According to an analysis by the Sebrae (Brazilian Service of Support to Micro and Small Enterprises), companies that employ up to four people answered to 57.1% (103,590) of the new posts. Companies that employ between 5 and 19 people answered to 2.8% of the balance.

The percentage referring to small companies, which employ 20 to 99 workers, was 14.1%. The participation of medium and large companies was, respectively, 18% and 8% of the total.

The figures are in the General Records Office for Employment and Unemployment (Caged), published monthly by the Ministry of Labor and whose results help the government’s decision making process.

To the manager of the strategic management unit at the Sebrae, Raissa Rossiter, the net figure of jobs generated in January is a positive effect of the country’s return to growth.

According to her, this fact has been boosting companies of all sizes. “The return to dynamism in large companies, for example, triggers demand for goods and services from micro and small companies,” he said.

ABr

The figure is relevant because confident businessmen tend to increase investment and production in order to meet the expected growth in demand.

The enthusiasm of small and medium businesses has also increased. The confidence of medium companies has gone from 65.9% to 68.7% (growth of 2.8%), and the rate of large businesses totaled 70.1%, as against 68.1% in October 2009. The Industrial Confidence Index was disclosed this week by the National Confederation of Industries (CNI).

The overall index, for all company sizes, was 68.7%, the highest ever recorded since 1999. In 2010, the rate rose 2.8% compared with October 2009, and has grown 21.3% since January 2009, when the confidence of businessmen reached its lowest level, with the onset of the international crisis.

The survey was elaborated between the 4th and the 22nd this month. The questionnaire was completed by 1,431 companies across the country, of which 792 were small (20 to 99 employees), 427 were medium and 212 were large. The Industrial Confidence Index is used for detecting changes in industrial output trends.

The index for the processing industry increased for the fourth time in a row and reached an all-time high at 67.7%. All of the processing industry sectors surveyed have recorded confidence indexes higher than 60% and most have shown growth in comparison with July. The indexes for the Cleaning and Perfumery and Furniture sectors recorded the sharpest declines – 4.1% and 8.8%, respectively. The sectors whose rates increased the most were alcohol and wood, with growth of over 10%.

The indexes for the extraction and civil construction industries are also high. The extraction industry’s confidence index remained virtually stable, having gone from 65% to 65.2%. The confidence index of the civil construction industry, a segment that was included this month, was the highest of all sectors surveyed, at 68.9%.

Anba

Micro and small businesses headquartered outside of the capitals and large cities answer to 64% of employment positions, i.e., 13.2 million jobs.

The data were culled from the 2008 Directory of labor at Micro and Small Companies, commissioned by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) from the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socio-Economic Studies (Dieese).

The survey contains information on 6,073,056 micro, small, medium, and large-sized formal companies. Out of that total, 2,184,934, or 97.5%, are micro and small businesses. Medium and large companies, in turn, total 56,137, i.e., 2.5% of enterprises.

In regional terms, municipalities in the interior of the Southern Region are the ones that employ the most. Micro and small-sized companies provide 81.3% of total job positions there. The Southeast Region ranks second, with 64.7% of jobs at micro and small businesses located outside the metropolitan regions.

Next comes the Northeast, with 50.4% of jobs in the interior. Then come the North, with 47.8% of people employed far from the capitals, and the Midwest, with 44.9%.

In terms of economic sectors, industry is the leading employer segment. In 2006, the industrial sector answered to 77% of total workers employed in municipalities in the interior. After industry, micro and small trade sector businesses are the second largest employers, accounting for 66% of job positions outside of big cities.

In construction and services-related activities, labor is relatively evenly distributed among capital and interior, with shares of 56% and 55%, respectively. The technical director at Dieese, Clemente Ganz Lúcio, believes that one of the factors that explain the dynamism of the interior's economy is smaller distance between final production and the industrial process, with factories located in privileged regions. Coupled with that, the director also mentions the increase in purchasing power of consumers outside the capitals.

To the manager at the Agribusiness Unit of Sebrae National, Juarez de Paula, the growth of the agricultural sector, driven mostly by rising exports, and the saturation of large cities' markets explain the expansion of new dynamic centers in Brazil.

"We export most of the agricultural products, such as meats, orange, soybean, coffee, sugar and alcohol. This translates into greater productivity and demand for services, especially in the post-production phases. We have concrete examples of active economies in the west of the state of Bahia, in Mato Grosso and Piauí­," he informed.

Sebrae

The data were taken from the Sebrae Indicators/São Paulo survey for March 2008, conducted on a monthly basis by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) in partnership with the Seade Foundation, among 2,700 micro and small companies in the industry, trade and services sectors.

The average monthly revenues of micro and small businesses in the first quarter this year was 15,900 reais (US$ 9,588). According to the survey, this is the best performance of micro and small companies in São Paulo for the first quarter of the year since 2001, considering the inflationary adjustment for the period.

In terms of regions, it was the interior of the state that boosted the growth in the quarter, 4.3% rise in company revenues. Companies in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, the state capital, had their revenues growing 0.7%, whereas in the city of São Paulo and Greater ABC region, all cities that are closely tied, there was a reduction of 2.7% and 2.4%, respectively.

Trade powered growth in the period, with 8.2% expansion in revenues in comparison with the first quarter of 2008 as against the first quarter of 2007. The sector, especially in the interior, is being benefited by the improvement on the domestic market and by the agricultural boom.

Micro and small companies in industry and services did not post the same performance in the region and registered drops in revenues in the period, 6.6% and 2%, respectively, on average in the state.

Real worker revenues in micro and small companies also grew in the first quarter of the year, registering growth of 2.7% over the same quarter last year, with trade boosting this tendency, growing 3.8%, followed by the service sector (+2.9). Industrial employees had a 1.1% reduction in revenues.

But if salaries grew, the same cannot be said about the number of work posts. The research shows that the average number of people employed by micro and small companies dropped 2.1% in the quarter, when compared to the same period in 2007.

In the first three months of 2007, there were 4.3 people per company, on average. In the first quarter of 2008, this figure dropped to 4.2 people per company. The reduction in the average number of people per company took place in all three sectors: trade (down 1.4%), industry (1.6% reduction) and services (3.7 contraction).

In the evaluation of Marco Aurélio Bedê, the coordinator of the research, "this result cannot be interpreted as a reduction in the total number of people employed in small businesses. In reality, as the economy has returned to growth, some relatives who used to work in small companies are finding other opportunities on the labour market. Work posts have also been opened through the establishment of new companies, but with fewer employees."

Sebrae

Dublauto Gaúcha is a small maker of components for the shoe
industry based in the city of Ivoti, in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio
Grande do Sul. Founded in 2003, as the arm in the state of an already successful
company from the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo, Dublauto has ten
employees, produces 200,000 meters of items per month and has customers in
Uruguay, Chile and Argentina.

The head of the company is engineer Evandro Wolfart. His résumé includes a prize for the invention of a product that does not stifle the feet’s pores, and a project selected among 2,600 companies by the Studies and Projects Funding Body (Finep), of the Ministry of Science and Technology, under which Dublauto aims to “incorporate nanotechnology particles into textile products.” To that extent, he intends to interact with universities that already do research on nanotechnology, such as Unicamp, in Campinas, interior of São Paulo.

The company cited above is a typical new Brazilian micro and small business: its structure is lean, and production is carried out according to the demand. But it grows 30% per year. And if exports totaled 6% of the company’s revenues in 2006, this year they should account for 13%.

What leads a small company to gain space like this? “Micro and small businesses need to think as big ones do: they must know how to use the Internet, to internationalize themselves, to have good distribution and to always be up-to-date with technology,” explains Wolfart, who became associated with a consortium along with other small companies in the shoe sector, linked to the Brazilian Association of Shoe and Leather Components Industries (Assintecal) so as to be able to export.

Along with the group, which counts on support from the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), Wolfart has even been to China on a “technological mission,” to check out what the Chinese have been doing. He has also been to the United States. He came back from New York loaded with marketing ideas for his new product line.

Small Brazilian companies are becoming more dynamic, global and professional. According to the survey “Survival and Mortality Rate of Micro and Small Businesses,” disclosed by the Sebrae halfway through the year, companies of those sizes have been surviving more now than they did in the past: 78% of enterprises established between 2003 and 2005 have remained in the market, as compared to 50.6% of all companies established between 2000 and 2002.

