Productive inclusion and economic development are key elements for the recovery

We know that in years of presidential elections it is common to experience great volatility and uncertainty in politics and the economy in Brazil.

However, 2022 has an even more vulnerable situation: high prices and inflation, an economic crisis also arising from a health crisis, high unemployment and even an international conflict that impacts price policies around the world due to its hybrid war character. .

With so many variables and topics to be worked on, there is no effective economic planning in the federal or state guidelines that have guaranteed the promotion of small and micro businesses that are responsible for most jobs in the country (about 70% of the opportunities generated) and for a large share of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Entrepreneurship in Brazil is increasingly motivated by the need for occupation and income growth.

According to the annual report “Entrepreneurship in Brazil 2020” by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which was supported by the Brazilian Service to Support Micro and Small Enterprises (Sebrae) and the Brazilian Institute of Quality and Productivity (IBPQ), during the pandemic there were a significant drop in established enterprises – businesses with more than 3 and a half years of existence – from 16.2% in 2019 to 8.2% in 2020.

On the other side of the scale, there has been a sharp increase in people starting a business, largely out of necessity. The index went from 8.1% to 10.2% last year.

Another fact that draws attention is when a gender approach is taken: among established female entrepreneurs, the drop was 62% compared to 2019, among men this number was 35%. The Brazilian incongruity where economically minored majority groups, such as blacks and women, continue to face greater challenges and colossal abysses when it comes to undertaking – and with the pandemic this seems to have worsened.

There is an urgent need for public policies that guarantee the growth of sectors from the promotion with subsidies and intentional credit policy for small businesses, especially those that work with less affluent layers of society, not only for recovery but with the creation of a structure to better promote business. in the country that will generate more jobs as a result.

We know that there is no productive inclusion also without intention to vulnerable groups for effectiveness and social mobility.

For this, measures are needed in different spheres: training and entrepreneurial education, intentional policy of accessibility to investments and credit via government and private initiative, in addition to encouraging research and development in different areas.

Also according to the GEM report, scholars point to factors that can further facilitate entrepreneurship in the country:

• Reduction of bureaucracy necessary for opening;
• Adequate legislation;
• Effective initiatives with a structured plan and government actions that continually give space to small businesses in the country;
• Recognition of the importance of small companies for the domestic market with opening and incentives to the foreign market as well;
• Need to adopt public policies that support women in entrepreneurship;
• When dealing with maternity and the business, creating policies related to the availability of day care are critical;
• Development of policies for basic and comprehensive training of individuals, market orientation in accordance with social capital, guidance in professional training in accordance with the demand and aptitude of potential entrepreneurial people;
• Real democratization of access to credit, digital banking services that facilitate routine, especially for nano entrepreneurs and informal professionals

I also add quota policies in public tenders for companies managed/founded by black and indigenous people, transgender people, women, people with disabilities and other minorities with access. In addition to policies to increase income with encouragement from the private sector for local investment in regions of native peoples, together with entrepreneurial and financial education.

The economic recovery will only be effective with the acceleration and strengthening of small businesses based on cooperation between government and private initiative, which has been addressing the ESG agenda for a positive social impact.

But it is also necessary to enter the sphere of greater responsibility in the decentralization of markets and strengthening of a more plural ecosystem that today depends on subsistence entrepreneurship becoming entrepreneurship by opportunity, but this will only be possible from affirmative public policies.