Helping Tourists Go Native In Brazil

What with the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics coming up in Brazil, a lot of out-of-country tourists are going to need places to stay. That fact, along with a growing interest  in Rio de Janeiro's over-crowded favelas--and his own fascination with the communities--led recent college grad Elliot Rosenberg to found an unusual social venture.

Called Favela Experience, the company offers what Rosenberg, who just graduated from the University of Virgina in May and grew up in Los Angeles, calls "an online marketplace of immersive homestays and apartment  rentals for travelers in Rio de Janeiro's favelas."  Basically, Rosenberg rents places for short-term stays, primarily for now in Rocinha, one of the biggest favelas, everything from rooms in family's homes to private two-bedroom apartments. Usually, the owner lives next door, inviting guests over for dinner or going out with them on weekends.

In the process, he hopes not only to bring more money into the communities and provide livelihoods, but also to combat what he sees as negative stereotypes through a sort of cultural exchange program.

Rosenberg's road to the favela started when he graduated from high school in 2008, and took a gap year, teaching English to at-risk youth in Chile through a nonprofit organization. After that experience, he says, "I left longing for a model that didn't rely on individual donations and foundation support to grow, something that wouldn't be limited by a small operating budget."

After that year, he started college, assuming he'd graduate, become a management consultant, make some money and give back through philanthropy and volunteer work. But before beginning a business major in his junior year, he decided to spend some time studying abroad and ended up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, figuring a stay there would look good on his resume, since he was interested in living in Latin America.   His six months there were a life-changer, especially when he visited Rio and fell head over heels with the city, its landscape and people.

Then, figuring he'd do something that might set him apart from the crowd, he took a  summer internship in between junior and senior year working for Village Capital, which runs social enterprise accelerators and other programs around the world. (I just wrote about them). First he spent two weeks in an intensive training program at the Monterey Institute in International Studies in California, learning the basics of for-profit social enterprise, then spent the rest of the summer near Sao Paulo, taking an overnight bus to and from Rio every weekend "just so I could be there," he says. "I've never been anywhere where I felt such a palpable energy just being around."

During that time, he met Zezinho da Silva, who ran a favela tour company, (it was covered in Forbes here) taking a different approach from other enterprises in the area. Instead of driving small groups of "rich tourists" in jeeps in safari-like excursions "snapping pictures of poor brown people," he would offer a more authentic experience, hiring local guides in Rocinha, one of the largest favelas with close to 300,000 residents--people who, says Rosenberg, "would provide a more realistic view and, at the same time, keep the money in the community."

That got Rosenberg thinking. According to Rosenberg, the level of development, in terms of water and electrical infrastructure, for example, is considerably more advanced than is commonly assumed. ("It's not a little Mumbai," he says).  He also knew that the best way for a foreigner to understand a new culture was to build meaningful relationships with the local people. It led him to an idea: Provide homestays for visitors in the favelas themselves.

Rosenberg spent the next winter break testing out his idea, recruiting potential hosts by putting flyers up and looking for other partners. Ultimately, he knew he needed something for everyone--from hostel-like beds to private apartments. For the moment, however, he wanted a minimum viable product, a lean startup concept whereby you do an economical pilot so you don't waste time and resources on something customers won't want. So, instead of launching his own platform, he created an Airbnb listing for one place, to be rented out around Rio Carnival time. The accommodations, a private one-bedroom apartment in a favela by the beach owned by a local family, got gobbled up almost as soon as it went live in February.

Rosenberg finished up his senior year, convinced he'd landed on a winning proposition. With the World Cup just around the corner and the Olympics slated for the not-distant future, "I knew there was an inflection point with which I could see if this was a viable concept." He moved to Rocinha in June.

Now, he has capacity for over 75 guests and plans to add accommodations in favelas other than Rocinha soon. (The home page features a hill packed with stone, concrete and wooden one and two-story-structures that look like they're either about to collapse on each other or break out into a party, or both). When FIFA announces the schedule for which of the 12 host cities the 32 teams playing in the World Cup will appear in, soccer fans most likely will immediately start scrambling for places to stay. Rosenberg plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help find more accommodations and outfit those places with wi-fi and other necessities.

As for the first question that might come to many potential visitors' minds--the crime rate--Rosenberg claims it isn't an issue. As long as you exercise common sense, he says, you're more likely to get in more trouble in major tourist destinations in Rio than favelas. Also, there's the controversial community policing effort, through which the Brazilian government is revving up policing in certain areas in anticipation of the World Cup.

The ultimate plan is for the venture to continue after the World Cup and Olympics are over. "As people come home and share their pictures on Facebook, perceptions of favelas will change," says Rosenberg. "We're going to leverage these big events where margins are high to bootstrap the business and make it sustainable."

The venture, which earns money by taking a commission on each booking, already is making an impact on locals' lives in ways that "will be transformational for them", according to Rosenberg. The owners of that first apartment, for example, have been able to open up another  residence and pay for their son's college education.