Brazil has 15.7 million individual microentrepreneurs

Brazil has 15.7 million individual microentrepreneurs (MEIs) with active CNPJ. The data is from the most recent survey by the Ministry of Finance. According to the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), this number represents around 73% of the total number of formal companies in the country.

According to Sebrae’s customer relationship manager, Ênio Pinto, MEI gave visibility to many businesses that were undergoing informalization.

“The MEI status allows you to take a business out of informality and, from the moment it is formal — which will even be able to have invoices — (it can) sell to other companies, to the government itself. I think that the figure of the MEI is a watershed in the Brazilian economy because it takes many people out of informality and catalyzes, boosts and accelerates the process of entrepreneurship in the economy as a whole”, he considers.

According to research carried out by Sebrae in partnership with Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), the formalization of individual micro-entrepreneurs generated a gain of up to R$69.56 billion in the country’s economy.

Among the most common economic activities among MEIs are beauty salon services (hairdresser, barber, manicure, etc.), with 1.02 million active CNPJs. Next are professionals in the clothing sector, with almost 977 thousand CNPJs; and masonry execution services, with more than 694 thousand CNPJs.

According to an analysis by Sebrae, at the end of 2019, the number of active MEIs was less than 9.5 million. By 2022, 5.4 million new businesses were generated in the individual microentrepreneur category. In the assessment of Sebrae manager, Ênio Pinto, the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the increase in unemployment contributed to the increase in the number of MEIs. For him, this reflects a country with an entrepreneurial soul.

“It is clear that Brazilians, when given the choice, prefer to enter productive society as an entrepreneur than as an employee. We even have research that shows this quite objectively. So, during the entire pandemic period, when many people lost jobs, some businesses reduced their activity, and you did not have the option of entering the productive society as a collaborator, it was the time that many people unpacked their business projects”, highlights .

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, carried out by Sebrae in partnership with the Brazilian Institute of Quality and Productivity (IBQP), becoming an entrepreneur is the third biggest dream of Brazilians.

Entrepreneurship by necessity and opportunity

Among the reasons that lead individual microentrepreneurs to start their own business are necessity and opportunity, as Ênio Pinto explains.

“Entrepreneurship through opportunity is when the individual identifies a problem in society to be solved, identifies a concrete business opportunity and organizes himself, makes a business plan to explore it in the best possible way. These are people who we say are dedicated to entrepreneurship; If they could choose between being an entrepreneur or working for a company, they choose to be an entrepreneur”, he points out.

“A person who undertakes out of necessity is a person who, if faced with the chance of having a formal contract, makes the choice to go for a formal contract. So she is undertaking, as the name suggests, out of necessity for survival, to generate a minimum income,” she explains.

Individual microentrepreneur Mechelle Gonzaga is the owner of Poderosa na Chapa, a business specializing in catering, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The inspiration to undertake came from a need after the end of an abusive marriage.

“I suffered psychological and financial violence. And, at the end of the marriage, there was physical violence too. But I planned to leave this marriage and studied gastronomy”, she reports.
At first, she started working as a CLT in a hamburger restaurant in the Leblon neighborhood; That was when the opportunity to participate in a gastronomy event arose.

I had R$500 in my account and I said: ‘Man, let’s go. I’m going to create my burgers’. In three hours I had sold everything. In this sense, I saw a great business opportunity,” she says.

Ten years later, Poderosa na Chapa, which started in the kitchen of Mechelle’s house, has already reached major events. “I did it from a young age, like Feira da Glória — which is the biggest street market in Rio de Janeiro — to Rock in Rio, for example, in 2022,” she recalls.

After so many achievements with the business, Mechelle highlights the importance of being regularized from the beginning and the benefits of having adhered to Simples Nacional (simplified taxation system for MEIs and small companies).

“Not only for us to have social security security, but if I didn’t have my MEI regularized, I wouldn’t be able to complete all the legalization of my product so I could be there at Rock in Rio, for example. And I also issue invoices to my catering clients,” she says.

The MBA professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Eduardo Maróstica, highlights the impact of formalization on small businesses.

“While you are informal, you do not exist, because you do not have a constitution. You confuse your personal money with that of the company. And the fact that you are constituted as a company makes it easier for you to sign up for credit, line of credit, legitimacy and protagonism”, he highlights.

But not everyone undertakes out of necessity. There are also those who see an opportunity to make their dreams come true and jump at it. This is the case of Brasilia native Juscinelia Bastos, owner of Yasmin Joias. She discovered the semi-jewelry business when she was invited to work as a salesperson for a company. After two years, she started thinking about owning her own business; She seized the opportunity and opened Yasmin Joias — named after her youngest daughter.

For her, becoming an individual microentrepreneur was a turning point. “With this work I managed to educate my two children. I have a son who graduated in Law and I have another who graduated in Accounting. And I gave them a comfortable adolescence. I am a single mother and raised them alone, working with semi-jewelry”, she says.

Check the number of MEIs in your city

MEI week

For those who want to open a MEI, formalize or want to boost their business, Sebrae promotes throughout the country, between the 20th and 24th of May, the MEI week. This is the 15th edition of the event which, this year, has the theme “Enough together with Sebrae”. Free of charge, the program includes in-person and online activities, such as lectures, practical workshops, courses, as well as networking and inspiring stories from successful entrepreneurs.

“MEI week is the biggest mobilization promoted by the Sebrae system. Our intention is to further professionalize the management of this small entrepreneur. So there will be a day when we will address issues related to finance, on another the issue of planning, on another the issue of sales, including digital sales. It’s about updating the knowledge he needs to have to be at the forefront of this venture and have a greater chance of success”, explains Ênio Pinto.

The complete schedule is available on the page sebrae.com.br/semanadomei.

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