In Argentina capitalism is a dirty word, so executives set up 'feed the kids' website
By TONY SMITH, AP Business Writer BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - With Argentina slumped in its fourth year of recession, cash-strapped banks can't pay out their customers' savings. Ordinary folk are reduced to bartering for basic foods. Unemployment is so high that 3,500 people a day join the ranks of the officially poor. Who's to blame? Capitalism, according to many Argentines. Rightly or wrongly, many of this once prosperous country's residents hold free-market policies responsible for much of their misery so a group of young professionals is finding it pays to be an ethical executive. Or it would be if they accepted wages. Adapting the business model of The Hunger Site, a U.S.-based charity website, a group of young, professionals volunteered to launch www.porloschicos.com � which translates as forthekids.com � to feed hungry children in a fast-growing Villa Miseria, or shantytown, on Buenos Aires' outskirts. Every time a visitor clicks on the site's "donate a free meal" button, one child gets fed. In return, sponsors get advertising space. Simple. And, it seems, effective. In the first month, corporate giants such as Citibank and Coca Cola financed 82,000 rations in Margarita Barrientos' 'Los Piletones' food kitchen in Villa Soldato. The site currently gets between 12,000 and 15,000 hits a day, according to co-founder Bryan Droznes. The average age of the volunteers is 25 and their professions range from architect to accountant. After four years of bitter recession, 18 million Argentines � nearly half the population � now live below the official poverty line, measured as families of four with incomes of less than 485 pesos ($160) a month, enough to pay for basic food and housing. Even those who can still afford to eat are furious at a banking freeze that has cooped up most of their hard-earned savings in the tottering financial system. The government wants to pay them back in long-term bonds. All this is producing a popular outpouring of rage against free-market policies that started to transform Argentina's economy in the 1990s. But because the government did not rein in public spending and financed largesse with foreign debt, the economy finally collapsed late last year. The country defaulted on its $141 billion public debt and the peso has slumped 70 percent against the dollar. "Capitalism in Argentina has become a dirty word, profit has become a dirty word," said Droznes, a young investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney. As a result, he says, "corporate social responsibility is a top priority among companies in Argentina today." So far, Droznes has signed up Coca-Cola, Citibank and local candy-maker Arcor as sponsors. But he is most interested in getting small and medium-sized companies involved, traditionally the backbone of Argentina's economy. "With banner-sharing and ad rotation, smaller companies can contribute as little as 200 pesos ($65) a month," he said. "In the past they have felt the need to help but also felt they didn't have the means." The site is fiercely independent of government agencies and religious groups. It has devised a foolproof way of sidestepping a problem faced by many charity organizations in developing nations � endemic corruption. All sponsors' payments to the site are done by traceable wire transfer and are immediately converted into meal tickets supervised by French company Accor and given to the food kitchen. Food companies, which can donate rations in exchange for ad space, must deliver them to the kitchen's door, cutting out any go-betweens, Droznes said. Tough times have also brought "a rising sense of social responsibility among the population," according to Mariana Battaglini of leading newspaper La Nacion's charitable foundation. For nearly two years, the paper has published for free "clasificados solidarios" � a page of small ads by nonprofit organizations seeking medical supplies, food, clothing and other donations. It also publishes "solidarity supplements" advising people on nutrition and hunger, and giving nonprofit organizations advice on fund-raising in times of crisis. "Capitalists? Bankers? I have no words to describe them," said Ana Rodriguez, a furrier at an informal barter market in the heart of Buenos Aires' financial district. "We set up our stalls here to show the bankers what they have done to our economy," she said, closing her last trade of the day � swapping an orange fur stole she made for three bread rolls. "All we want is to be paid for an honest day's work." It's that sentiment that has made a hit out of a new weeknight game show called Human Resources that "interviews" contestants for the top prize � a job. "What we are trying to do here is underscore the importance of work, so our politicians realize that citizens have a right to work and that work gives them dignity," said Nestor Ibarra, the show's host. "On this program, we secure 22 jobs a month, or 220 over the series. That's just a drop in the ocean." Jorge Castex, chief executive of Alimentos Argentinos, producers of fortified rations for food kitchens, says demand is spiraling, but his main customer � the Argentine government � cannot pay. Castex decided to sponsor porloschicos.com because he felt it was his duty after 30 successful years in business to pay something back to society. "At this moment, the word 'solidarity' is on everybody's lips," he said. "There's a lot of needy people out there, so I think the big companies that have made fat profits here over the past decade should have a social conscience." Full at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020522/ap_on_ hi_te/ethical_executives_1