Among the reasons for such a change, the Sebrae points to a higher education level of micro-businessmen and their employees, much better trained entrepreneurs – demand for consultancy from Sebrae itself has increased five-fold in the period surveyed, compared with the previous survey (2000-2002) – as well, of course, as economical stability in Brazil.

At the time when the survey was disclosed, the president of Sebrae, Paulo Okamoto, drew a profile of the Brazilian small business entrepreneur: “He has a good education level, seeks knowledge and information so as to manage his company well, and insists on entrepreneurship, despite the obstacles that he is faced with.”

Along with the consolidation of small businesses, there comes a series of positive factors for the country: the number of jobs grows, the number of exporting companies grows, and thus the economy accelerates.

Presently, according to data supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, micro and small businesses – the concept of “small” being liable to include medium-sized companies, depending on revenues – account for 20% of the country’s GDP.

They represent 99% of formal companies in operation, 55% of formal jobs and 51% of exporter companies. On the other hand, they account for only 2.7% of Brazilian exports.

When it comes to the informal market, micro and small businesses show even greater strength: according to data disclosed by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2005, there are 10.3 million micro and small businesses in informality – twice as much as the formal ones (4.91 million).

Of those informal companies, 33% are in the repair trade and services sectors, 17% are in civil construction and 16% are in the processing and extraction industries. Informal companies employ a total of 13.8 million workers.

For the time being, neither the General Law for Micro and Small Companies, passed in 2006, nor the “Super Simple” tax, passed in 2007, have managed to lure this mass into formality. The reasons for that are varied, but they are the same ones that lead formal companies to go bankrupt, or stop many others from growing: high taxes, bad management and impossible financing.

Almost Professional

To the postgraduate course Professor at business school Faculdade Getúlio Vargas, in São Paulo (FGV-SP), Francisco Guglielme Júnior, micro and small companies are on their way to professionalization – but are not yet quite there.

“They are becoming more adapted to the ever more demanding market, but many still stumble upon finances due to mere lack of knowledge about basic management principles,” explains the Professor, who specializes in entrepreneurship.

And that applies to virtually every sector – both for the entrepreneur who ventures into small trade, and for the engineer who wants to establish his own project company. “As a whole, micro and small businessmen are people from all sorts of backgrounds and who have not learned simple things, ranging from ‘how to manage a company’ to dealing with interest rates, working capital, cost operation,” he asserts.

“The greatest problem when it comes to the survival of micro and small businesses, besides the high tax burden in our country, is surely the entrepreneurial management issue,” agrees Cloir Dassoler, president at the Federation of Micro and Small Company Associations of the State of Santa Catarina (Fampesc), a state in which 98% of the companies are either micro or small, and employ more than 60% of local workforce.

“Our businessmen still need improving, and lots of it, when it comes to managing their companies. Coupled with that, it would be necessary to solve the problems caused by bureaucracy in Brazil, lack of investment and government incentives, and the lack of more accessible credit lines for those segments,” states Dassoler.

To Guglielme Júnior, of FGV, also missing are lots of information about micro and small businesses. The subject needs more space in the media, in university courses, and even in high school. “A course on entrepreneurship should be in the first-year curriculum in every school. It should be as basic as learning language,” he believes.

For those who wish to start a business, the Professor advises: read a lot, inform yourself, seek the Sebrae, the Apex – in case your business involves exporting. To him, companies that offer quality and good pricing, and always keep an eye out for new technologies, are sure to be solid.

“And the less you depend on financing from banks, the better. If possible, do not ever put yourself in the hands of a bank,” he advises.

Giants in Trade

As 99% of Brazilian companies are small, things would be no different when it comes to trade. According to the São Paulo Trade Association (ACSP), 98% of trade companies fit into the small-sized category. And among the small ones, micro-sized businesses are the majority.

According to the superintendent for Economy at the ACSP, Marcel Solimeo, of the 136,000 companies established in 2007 in the Commercial Registry of the State of Sao Paulo (Jucesp), 65% fit in the micro-business category.

