Odebrecht Retirement Fund obtains ISO 9001 certification

Odebrecht Retirement Fund started 2019 by reaping the fruits of its continuous investments in governance. In early January, it received the NBR ISO 9001:2015 certification from Bureau Veritas, the international authority on certifying quality systems.

“Our goal was not to have an ISO 9001 certificate merely hanging on the wall. It also had to make sense to our Members, Beneficiaries and Sponsors, and hence, defining the correct processes was a key decision,” said Sérgio Brinckmann, CEO of Odebrecht Retirement Fund. “A company whose Vision is to be a source of pride for its Members, a partner for Sponsors and a benchmark in its sector (namely, pension plan managers) could not afford to certify any process,” he says.

That’s when the working group came in. After a few weeks of discussions, the scope of the audit was defined back in 2018 and then approved by the Board. “When Sérgio presented to us his plan to certify the processes involving customer service, monthly income payments and the use of administrative fee to pay Odebrecht Retirement Fund’s expenses, we knew that ISO 9001 would be valuable for the Odeprev Plan” recalls Daniel Villar, Chairman of the Board of Odebrecht Retirement Fund and People, Communication and Sustainability Officer at the Holding Company of the Odebrecht Group.

“Serving with excellence, paying the monthly income benefits correctly to over 750 Beneficiaries of the plan and using the administrative fee paid by Members with maximum efficiency and respect are the goals we planned to include in the scope of the certification”, said Pedro Freitas, Vice Chairman of the Board of Odebrecht Retirement Fund and Finance, Investor Relations and Information Technology Officer at Braskem.

After months of preparation, the project, led by Edenilson Silva, Compliance and Internal Controls Leader, was submitted to audit of the Quality Management System, the final step before certification.

After a week-long audit, Bureau Veritas confirmed what the team already expected: the work conducted by Odebrecht Retirement Fund meets the ISO 9001 requirements and the processes were ready to receive the certification.

“Is ISO 9001 that important? Of course it is! However, the greatest satisfaction and pride come from knowing that our 3,400 customer service contacts help Members and Beneficiaries to have a better retirement. It is knowing that our Beneficiaries receive their monthly income in a safe and reliable manner, within the legal timeframes. It is knowing that each real used here at Odebrecht Retirement Fund has a purpose – to offer the best private pension solution that our Sponsors can offer their team Members. This is all that counts,” affirmed Edenilson, referring to the scope of the certification.

“Now it’s time to celebrate quickly, be proud for a few minutes and look ahead, for the upcoming challenges in 2019. PAs are highly challenging and our Members, Beneficiaries and Sponsors will see us restless, always focused on delivering more and better,” concluded Sérgio Brinckmann.