Today, I want to tell that story.
In August 2003, two years after my dismissal from Agip do Brasil, I founded the Brazilian Institute for Business Ethics.
What I experienced at the Brazilian subsidiary of the Italian oil giant was the trigger - the spark that led to the Institute’s creation.
I had reported irregularities internally, following the Code of Ethics I received when I joined Agip.
Weeks later, I was dismissed.
As documented throughout this series, I consider that dismissal retaliation for my report.
But from that experience emerged a conviction:
🔹 it was not enough to defend Ethics when problems occurred. We needed to build a culture in which doing the right thing was a permanent value.
That conviction gave birth to the Brazilian Institute for Business Ethics.
Its mission:
📌 “To promote Ethics in corporate and educational environments with the support of companies that share the principles and values of Ethics”
Its vision:
📌 “To be a reference in promoting Ethics, improving the way business is conducted in Brazil and inspiring students to do the right thing”
Why companies and students?
Because companies do not have lives of their own.
People bring them to life.
People make decisions, report misconduct, decide whether to investigate - and choose between what is convenient and what is right.
That is why the Institute also works with a very special audience:
🔹 university students - the leaders of tomorrow’s companies.
And something fills us with pride:
📌 the Brazilian Institute for Business Ethics is the only institution in the country that promotes Business Ethics among university students.
We believe there is no acceptable way to do business other than through Ethics.
That is why we say:
DO NOT SURRENDER TO DISHONESTY.
DO NOT GIVE IN TO MISCONDUCT.
BECOME A SLAVE TO ETHICS.
WITH INTEGRITY, WE BUILD AN UNASSAILABLE CHARACTER
AND FOLLOW A PATH TO SUCCESS.
WHEN MANY CHOOSE WHAT IS WRONG, ETHICS WHISPERS:
DO THE RIGHT THING!
Looking back, what I consider one of the greatest injustices of my professional life produced something I never planned.
A dismissal ended my career at Agip.
Two years later, that experience helped create an institution dedicated to Business Ethics.
This August, the Institute celebrated 23 years.
And the story that began inside Agip/Eni continued.
In 2017, it reached Eni’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Rome.
A critical shareholder Mauro Meggiolaro submitted ten questions about the Flinto Case to the Board.
Tomorrow, I will show those questions - and how Eni decided to respond.
❎ Learn more:
1️⃣ Instituto Brasileiro de Ética nos Negócios
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