7 successful Brazilian women entrepreneurs

The number of women entrepreneurs increases every year in Brazil. Economist Ana Alves explains that the pandemic was an important factor for this number to increase even more. According to Sebrae, in 2021 the country had 10.1 million women leading their own businesses. But what does it mean to be an entrepreneur in a country like Brazil?

What is a female entrepreneur?

Undertaking means putting something into execution, doing something that has value for society. It was never easy to undertake in Brazil, and during the pandemic the difficulties increased considerably.

According to Ana Alves, who has a master’s degree in economics, “despite the increase in the number of women entrepreneurs being seen as something positive, these women are still not inserted in such a positive reality”.

The fact that women start entrepreneurship out of necessity can be considered a negative factor for achieving professional success. To start a business, “it is essential to start by specializing in the desired niche, in order to reduce the possibility of frustration”.

The profile of the female entrepreneur

In addition to financial independence, Ana Alves explains that there are different profiles of women entrepreneurs in Brazil. Most of them start their businesses out of financial necessity, while a small part do it out of passion.

This reality, which is sometimes even romanticized, can bring many more challenges to these women. This is because “when opening a business strictly out of necessity, that woman may not be prepared to undertake and may not yet have the necessary technical knowledge to run a business”.

The challenges of women entrepreneurs

According to the expert, the woman “needs to deal with a double or triple journey and this makes them exhausted and overloaded”.

In this scenario, it becomes even more difficult to explore the full potential of this entrepreneurial woman. But “despite all these difficulties, the number of women who want to open their own business continues to grow”.

7 successful women entrepreneurs to be inspired by

Female entrepreneurship is gaining more and more space in our society and Brazil already has several cases of successful women. Here are 7 cases of women who founded successful companies and who inspire other women daily to have their own business:

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Stéphanie Azevedo

Lawyer, founder of the collective Advogo paraelas, blogger and Youtuber, Stéfanie Azevedo works with a team of lawyers with the objective of bringing specialized legal assistance to women.

Its team assists women from all over Brazil and also Brazilian women living abroad in various areas of law. Weekly, Stéphanie answers legal questions for free on her Instagram profile to help more and more women get expert advice on their basic rights.

In addition, Stéfanie also offers courses for other lawyers who want to specialize in family law. Her work has a great social impact by bringing quality information to as many women as possible.

Zica Assisi

From a humble family, Heloísa Assis had to start working as a child, at only 9 years old. She was a cleaning lady, nanny and housekeeper. At the age of 21, Zica was tired of straightening her hair and also suffering prejudice from society, due to her curly and voluminous hair. So, she decided to take a hairdressing course and try some products on her own hair to take care of her curls.

The idea could have gone wrong, but the result was surprising and her products quickly began to be successful among the people she knew. In 1993, Zica began investing in the first unit of Beleza Natural. It was so successful that customers queued up at 5 am in order to gain access to innovative products. Currently, Beleza Natural is the largest Brazilian network that sells products for curly and curly hair.

Cleusa Maria

Cleusa Maria da Silva is the creator of the Sodiê Doces brand, a successful business that had a very difficult start. Cleusa comes from a humble family, she had only finished high school and had to work as a sugarcane cutter, maid and receptionist. She earned very little doing these jobs, less than the minimum wage.

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Until she decided to invest in sweets, with the help of a loan offered by her brother. Cleusa had a big challenge ahead of her, and despite her tiredness and exhaustion she didn’t give up. She worked in an industry, while making cakes at home, producing even at dawn.

After two years of double work and many challenges, Cleusa managed to open the first Sodiê Doces store in the city of Salto, which is in the interior of São Paulo. Today the brand is a reference in the segment and is the largest cake franchise in Brazil.

Maria Jose de Lima Freitas

Maria José de Lima Freitas is a successful entrepreneur who started her business out of necessity. She decided to sell candy after losing her job as a cleaning lady at a bank. The beginning of the journey was not easy and her company, Mazé Doces, was not quickly successful.

However, after 4 years of work and with some accumulated debts, the businesswoman participated in Empretec, a Sebrae training program and managed to settle her debts.

After that, Maria José managed to build her first factory and a year later her first store. Today, Mazé Doces is a success producing tons of sweets that are sold throughout the southeastern region of Brazil. In addition, the store is considered an important tourist spot in the city of Carmópolis in Minas Gerais.

Maite Lourenço

Psychologist and founder of BlackRocks Startups, Maitê Lourenço seeks to encourage the role of black entrepreneurs. It all started in 2010 when Maitê founded Cia de Currículos, a company in the human resources area. Maitê began to participate in events of the Brazilian entrepreneurship community and began to realize that there were no blacks besides her at these meetings.

This made her feel like taking an initiative to change this situation. BlackRocks Startups helps empower black entrepreneurs and support them through investment initiatives in their projects. For doing socially impactful work, Maitê has already won some awards and was considered one of the most innovative young women by the Social Responsibility department of Rede Globo de Televisão.

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Monica Burgos

After getting divorced and leaving her law career, Mônica Burgos moved to Rio de Janeiro with her three children in search of new opportunities. She went back to school and got to know the world of aromas when her Fashion History professor invited her to be part of his advisory team.

From her work, which involved offering an experience focused on the five senses to customers, Mônica realized that she was facing a great opportunity. There was almost no information about products used to perfume environments, so she started buying artisanal flavorings and reselling these products on the streets.

By this time she was living in Salvador and sales were being a success. Until Mônica decided to create Avatim and manufacture her own flavorings. Today, her brand has more than 1200 active dealerships and 126 franchised stores, making it a hugely successful business.

Marcia Tozo

Marcia Tozo became a mother at age 16 and had to put her studies aside for a while to exercise motherhood. After a few years, she returned to her studies and graduated in advertising, a course that opened up many possibilities in her life.

After graduation, Marcia decided to create an online course teaching people how to make gourmet brigadiers and the initiative was a great success. She decided to create other digital products and began to become known throughout Brazil, as she helped other people to achieve their success and financial independence. Today, the businesswoman owns Escola Tudo de Cake and is a reference in the area of fine sweets.

These women are a great inspiration for anyone who wants to undertake. And as much as the path may be fraught with difficulties, entrepreneurship is rewarding for most people. But if you want to start your own company, be sure to check out 6 things you should consider before starting your own business.