Samarco produced iron ore pellets used for making steel. In 2003, the company had a 17% share of the global market of the product. At the time it had 1,286 employees, split between its units in Germano, in the State of Minas Gerais, and Ponta de Ubu, in the State of Espírito Santo.The two units were linked by an ore conveyor 396 km long, with a maximum carrying capacity of 15.5 million tons a year. The company's mission was "to be a Brazilian supplier of high quality iron for the global steel industry, creating value for all its stakeholders". In line with this guideline, between 1997 and 2003, Samarco coordinated and financed the Bento Rodrigues Popular Environmental Education program. The aim was to contribute to the development of the community living in the Bento Rodrigues district, by gaining the commitment of the residents for identifying community problems and seeking solutions that might increase local development. In spite of the reach of concrete results, after the end of the direct intervention undertaken by the company, a decline in the participation of the community was perceived, along with the discontinuity of the actions begun. In 2003, the need to build a second ore conveyor provided Samarco with a new opportunity for interacting with the communities. Its prior experience with the Bento Rodrigues Popular Environmental Education Program caused the Environment Manager to propose a new social project concept for the company, called the Social Responsibility Education and Communication Program - PROECOS. This program, to be implemented in partnership with GAIA (Group for Interdisciplinary Application to Learning) had broad objectives: to improve the company's image; to involve the communities in the preparation of sustainable social-environmental projects and to build a network of partners for meeting local demands and proceeding with development actions after the end of the company's involvement in the Program.

In 2002, Telemig Cellular was a mobile telephone company operating in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The company had founded its operations on the "capillarity" principle: reaching to consumers spread throughout the state to cater to their needs effectively. This principle also applied to the Telemig Institute, the company's social division, which focused on children's and teenagers' rights. To uphold this mission, the institute decided to work for the creation and strengthening of Tutoring Councils (local government bodies in charge of guaranteeing children's rights) and Municipal Councils for Children's and Youths' Rights in the Minas Gerais state. For its Pro-Council Program, the institute gathered civil society organizations from every one of the 12 regions in the state to build the so-called Volunteer Support Groups. Under the institute's leadership and counseling, these groups worked with local administrations and provided operational support for council creation.