São Paulo – In the first quarter of 2009, micro and small businesses in the state of São Paulo recorded growth of 10.2% in revenues compared with the same period of 2009. For the sixth month in a row, revenues increased over the same month of the previous year. Business in the two categories had an increase of 11.3% in revenues in March this year compared with March 2009.
According to indicators supplied by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) in the state of São Paulo, all sectors of activity have grown in the comparison between March of this year and March of last year: industry (+24.2%), trade (+5%) and services (+14%). Industry, the sector that the crisis affected the most, had the greatest increase during the period. According to the superintendent director of the Sebrae-SP, Ricardo Tortorella, this is a good moment for micro and small businesses, but public policies are required in order to ensure their sustainability.
”The perspective of growth in Brazil is based on the domestic market, and a significant share of micro and small businesses are retail-oriented. There must be conditions that enable them to be competitive. Interest and inflation must be monitored so as not to hamper this phase of expansion, and in order to preserve the population’s purchasing power,” he says.
According to information disclosed by the Sebrae, the so-called ABC region of São Paulo (comprising the municipalities of Santo André, São Bernardo and São Caetano) had the best performance in the comparison between March and February of this year, with growth of 16.2%. There was growth in all regions surveyed: the metropolitan region of São Paulo (10.4%); the municipality of São Paulo (8.4%) and the interior of the state of São Paulo (7.4%).
Regarding expectations for the coming six months, 35% of micro and small business owners surveyed in April stated that they expect revenues to increase, 48% claimed that they believe revenues will remain at the same level, and 16% said that they do not know how revenues will behave.
Overall, revenues by small businesses totalled 23.9 billion Brazilian real (US$ 16.4 billion). Average revenues per company are estimated at 18,029.56 real (US$ 10,093.81). There are 1.3 million micro and small businesses in São Paulo, representing 98% of registered companies, employing 5 to 6 million people, accounting for 67% of private sector jobs, and for 28% of gross revenues by the formal sector.
For the Sebrae/SP Indicators survey, the owners of 2,716 small businesses were surveyed, in partnership with the State Data Analysis System Foundation (Seade).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum