One of the social entrepreneurs is Fernando Assad from Brazil. Through his organisation Programa Vivenda, he provides affordable and easy-to-install home improvement kits to mitigate the unsafe housing situation in Brazil’s favelas. There are about 40 million people in Brazil living in 11 million inadequate houses which pose health risks.

He identified the challenge as a web of complicated and inefficient systems, making it more difficult for low-income families to find information and financial planning advice to allow them to renovate their homes. Vivenda creates incentives for actors in the construction supply chain to provide safer housing for the millions living in unsafe homes.