They, the small ones, are the great employers in the trade sector. “And these enterprises end up serving as training places for workforce, and represent one of the greatest first-job opportunities for non-specialized personnel,” states Alencar Burti, president at the ACSP and also at the Confederation of Commercial and Business Associations of Brazil (CACB) and at the Federation of Commercial Associations of the State of São Paulo (Facesp).

Although they exist in greater quantity, micro- and small-sized commercial enterprises account for 60% of the sector’s total revenues. As with other sectors – industry, services, agribusiness, etc -, in trade, bureaucracy is one of the major obstacles to establishing and maintaining a new business.

Burti also lists lack of access to credit, high interest rates and floating of the economy as other factors that hinder the greatness of small companies.

“Fortunately, however, in the last two years the economy has been growing, which makes it easier for companies to survive and thrive,” he says. “In the years to come, economic growth should be maintained, constituting a favorable scenario for those willing to become entrepreneurs.”

Small Companies, Great Ambitions

In order to start off in the foreign market on a good note, micro and small businesses must combine determination and creativity, conquer challenges such as the language barrier and, most of all, “think big”.

The statement was made by the general manager at the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), Rogério Belline. According to him, a survey conducted by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) among Local Production Arrangements (APLs) indicates that between 2001 and 2007, 3,500 micro and small companies participated in training projects and programs in the country. “Presently, approximately 300 of those companies are also taking part in projects developed by the Apex and turned to exporting,” he said.

In 2008, the Apex is willing to take its work with small enterprises even further. The idea is to develop a partnership with all of the projects and temporary initiatives in the most varied sectors – shoes, real estate, fashion and textiles, design, agroindustry – so that small companies that already had at least one experience in the foreign market may become permanent exporters.

“Our first step will be consulting those companies to find whether they are in fact interested in exporting. Then, we will carry out a series of actions aimed at fitting them into Apex’s initiatives and projects,” he explained. “This will be our main goal when it comes to micro and small companies in 2008.”

The work of Apex is more than needed. After all, if on the one hand 51% of exporter companies in Brazil are small-sized, on the other hand they amount to just 2.7% of Brazilian foreign sales – a figure too low.

A survey conducted by the Sebrae in 2006 showed that the share of small companies in total Brazilian exports decreased from 3.1% in 2004 to 2.7% in 2005. It is worth noting that in 2005, total exports from Brazil expanded considerably: 22.6% over the previous year, totaling US$ 118.3 billion.

The strategic management manager at the Sebrae, Pio Cortizo Vidal, claims that the decrease in the share of micro and small businesses in exports is relative, because in fact what took place was a very large increase in sales by large companies. “The large ones grew a lot, approximately 170%, between 1998 and 2005. Small ones, on the other hand, grew only 71%,” he asserted.

Anyway, at this moment of expansion in international trade, micro and small companies are still making too small a contribution, volume-wise. In Italy, for instance, according to data supplied by the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp), the share of small companies in sales to other countries is 58%.

There, micro and small-sized companies are organized into business groups called clusters (similar to the Local Production Arrangements that exist in Brazil), but count on strong government incentive, so that they can be competitive abroad.

“Our economic model was never turned to exports by micro and small companies. The model is bureaucratic, there are problems when it comes to understanding the regulations, but the actual problem precedes those – there is lack of knowledge regarding demand in foreign markets.

“The Sebrae is really helpful, however there is still a need for a government policy, for a special treatment to those micro and small businesses, one that shows them how to export while assuming the lowest possible risk,” says Francisco Guglielme Junior, a Professor in a postgraduate course at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation-São Paulo (FGV-SP), who specializes in entrepreneurship.

To the Professor, it would take a sort of small exporter’s handbook, a really didactic, step-by-step guide. Furthermore, micro and small businesses that already export should advertise more, thus setting an example for others to follow.

“A small businessman does not have the time to do research on how to export, to understand the regulations, the taxes, exchange rates, advance credit, etc, let alone do they have the funds needed to pay for ‘And trading companies are not always the solution. Some cannot afford them. Furthermore, the product to be exported is often not interesting to the trading company. “But I believe that in the medium-term, around ten years from now, the export volume of small- and medium-sized businesses should be much greater, more consolidated.”

Continuous Exports

A positive feature of micro and small companies is that they grew a lot in the continuous exporters category, i.e., those that exported in a systematic, uninterrupted fashion. According to the same Sebrae-2006 survey, no less than 52.9% of all micro-companies that exported in 2005 were continuous exporters, a much higher percentage than that of 2004 (32%) and even greater than recorded in 1998 (11%).

The scenario is similar for small companies, among which continuous exporters increased their share to 63.6% in 2005, up from the 52.1% recorded in the previous year.

To Vidal, from Sebrae, the survey clearly shows that, currently, companies have better conditions of maintaining their presence in the foreign market. “It is good to see that, at least, most of the companies that gave up exporting were the non-continuous exporters and first-timers, whereas the share of continuous exporters grew a lot,” he asserts.

Anyway, according to him, a policy is needed for increasing the share of micro and small businesses in exports. “Exporting demands work. The first thing to do is to obtain information about the products for which there is demand in the foreign market. And then you need to be competitive.” The more organized sectors, according to Vidal, are the ones that stand out the most abroad. Marble, granite, shoes and furniture are among them.

“Sebrae keeps on working to challenge competitiveness of micro and small-sized companies. We need to show businessmen that exporting is not an otherworldly thing, that it is feasible.”

Obstacles and Solutions

One way for exporters to overcome the obstacles is to join several companies together. The so-called consortiums are a solution, especially for micro-businessmen, who have no budget even to begin obtaining information on the subject. Together, micro and small businesses are capable of showing themselves to the entire world.

The General Law for Micro and Small Companies, passed in 2006, encourages the creation of such consortia. Class organizations in the most varied sectors stimulate the establishment of these exporter groups. They also take smaller companies on business missions abroad.

Such is the case with the Brazilian Association of Shoe and Leather Components Industries (Assintecal). “We began placing greater emphasis on exports and company internationalization in 1999 and 2000. We even took companies that had only four employees on foreign missions,” says Luis Amaral, president at Assintecal.

But even before they go out and showcase their products, Brazilian companies need to bet on quality and exclusiveness. With that in mind, the Assintecal has renewed an agreement with Sebrae in December. Valid for two years and forecasting an investment of 4.4 million reais (US$ 2.4 million), the contract provides for the training, every half-year, of 1,600 companies in 20 APLs throughout Brazil.

The training should focus on development of Brazilian leather and shoe fashion. The aim is to qualify companies and generate business deals worth up to 20 million reais (US$ 11.1 million).

“We want to anticipate shoe manufacturers and storeowners, and set the trend ourselves. Instead of them ordering a heel with a given shape, we want to launch our own and start a trend,” explains Amaral.

This stance, of providing greater value to products, is going to help exports by small companies in the sector even further.

“Whenever there is a differential and quality, size does not matter. We have an associate who makes ornaments for shoes, and who asks for Prada to wait because he is still catering to Gucci. And he already has a huge order placed by Louis Vuitton for 2009,” he exemplifies.

What the Small Ones Sell

If sales by small Brazilian companies are still low in terms of volume, variety abounds. There is so much diversity that the majority of products does not fit into specific groups. In spite of that, nearly 20% of foreign sales in 2005 consisted of only five items. Highlight export products by micro-companies include sawed or split wood (6.4%), shoes (3.9%), furniture (3.5%), clothing (3%), and marble and granite pieces (2.9%).

The profile is quite similar to that of small exporters, for which five products account for 24.5% of sales. The list is led by wood (8.2%), followed by furniture (5.8%), marble and granite (4.6%), shoes (3.5%) and plywood (2.5%).

Thus, the scenario is completely different from the universe of the so-called special micro and small companies, whose leading products are coffee (14.5%), soy (8.9%), sugar (6.9%), and iron ore (5.6%). That is, their profile is similar to that of medium and large-sized companies.

Exporting Technology

One example of success attained by a small company abroad is that of software manufacturer Ivia, based in the northeastern Brazilian city of Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará. The company was established in 1995 by two partners, and had 40 employees in 2004. Now it has 320. Ivia has already set up an office in Portugal, its leading foreign customer, and now it is preparing to enter the United States.

One of the owners at Ivia, Alexandre Menezes, explains that determination to expand the business and practical actions such as training, company certification and mature management were key to the brand’s internationalization process.

“These days, software is a must for any type of company, and that ensures a growing demand. But the market requires constant updating and lots of investment,” he explains.

According to Menezes, foreign market insertion has a positive repercussion in the domestic market as well. “It warrants credibility. The customer knows that if you won your space among competitors from all over the world, it means your product is good,” he says.

As he closed the year with revenues of more than 10.5 million reais (US$ 5.8 million), which is the maximum amount for rating a company as being small-sized – according to the criteria adopted by the Sebrae, in early December Ivia became a medium-sized company. “Our goal is to continue growing,” he asserts.

Menezes’ advice for businessmen who want to export and grow is to invest in training and in the quest for knowledge about the country in which they want to insert their company. “To learn from one’s mistakes is costly and takes a lot of time,” he warns. And he encourages entrepreneurs. “I have seen many Brazilian companies abroad, from various segments, and there is space for all.”

Oil Business

The self-sufficiency in petroleum that Brazil attained in April 2006 and the recent discovery of new oil and gas reserves in the Campos Basin, in Rio de Janeiro, have cheered up the huge, wealthy, and demanding oil and gas production chain in the country. What not everybody knows is that this huge universe might translate into opportunities for many other sectors, including small entrepreneurs.

Between April 2005 and November 2007, 3,365 micro and small companies engaged in actions seeking to qualify as suppliers of products and services to the O&G chain, with support from Sebrae and Petrobras.

“A total of 28 business roundtables were held, with business deals estimated at 1.5 billion reais (US$ 842 million),” says the national projects coordinator at Sebrae, Eliane Borges. “It is a sector that buys everything. From coffee break services, to uniforms, shoes, furniture, information technology and electric and electronic goods,” she says.

The companies participating in the project are based in the eleven Brazilian states in which Petrobras produces or refines oil – Amazonas (N), Ceará (NE), Rio Grande do Norte (N), Alagoas (MW), Sergipe (NE), Bahia (NE), Espírito Santo (SE), Minas Gerais (SE), Rio de Janeiro (SE), Paraná (S) and Rio Grande do Sul (S).

The initiative contributes to foster national development and is one of the objectives of the Program for Mobilization of the National Oil Industry (Prominp) of the federal government.

“The agreement was signed in 2004 and will be renewed in January 2008,” states Eliane, from Sebrae. According to her, during this period, 8,544 companies were identified as effective or potential suppliers. Of those, 4,592 micro and small companies were invited to participate in the activities. Furthermore, 188 large and medium companies were mobilized and participated as anchors – in addition to the 21 Petrobras units.

According to Eliana, the project was divided into four major strategic actions. The first one was to map out the regions where Petrobras operates. The second was to train the suppliers to the chain -ranging from support for them to enroll as potential suppliers to courses, lectures, workshops and consultancy. “We have oriented 2,207 companies to enroll. The lectures were attended by 6,032 companies, and the courses and consultancies by 1,058 companies,” states Eliana.

“Companies pay for approximately 20% of the price of courses and consultancies. Advisory for enrolling and lectures are free of charge,” she claims. “Since the sector is very demanding, technically, small companies that are apt to supply to the O&G chain in Brazil are apt to supply anywhere in the world,” Eliane ensures.

The third strategic action was the creation of Redes Petro (‘Petro Networks’), cooperation groups comprised of effective or potential suppliers to the chain, counting on the support of institutions and large companies.

“Petro Network Rio Grande do Sul was the pioneer, it emerged prior to the signing of the partnership and spawned the model throughout Brazil,” explains the coordinator at Sebrae. “Currently, we have 10 Petro Networks in operation and three others in the structuring phase,” says Eliane.

One detail that attracts attention is the fact that, out of the 2,207 companies in the Petro Networks, more than half, 1,541, are located in the state of Minas Gerais. One of the reasons for that, according to Eliana, is the fact that the State has a strong industry, and therefore strong services.

Another reason is the fact that they created a Website, thus making it easier for interested companies to enroll. In the State of Minas Gerais, a Competitive Intelligence Hub was created, with the objective of diagnosing the chain by mapping out opportunities for suppliers.

