‘Last mile’ solution for Brazilian favela born from pandemic

Packages have only just started reaching doorsteps in Sao Paulo's second-biggest favela, Paraisopolis

SAO PAULO -- Workers in Brazil’s biggest city unloaded an air fryer, a gaming chair and a 40-inch television from a truck and carried them into a small distribution center where they'd soon be sent to nearby homes. Their speedy dispatch would be nothing special in most of Sao Paulo. But these items were bound for homes in Paraisopolis, one of the sprawling, low-income neighborhoods known as favelas that have been largely left out of the global delivery revolution. Packages have just started reaching doorsteps there, thanks to a bespectacled 21-year-old with a degree in information technology. Inspired by community-led distribution of food kits and donations during the pandemic, Giva Pereira founded a logistics startup to handle what retailers call “the last mile” in his hardscrabble community, which delivery drivers have been loath to enter.