Woman sees financial independence in entrepreneurship – 01/28/2024 – Market

Having your own business to achieve financial independence is an alternative that more and more women are looking for as a way of earning their own living.

According to research released by Sebrae (Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Businesses) in March 2023, the number of female business owners reached 10.3 million in Brazil in the third quarter of 2022, a record level in a historical series that began in the third quarter 2016.

Sebrae considers women who act as employers or are self-employed with or without a CNPJ to be business owners.

The study indicates that, in September 2022, 53% of business owners were in the services sector. Commerce (27%), industry (13%) and agriculture (7%) followed.

Nathália Rodrigues, 25, known on social networks as the digital influencer Nath Finances, says that entrepreneurship was the way she found when she started producing content on social networks.

She highlights that, for those who intend to follow this path, specializing is crucial to the success of the business. “I learned financial education in college, and it was there that I understood the importance of specialization for entrepreneurship.”

There are a series of programs on the market aimed at women who want to have their own business.

Sebrae itself offers the Sebrae Delas program, whose objective is precisely to encourage the journey of women who undertake or want to undertake.

“Programs aimed at female entrepreneurship are important mainly for gender equity, financial autonomy and network formation for women”, says Veronica Lima, state manager of the Sebrae Delas Program in São Paulo.

The Sebrae program includes content for managing a small business and actions that involve the development of technical and socio-emotional skills through lectures and mentoring.

According to the manager, most of them undertake out of necessity, with training being a fundamental step in reducing the mortality of companies in the state of SP.

Sebrae Delas SP was created in 2019 and since then has served almost 122 thousand women. Anyone who identifies as female over 18 years of age can participate. In-person and online classes take place in all Sebrae-SP offices. Interested parties can look for a Sebrae unit in their city or contact 0800 570 0800.

Veronica explains that Sebrae Delas works on three main pillars. The first is the “I”, in which women’s socio-emotional skills are worked on, so that they feel increasingly stronger and empowered, focusing on self-knowledge, self-esteem and leadership in their own lives.

The second pillar is “My”, where business management and training to manage a business are the focus. And it ends with “We”, with the focus on creating a relationship network that can contribute to sustaining the operation. The third pillar offers the possibility of access to credit through the Sebrae SP partnership with the state government.

Banks also have programs that seek to train women who want to be entrepreneurs.

BB (Banco Brasil) has a platform called Mulheres no Topo, which offers financial solutions and entrepreneurial education for women. The platform offers the granting of corporate and individual credit with different conditions for women entrepreneurs, such as working capital for companies with at least one female director.

“We have expanded our support for female entrepreneurship”, said BB president, Tarciana Medeiros, in a post on social media. From January to November last year, credit disbursement to women was R$31.6 billion, an increase of 7.5% compared to the same period in 2022.

According to BB, female entrepreneurship transforms social relations, giving more financial autonomy and self-esteem to women, who no longer need to submit to situations of violence or dependence.

“Female entrepreneurship diversifies points of view in decision-making and gives more visibility to gender issues in companies, politics, culture and other spaces. Through it it is possible to inspire and influence other women, sharing stories and helping them to overcome the obstacles and challenges that still exist in society”, argues the bank.

At Itaú, the main program aimed at female entrepreneurship is Itaú Mulher Empreendedora (IME), created in 2013. Through it, the bank develops initiatives to support female entrepreneurs throughout Brazil, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of the World Bank Group.

The main objective of the program is to boost the growth of companies led by women, through rounds of business acceleration and training, network of connections and content on management and finance, generating positive impact and developing success stories, says Luciana Nicola, director of Institutional Relations and Sustainability at Itaú.

Interested parties can register through “Itaú meu Negócios”, a non-financial solutions platform for companies. The bank also has registrations open for “Empreenda e Renda”, an initiative in partnership with Rede Mulher Empreendedora (RME), aimed at promoting female entrepreneurship in the North and Northeast regions. The training offers a total of 30 thousand places.

“By supporting and promoting female entrepreneurship, we are not only creating opportunities to generate income, employment and financial independence for these women but also generating a positive impact on their surroundings and the community”, says the bank’s director, adding that, in After a decade of operation, IME has impacted around 800,000 women.

Alexandre Castelano, responsible for Santander’s Prospera microcredit program, states that, of the total credit granted to customers through the initiative, around 65% is aimed at women.

The prevalence of women in credit granted, says Castelano, reflects the fact that many families have women as their main breadwinner. These are women who, in many cases, repurchase cosmetics, clothes or cook food to resell and thus have a form of subsistence, says the executive. He explains that Prospera is aimed at micro-entrepreneurs who are not yet formalized, that is, without a CNPJ.

“In many cities where there is not a large job offer, the only thing left for these enterprising women is to open a business to generate subsistence income.” There are around 1,800 Santander program agents who travel the country looking for small entrepreneurs who need resources to boost their business.

According to Castelano, on average, women have a level of payment up to 20% higher compared to men, which translates into interest rates up to 20% lower. Rates have a ceiling of up to 4% per month, but tend to be below this level, depending on the risk identified by the bank.

Since 2017, Prospera has served around 2 million people, granting credit in the order of R$16 billion. Entrepreneurs who want to access credit can register on the Prospera website, including their name, address and telephone number, so that one of the bank’s agents can visit the business.