This month, products made by “Tereza Vale a Pena” (Tereza is worth it) — a brand created by Humanitas360 to commercialize and disseminate products made by the inmates and ex-inmates’ cooperatives supported by the institute — started to be shared through the Dotsy collaborative network. In July, 12 of the brand’s products were published on the network’s website and also published within their group on Facebook, which has more than 290 thousand members. The amount received from the sale of all Tereza products is passed on in its entirety to the cooperative members.

Created by Kuki Bailly in 2015, the Dotsy Network was born as a Facebook group to help people generate business opportunities and connections. In one month, the closed group had 3,500 people and as of today it has almost 300 thousand members from all backgrounds (women account for almost 70% of the publications), including entrepreneurs and consumers who support small businesses, and it has become a business network that generates income for thousands of families. This year, the network was one of 12 communities chosen by Facebook to participate in a community acceleration program that proposes mentoring and investment possibilities for their businesses. In addition to the private group on the social network, Dotsy also has a website where products and services are available, in addition to offering members a promotional charge.

The channel offers the brand a possibility to present its products to the public in a more intimate fashion. Maria Pestana, manager of Tereza Vale a Pena, sees a similarity between the purposes of the two initiatives. “We believe that the Dotsy netwrok, due to its collaborative principle, has a synergy with the Tereza Project, which brings training into prisons, in order for it to become income through sales. It is a collaborative process and with an audience that is sensitive to the cause,” she says. The community has the feature of building personal networks, where interpersonal relationships are valued more than business.

With only 2 publications in the group, the posts have obtained an expressive interaction number (only in the second post there were more than 138 interactions, between likes and comments), which signals an interest and public adherence to Tereza’s proposal. More than products, it is the stories of the cooperative members and the brand’s cause that generate most of the engagement and interest among members of the community. Our goal is to build new relationships and an engaged and coherent standpoint between the Dotsy Network and the Tereza Vale a Pena brand.