It is true that São Paulo remains as Brazil’s most prominent entrepreneurial ecosystem. But what is also true is that countryside cities and other capitals across the country, such as Osasco, Florianópolis and Vitória, are also gathering what it takes to be a hub in this industry.
This is what shows the fifth edition of the Entrepreneurial Cities Index 2020 (ICE, in its acronym in Portuguese), a study held by Endeavor in partnership with the National School of Public Administration (Enap). In its latest issue, the survey brings the 100 most populous cities in the country to analyze their conditions related to regulatory environment, infrastructure, market, access to capital, innovation, human capital and entrepreneurial culture.
“It is clear that cities like São Paulo continue to have a lot of relevance in the Index, especially considering aspects such as access to capital. However, in the other factors, at least half of the ten cities with best performance are not capitals,” stresses Endeavor’s director of institutional relations Renata Mendes.
“Local examples are the ones that lead to transformation,” says Camilla Junqueira, general director at Endeavor, emphasizing the need to foster entrepreneurship at a regional level.
While São Paulo leads the way in the overall ranking, other cities steal the spotlight when it comes to factors such as regulatory environment, an area that analyses process time, taxation and bureaucratic complexity. In this particular factor, the Northern city of Macapá ranks first.
In the market factor, related to the city’s economic performance and potential customers, Jundiaí, in the state of São Paulo outperformed the others, showing potential for attracting new businesses as well as its competitive environment.
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As for entrepreneurial culture, a factor that takes into account the satisfaction linked to being an entrepreneur, family support and the ease for opening and keeping a business, cities in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil are in the top of the ranking, led by Porto Velho, where there is a positive image from its population regarding entrepreneurship.
According to Endeavor’s index, southern cities performed better on the innovation factor, filling half of the first ten positions, led by Florianópolis. Indicators such as the proportion of masters and doctors in science and technology, as well as employees in this area and investment from BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) and Finep (Funding Authority for Studies and Projects) were taken into account.
“ICE proves that there is much more willing to do business as an entrepreneur in Brazil than what we see in the South and Southeast,” points out Diogo Costa, president at Enap.
“What we see in a guide like this is that, in the long run, institutions are more important than actions. Institutions are needed for the market to be fast, for simplifying the opening of companies, the execution of contracts. This is also a long-term vision that we see in the report: not only specific actions are needed, but also the strengthening of institutions that work to boost entrepreneurship.”
