04/25/2024 – 7:02
“I learned that donating money is great, but it’s not enough. You have to make other people do the same.” This is what the founder of Cyrela, Elie Horn, says, who in 2025 will complete ten years on the list of super rich people who promised to donate part of their fortune while still alive. As part of the plan to convince others to do the same, Horn scheduled a meeting with 20 Brazilian businesspeople for the 6th.
In an interview with This is Money, Horn said that the new project “was in gestation for two years”, and that this will be just the first meeting. “The first meeting of these 20 volunteer entrepreneurs will begin to generate ideas for good, it is a 'think tank' (laboratory of ideas) for good.”
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Without giving details about the names or companies of the participants, the businessman described that there are “20 very well-off people, all with a desire to do good”. The objective is to gather ideas for initiatives to donate money to charities and social works. “It’s not profit, it’s not sales, it’s donating”, argues Horn, who will turn 80 in 2024.
First Brazilian to donate a fortune during his lifetime
It was in 2015 that Elie Horn and his wife, Suzy, joined the list of The Giving Pledge project, a program created in 2010 by Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) to encourage billionaires to donate at least half of their fortunes while still in existence. life for charitable causes.
With a commitment to direct 60% of their resources to donations, Elie and Suzy were the first Brazilians to join the list. Later, in 2021, it was the turn of David Vélez, founder of Nubank, alongside his wife, Mariel Reyes.
“What I learned is that we dwarf them,” Horn says of other country signatories to The Giving Pledge. “What they give in percentage is much higher than any number in Brazil.”
According to the 2023 Forbes list of construction billionaires, Horn's fortune was estimated at approximately R$3.1 billion. Velez and his family, according to the ranking released by the magazine this month, have an estimated fortune of more than R$50 billion.
It is worth noting that the only four Brazilians on the list were not born in the country. Elie, who also has Brazilian nationality, was born in Syria and Suzy, in Chile. David was born in Colombia and Mariel, in Peru.
'Joke of life'
Elie Horn says he learned about the importance of charity from his father, Raphael Horn, during his childhood. The family lived off sales from a fabric store in Lebanon, where they lived during Elie's (the youngest of seven siblings) childhood. But they went through a difficult situation after losing everything they had in the 50s.
They then lived in Italy for a year and then came to Brazil. Elie remembers seeing her family going through financial difficulties, but when her father managed to get back on his feet, he donated his money to charity.
The family's difficult situation at that time is nothing like the life Elie leads today with his wife, his 3 children and 5 grandchildren. Now, when comparing the two moments in his career, he says he sees a “joke in life”, taking as an example the desire he felt to have a car when he had no money.
“It's a joke, a joke. A car today costs R$60,000, I don’t know, whatever. I dreamed of something I never had,” she says.
“Before, with little money, I could do much more. But I didn't have that little money. Today I see a mockery of life, a joke: you can, and today it doesn't matter. Before, I was interested and couldn't. This is an ongoing conflict that exists.”
'The company of my life'
Elie began the work that would give rise to Cyrela at the age of 19. He started out buying and selling properties, but he operated under leverage (that is: without money, he took out a loan to put a down payment on the property and ran to sell it and pay the rest, in a race against interest). Despite being risky, the business was successful, and became the family company that is now one of the largest in the real estate sector in the country. Cyrela was founded under this name in 1963.
“There is no such thing as not working for those who work, there is no such thing. You may win a little or a lot, but you will win, that’s an absolute certainty”, says Horn.
“Obviously, it’s the company of my life”, says the businessman. Currently, the founder is on the board of Cyrela, but dedicates most of his time to philanthropy. “Not two hours go by that I don’t talk to people about (doing) good. I spend almost eight hours a day working.”
Tasks include finding out about projects that need help, but also efforts to convince more people with resources. One of the best-known works of philanthropy is the Instituto Liberta, founded by Horn in 2017 with the aim of combating child sexual exploitation. Among the other institutions helped are the NGO Nosso Olhar, focused on education and inclusion of people with disabilities, and Movimento Bem Maior, which brings together several initiatives to help social projects.
Meanwhile, two of Elie Horn's heirs remain in charge of the company: his sons Efraim and Raphael Horn are co-presidents.
Despite appearing increasingly satisfied with the decision to donate part of his fortune, Elie Horn reveals that he feels a “small frustration”, in part, due to the perception that his action will not be enough in the face of so many needs in the country. “My ambition is greater than my ability to make it happen.”
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