In addition to their fortune, bankers Roberto Sallouti and André Esteves want to leave a legacy, as did the founders of renowned universities such as Harvard and Stanford.
The bank’s CEO and founder, respectively, both kicked off this project in 2019, when they founded Inteli (Institute of Technology and Leadership), which uses real company problems to teach its students.
Half of the students received a scholarship and, to cover the cash deficit, the decision was to launch tailor-made courses for executives this year.
How do you learn at your college?
In the traditional model, the student memorizes for the test, but does not know what what they studied is for. Here, the class studies vectors, for example, and, at the end of the afternoon, they are already applying them to a real project for a partner company.
No discipline, then?
Projects replace discipline. An example: an internet of things prototype. That’s the discipline. Our project office goes to the market and announces [as áreas de atuação]. In this case, Gerdau appeared and said, ‘look, I have the tubes from my plants here. They may have toxic gases and I want someone to go and check before the operator goes in.’ The students then developed a robot, which tells if the person can enter. And, within this, the student took classes in Calculus, Physics, Statistics, among others.
How many projects have been completed?
In total, there were 307 for 57 partners, such as Rappi, BTG, Gerdau, IPT, AACB, CVM, Detran, Yamaha, Pirelli. The distance between academia and the real world became an abyss over time. We created a formula that brings you closer to the world of work.
How do you prevent this over-prepared student from finding a job and dropping out of the course?
The first two years work full time, from 9am to 5pm. Therefore, the student does not have time to leave. In the third, he does an internship and the fourth is a career acceleration.
Is there encouragement from the MEC for this teaching model?
The MEC becomes a poor thing, a bit to blame for everything, because people can’t innovate. They say: ‘ah, don’t innovate, because the MEC won’t let you’. This is not true. He is very strict in what he teaches, that is, in the curricular guidelines, which we comply with far beyond what is necessary. Now, methodologically, the indications are much more in the direction of what we do than a traditional college.
Why, then, don’t traditional companies innovate?
Is expensive. The model is much more expensive, because it requires a greater number of teachers. Second reason: it’s hard to do. All this intersection of content, materialized in projects, takes work. Third point is that the entire system is thought to be by discipline. We had to develop our own software.
What is the goal?
To be the best technology college in Latin America and one of the best in the world. To get there, you can have a super beautiful building, a proprietary system, exceptional teachers. But there’s no point if you don’t have the best students.
How is the selection?
It’s not an entrance exam. It is a three-phase process. The first is a logic and mathematics test. This is because, if you take a test that demands everything, whoever has the most money [para se preparar no vestibular] raisin.
The second is to get to know the candidate as a person through a series of essays, in which he talks about all his activities. Did he play sports, participate in the Olympics, do volunteer work? In this aspect, we measure not the point of arrival, but the distance covered: if it is a child who has had all the opportunities and is practically at the point where he started; or if you started in a challenging family situation and had the resilience, discipline and motivation to develop.
Lastly, we want to get to know the candidate as part of a team. There is a group dynamic, where you evaluate critical thinking, communication and collaboration, because the institution will have project-based teaching.
How much is the monthly fee?
R$6,900.
Do you offer scholarships?
Yes, and it’s not just for the monthly fee. If necessary, it includes transportation, food, housing, computer and English for those who prove they are unable to do so.
What is the student profile like?
It has students from the main private schools in Brazil. Half of the scholarship holders left there or were in the public network. [Isso mostra que] Talent is not poorly distributed. The opportunity is poorly distributed.
How is the college maintained?
Half of the revenue comes from paying students. The other half comes from the scholarship program, financed by around 50 donors, foundations and companies such as BTG, Gerdau, MRV, Unipar. It is the same model implemented by the founders of Harvard, Stanford, among others.
Is your goal to become a traditional school like these?
Yes. Become an MIT Brazil, a reference for technology, business and leadership.
But will the business continue?
We still have a deficit. Therefore, we have now launched executive courses based on market demand, which allows us to have a positive margin.
What is the role of BTG?
The partners, led by André Esteves’ family, initially donated R$200 million to cover the operational deficit. BTG donated 200 bags. I donated 40 and several others also participated. BTG provides institutional support. If Inteli needs anything in the legal, marketing or purchasing areas, it uses the bank’s structure without paying anything.
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X-ray | Roberto Sallouti
Graduated in Economics from the Wharton School (BS), he has been at BTG for 29 years, a bank in which he became a partner in 1998. Since then, he has served on several boards of directors. Today he is CEO of BTG and chairs the boards of Inteli and Banco Pan.
