RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the number of business startups in the first half of 2021 was the highest compared to the same period from 2015 to now.
A study prepared by Sebrae, based on data from the Federal Revenue Service, shows that 2.1 million small businesses were created in the first six months of this year. The number is 35% higher than the same period last year and nearly double the number of businesses formed in 2015.
For the president of Sebrae, Carlos Melles, the increase in the number of companies in this first half of the year confirms that entrepreneurship is seen as an income alternative, both for Brazilians who have lost their jobs and for those who, despite adverse circumstances, have decided to realize the dream of entrepreneurship.
“Sebrae is increasingly committed to providing visibility and support to millions of Brazilians who want to start their own businesses because we know that the path to economic recovery and job creation inevitably goes through micro and small businesses and individual micro-entrepreneurs,” he explains.
“The survey also found that between the first half of 2021 and the same period last year, both the number of individual microentrepreneurs (MEIs) and the number of micro and small business companies increased,” Melles said. According to the study, the largest increase was among microenterprises. Although they are not the majority, their number increased 46% from 267,100 to 390,400.
Among individual microentrepreneurs, which represent 68% of Brazil’s 18.4 million small businesses, there was an increase of about 34%, from 1.2 million to 1.6 million formal businesses.
There was also an increase of about 46% in small businesses. In the first half of 2020, 267,000 were opened, compared to 390,000 in the first half of this year.