life free of drugs and promotes this thinking within his community. The concept and mentality are pushed forward.

Exemple

Sell chalk bags that are sourced from the community. Half the profits go to the climbing school. Create a social impact adventure sports brand. Eventually expand into other adventure sports markets.

Marché

Other adventure sports companies that make chalk bags are Black Diamond, Krieg, Prana, Patagonia, Trango, North Face. These companies will be a threat to the sales of our product. At Ceu we believe in the power of adventure to change the world. All Ceu products fund an adventure school in an at-risk community near an adventure sports hub. We also source all products from that same community, helping to create jobs as well as create confidence and good spirit through adventure. We provide a customer participation in changing the world through adventure, similar to that participation Patagonia provides through environmental sustainability. We plan to sell through climbing gyms, retail stores like REI, and online vendors like Sierra Trading Post, SteepandCheap, and on our own website.