The opening of small businesses in the country hit a record high last year, according to a survey published by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae). In 2021, more than 3.9 million entrepreneurs have formalized micro and small enterprises or registered as individual microentrepreneurs (MEI).

This number represents a growth of 19.8% compared to 2020, when 3.3 million businesses had been opened. Compared to 2018, the expansion reached 53.9%. That year, 2.5 million national registers of legal persons (CNPJ) were created.

According to Sebrae, while the pandemic has forced many people into entrepreneurship out of necessity, it has also spurred the pursuit of this livelihood as an opportunity. The agency believes that the growth trend will continue in the years to come.

In 2020, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report estimated that 50 million Brazilians who were not yet entrepreneurs intended to open their own business in the next three years. Of this total, a third would have the pandemic as their main motivation, but two thirds have a “natural” tendency to undertake. The report was prepared by Sebrae and the Brazilian Institute of Quality and Productivity (IBPQ).

microentrepreneurs

Sebrae attributes the increase in business openings to the reduction in bureaucracy under the Economic Freedom Act of 2019, the integration of business advice and improved simplified electronic registration of new businesses. The main highlight was the consolidation of the legal figure of the individual microentrepreneur (MEI), which represented 3.1 million businesses opened last year, or 80% of the total. In 2018 and 2019, the category represented 75% of the companies created.

In 2021, 682,700 micro-enterprises were opened (17.35% of the total), with revenues of up to BRL 360,000 per year, a record in the historical series of the segment. 121,900 small businesses were created (2.65% of the total). The category includes companies that earn between R$360,000 and R$4.8 million per year.

The opening of micro-enterprises has steadily increased over the years. From 540,600 in 2018, the number increased to 579,300 in 2019 and 579,500 in 2020. Regarding small businesses, the total increased from 75,000 in 2018 to 94,300 in 2020.