Gircilene

Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Profession

Corporate Catering

Business

GSA Soluções em Alimentação Ltda.

Country

Brazil

partner school

Fundação Dom Cabral

Determination, tenacity and dedication!

Business Overview

In 2006, I founded GSA Soluções em Alimentação Ltda, a business that provides catering services to companies. The goal of my business is to provide quality meals with "home cooked flavor" so that my clients feel at home during their breaks and at meal times.

Challenges

After facing many challenges, including the bankruptcy of my previous company with a partner, I restarted my company three years ago. My main challenge was to attract my first client and also to improve the company's infrastructure. The company lacked a warehouse to stock basic raw materials (e.g. rice, bean, oil), required a re-branding, needed to improve logistics, and I lacked the skills necessary to create and manage a qualified and productive team.

Results

When I joined the 10,000 Women program in 2009, I wanted to re-organize my company's workflow, prioritize my clients' needs, and strategized for the future of my company.

Since graduating, I have increased my number of employees from four to 33 and increased revenue by 200%. I decided to focus on high-end clients and recently was contracted by a large company to run their restaurant and snack bar which will allow me to hire even more employees. I have instituted a number of measures to improve employee satisfaction, and now each of my employees has health insurance and a food allowance.

I am now able to keep track of costs and cash flow and have opened a new, much larger office to store inventory, allowing me to buy at low costs and stock non perishable essentials.

Future Goals

My biggest long term project is to build a Distribution Center which will allow me to supply my business units with quality and speed.

I plan to invest in my company's infrastructure, increase my client base, and improve the company's service level by implementing customer satisfaction surveys and working on the feedback provided.

I am actively searching for capital to replace my current work vehicle which is not large enough for the current demand.