Sebrae - Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service
Qualifying entrepreneurs and seeking sustainable development conditions for small businesses
Sebrae is a great partner of the small Brazilian entrepreneur. It is a non-profit private institution, supporting the development of small-sized business activity, a result of the union of both the public and private sectors, and the country's main fostering and research entities.
The coordination of its actions and policies is carried out by the National Deliberative Council, made up of more than 350 institutions represented by the government, business entities, and educational and research institutions.
The Deliberative Council is in charge of Sebrae's annual budget. In 1999, for instance, its revenue totaled 450 million dollars, being such amount derived from the 0.3% contribution incurred on companies' payroll.
Most of these resources are utilized in programs and actions that are extremely important to micro and small enterprises. They include credit and capitalization support, sectorial and regional development, professional and technological qualification, among many others that strengthen and foster the creation of new productive chains
Another important aid to small enterprises has come up in the Brazilian legislation, to which Sebrae has granted great efforts. The Federal Constitution establishes, in article 179, a differentiated treatment for these companies. The Statute of the Micro and Small Enterprise sought to establish a legal framework favorable to small businesses, while the FÁCIL (The Easy One) program increased the quickness and practicality of procedures to open and register a company. The SIMPLES (The Simple One), the single tax for small companies, sought to reduce the tax and social security load and simplify, in a sharp form, bureaucratic processes.
Sebrae - All dimensions of Brazil
Brazil is a country of continental size, with an 8.5 million km² territory and a population of nearly 170 million inhabitants. It is Latin America's largest country, having unique features of human, cultural, and natural resources wealth.
Ranking eighth in the world's economy, with an annual GDP of around US$ 700 billion and a per capita income of US$ 4,500, Brazil has a dynamic economy, with qualified agriculture, industries, and companies, and significant technological development, presenting excellent business opportunities in several sectors.
In recent years, further to the establishment of a remarkable plan of economic stabilization, the country consolidated a monetary pattern, controlled inflation, and resumed its growth and its investing capacity. It also promoted a vigorous privatization process, opening up the country to the challenges of globalization and implanting a strong modernizing dynamics at practically all major economic sectors.
One of the sectors that face a strong challenge by such a market is that of the micro and small enterprises. The world globalization leads such companies into new and excellent opportunities, as well as meeting important threats.
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