FIDES FOUNDATION is a private, non-profit, cultural and educational Brazilian organization dedicated to the humanization of business enterprises and to their integration with society.

Its philosophy is based on the respect for the human person and on the ethical foundations that govern the relations between the business enterprise and its different stakeholders.

Created in November 1986, FIDES has been active in three major areas in order to achieve its basic objectives:

• Social Dialogue
• Business Ethics
• Education for Entrepreneurship.

1. Through Social Dialogue, FIDES has been endeavoring to bring together business leaders and other social groups, seeking better understanding at the personal as well as at the institutional level. These are some of the most important actions that were organized in the last 15 years:

¨ Several Symposia on the Future of Labor Relations* , with the participation of a great number of business and labor leaders, not only from Brazil but also from Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Great Britain and Sweden.

¨ Realization of a Journey to Spain, Belgium and Germany with a mixed group of business and labor leaders to better understand the mechanisms of Social Dialogue in those industrialized countries.

¨ Realization of a Seminar on Labor Relations in Mercosul, with speakers and participants from Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

- Development of studies and implementation, in several organizations, of Social Accounting processes, adapted to the local conditions in Brazil*. Coordination of a Permanent as well as a Traveling Forum on Social Accounting, and which counts with business and labor union executives as well as delegates from a great number of NGO's to exchange ideas and to homogenize procedures about the subject.

- In the area of Social Accounting, FIDES has been promoting, since 2002, in partnership with other Brazilian organizations, a yearly Social Accounting Prize, for best publications on the subject by Brazilian enterprises. The last event, in 2004, as well as a Seminar on Dialog, Transparency and Credibility in Socially Responsible Management was coordinated by FIDES.

- Five Encounters, realized between1996 and 2004, of Business and Church leaders , for better mutual knowledge and extremely rich exchange of ideas on current Brazilian economic, social and political issues. The Encounter of September 1999 was extensive to nine Latin American countries. A special methodology of Dialogue for Large Groups has been implemented with great success for these Encounters.

- Following the same patterns, an Encounter of Business and Political Leaders is in planning for 2005.

2. FIDES Foundation has been working on a better understanding and the implementation of Business Ethics since its first International Symposium, in 1988, on the subject of the Ethical Aspects of International Debt* . Other activities also realized in this area include:

¨ International Symposium, in 1991, on Business Ethics, with the participation of business executives from the United States and Brazil*.

¨ National Surveys, in 1993 and 1999 on Ethics in Business in Brazil*.

¨ Seminars and workshops, conducted by Prof. Laura Nash, from Boston University, in São Paulo and Salvador.

* Books have been published by FIDES on these subjects.

3. Seeking to prepare new Business leaders and young entrepreneurs for the future and to improve the image of business in society, FIDES has been working, since 1994, on the Project " Business and Community Leadership for the Years 2000 " in partnership with the local YMCA, aimed at transmitting basic notions of success for the 21 st Century.

More than 500 young men and women have participated in the different cycles of this Project, during which the crucial aspects of Social Responsibility and Business Ethics are treated together with the subjects of Creativity, Competitivity, Change and Paradigms, Globalization, Personal, Corporate and Social Evolution, etc.

The Project is conducted on three different levels:

¨ Open groups of 50-60 young people which meet during six saturday sessions with a mix of theoretical discussions with businessmen and academics and a very practical and lively business game specially developed for the Project.

¨ "In-Company" cycles , two of which have already been implemented at the main Volkswagen plant near São Paulo, for four groups of 100 trainees each.

¨ Cycles for "Young Entrepreneurs " for low-income groups on the outskirts ("favelas") of São Paulo and other major cities. The original Project has been adjusted for the specific conditions of these populations and the cycles have been developed in partnership with professional schools in order to help these young men and women to set up their own small businesses or to form work cooperatives and be able to manage them successfully.