“The Petro Networks are excellent for micro and small companies. One the greatest problems facing small companies is access to information. After the partnership agreement, it became possible to create an entire cooperation system. Together, they are able to create catalogues, to go to trade fairs,” she exemplifies.

Finally, the fourth major action of the partnership agreement consists of mobilizing large companies so that they will help integrate the small ones into the chain. Some participate as buyers in business roundtables, while others are part of the project’s managing committee – says Eliana.

“There are those that participate by giving lectures on their investment, purchasing policies and demands made by suppliers. And there are also those that act as anchors for the supplier training actions, often with financial support,” she asserts.

Two-way Street

If for the small ones the O&G chain is a potential business, for Petrobras it is essential to have companies like these increasingly qualified – thus making products more accessible and even cheaper. Such is the case of company Filtrex, based in the Campos Basin, which developed an oil filter that used to be imported. The product has the same features as the imported one, but is 30% cheaper.

“They used to manufacture automobile filters, then they learned that there was an opportunity, they worked hard and there is the result,” explains the manager of the partnership agreement at Petrobras, José Luiz de Oliveira Reis. “For company, it is very important to be in the oil and gas chain. That is why we seek to train micro and small businesses, working to improve their competitiveness and sustainability.”

Another success case cited by Reis as having been welcomed by the giant Petrobras is that of robotics technology company Armtec Tecnologia em Robótica, based in the state of Ceará, which created a fire-fighter robot. The Saci (Portuguese acronym for Support System for Fighting Incidents) robot is controlled by firemen from a distance.

The mission of the robot, which delivers up to 4,200 liters of water per minute, is to protect fire-fighter teams. “Now they are working on a new underwater robot, the Samba, which is being developed in partnership with the Federal University of Ceará and the Navy,” he explains.

For its innovative potential, Armtec won the first place in the Product from the Northeast Region of the 2005 Finep Technological Innovation Award, and the second place in the Operational Security and Preservation category of the Petrobras Technology Award.

The plans of the partnership agreement for 2008 include a meeting of all Petro Network, in order to establish Rede Petro Brasil (‘Petro Network Brazil’), and the beginning of the internationalization process of micro and small companies by means of a partnership with the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil). Finally, a fifth strategic action will be launched: promoting development and innovation among micro and small companies.

Tightening the Screws

A small manufacturer of screws with 25 employees, even since its foundation, in 1979, Simper Parafusos had customers such as mining companies, steel industries and cement makers in the region where it is based, in the city of Contagem, in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Things were going well, without any major events, until one of the leading customers invited Simper to seek training in order to cater to the oil and gas market.

“We participated in a training project. Only after almost a year of preparation did we change our focus and enrolled in Petro Network Minas,” says Márcio Kac, general director at the company.

“There was a strong cultural change. We realized the need for certification, for improving our product,” he explains. Training also included management and finance. “We were able to reformulate several working strategies and to win new customers,” he says.

The result of all that was a 40% increase in the company’s revenues compared with 2004, even though the production of 30 tons of screws per month remained unaltered. “As the oil and gas chain is much more demanding, it calls for greater investment and training. But financial return is greater as well,” he says.

Anba – http://www.anba.com.br

This is the second edition of the exposition, which takes place between September 12 and September 15, in Belo Horizonte, capital city of the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

The event, which will be held at the Expominas exhibition center, will gather about 300 exhibiting companies from the whole of Brazil and will also count on consultancies, lectures, seminars, workshops, amongst other activities. In all, there will be nearly 200 activities for orientation and entrepreneurial capacitation.

On the first edition, in 2004, more than 45,000 people showed up at the fair, which counted on 266 exhibiting companies. More than 17,000 people stopped to hear the lectures.

For those starting from scratch, the topics most searched for that year were "Harvesting Mushrooms", "Inns", "Clothes Factories", "Costume Jewelry Factories", "LAN House". At the business roundtables, the expectations for future business generated at the occasion was of US$ 5.7 million.

The agenda for the exhibit may be seen on the website www.sebraeminas.com.br or by the telephone number (55 31) 3269-0180.

