São Paulo – Brazilians who live overseas may get help to start and manage their own companies upon returning to the country. A project to this end is being developed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Federal Savings Bank, and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) in the state of Minas Gerais. The bank takes care of the expatriates’ financial education and Sebrae caters to managerial coaching. The state of Minas Gerais is involved because in combination with the state of Massachusetts, in the United States, it is one of the leading pathways for remittances in the world, according to Alanni Castro, the analyst of the Financial Services Access unit of Sebrae-MG.
The training project, called Remessas (Remittances), focuses on Brazilians who are in foreign countries and intend to open a business when they return to the country; and also to expatriates’ families that maintain businesses with money sent in from abroad. Anyone is eligible, no matter where they live outside Brazil, or their place of origin in Brazil, but the focus and the reason why the project came to being was the flow of remittances between the cities of Boston and Governador Valadares and their surroundings.
In Governador Valadares, the Sebrae offers lectures and courses on starting and managing businesses, and consulting to established companies that fit the profile. According to Castro, from July 2009 to December 2011 67 companies were served. A combined 2,000 were involved between July 2009 and July 2012, considering all three Sebrae action fronts, lectures, courses and consulting, says Castro. Even though the partnership was established in 2006, research preceded the initial actions, which took place in July 2009.
Ever since, short-term lectures and consulting took place in Boston on five different occasions. The initiative targeted Brazilians living in Boston. According to the international superintendent of the Brazilian Savings Bank office in the United States, Fábio Soares, who took part in two of the actions in Boston, the bank provides guidance to participants on organizing personal finance, cash flow, working capital, investment, separating personal and business accounts, the importance of saving, among others. The bank’s products are also presented to the potential entrepreneurs.
The national Sebrae also offers distance learning courses to Brazilian expatriates who intend to become entrepreneurs; the courses are also used as a follow-up for those who participated in the onsite activities. A Sebrae link with information on the program is available on the website of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, targeting Brazilian communities overseas: http://www.brasileirosnomundo.itamaraty.gov.br/
According to Castro, the United States and Europe are the regions where most Minas Gerais-born entrepreneurs are located. She is not aware of any participants who have return from the Arab countries. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, has been receiving several expatriates from Brazil.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