The increase in 1.2% is driven by trade, which expanded their workforce by 2.2%. In comparison to the same month last year, the increase is more modest: there are 28,000 more people working or 0.5%.

The information is the result of the Indicators Research on Income and Work Positions carried out by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) from São Paulo.

"The number of people hired in March is a demonstration of the optimistic feeling shared by the entrepreneurs for the next few months, after the first quarter was below expectations," analyses the economist Marco Aurélio Bedê, coordinator in the Economic Research Department at the São Paulo Sebrae.

Sebrae

These are the main conclusions of the São Paulo state Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) Indices, a monthly study that is carried out by the institution considering 2,700 micro and small companies in the transformation, trade and service sectors in the state. The study takes into consideration revenues, employees and salary expenses.

In the year of 2005, monthly revenues of the micro and small companies presented an increase of 1.9% over the previous year. Trade and Services pulled the results up having grown 3.2% and 3.5%, respectively.

According to the coordinator of the study, Marco Aurélio Bedê, as over 70% of the micro and small companies in the state are in trade and service, sectors, which are more dependent on the domestic market, greater employment and income in the economy expands family purchases, helping this group of companies.

Another factor that contributed to the good performance of micro and small companies was the greater offer of consumer credit. Central Bank figures show that total credit operations in the financial system presented growth of 21.5% in 2005, fueled by personal credit.

The industrial sector, in turn, does not have much to commemorate. The weak performance during the year was reflected in the 2005 balance sheets: a reduction of 3.1%, when compared to the previous year. To the Sebrae economist in São Paulo, one of the determining factors for this result was high interest rates in the period.

In 2005, once again, micro and small companies presented themselves as great employers in the state. According to the study, the number of employees in the sector rose 4.1% when compared to December 2004. A total of 231,000 new positions were opened.

Figures in the study show that micro and small companies not only generate most of the positions in the private sector of the economy (with 67% of these posts), but also present a large potential for expansion of new positions when there are signs of recovery on the domestic market.

Sebrae

"The small business sector accounts for 60% of all the jobs created in the country. This bill will make it easier for small businesses to operate and create more jobs, that is why it is so important," said the president. "The bill will ensure more jobs, more income, more consumption and more economic growth."

Lula went on to explain that the small business projects (lei geral da pequena empresa and pre-empresa), the Fundeb education bill, and the budget will dovetail to give Brazil’s development an enormous boost over the next few years.

The president also said that more small businesses will mean more exports, and a bigger trade surplus, as well.

"I hope Congress will realized that even though this is an election year, the project is very important for the Brazilian people and approve it," said the President.

Agência Brasil

According to Jairo Klepacz, secretary of Industrial Technology in the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, the goal is "to promote and support the expansion and diversification of company exports, with an emphasis on products with greater technological content."

In its initial phase, which gets underway next week, the project will seek increased exchanges among companies in Brazil and the European Union. 3.6 million euros are budgeted for this phase.

At the same time, the government will spend 4.8 million euros to set up a system of trade information and intelligence to help Brazilian exporters become better acquainted with the European market.

There are also plans to invest another 4.8 million euros on facilities to measure and assess product conformity with technical norms and regulations and animal and plant sanitary standards.

"As a result, small and medium-sized firms will learn about international requirements, focused mainly on the European market," Klepacz remarked.

In the second phase, 3.6 million euros will be used to train entrepreneurs, technical staff, and foreign trade agents.

"We are striving for this to act in effect as the tool that will prepare this segment, which is the backbone of the Brazilian economy, to compete on the international market."

Klepacz participated, yesterday, December 1st, in the 8th Meeting of the Permanent Forum of Micro and Small Enterprises. At this meeting the Minister of Development, Luiz Fernando Furlan, informed that the government is working to increase software exports to US$ 2 billion by 2007.

Furlan said that Brazil is the world’s sixth largest producer of goods in this sector, but exports are still very modest.

"We intend to surpass US$ 500 million this year and reach a higher plateau in the coming years."

He recalled that the informatics sector enjoys a degree of flexibility in production and execution, because all an entrepreneur needs to sell his products is to be "plugged into" a network.

"It is also a sector that generates jobs and provides opportunities for young people," he concluded.

Agência Brasil