Without the action of these workers, the rate of vacancy in the country would be five times higher, according to data from Sebrae, based on the continuous PNAD of IBGE
On October 5, the data reveal something powerful: entrepreneurship is not just an alternative income – it is an active force in reducing unemployment in the country. According to Sebrae survey, based on the continuous PNAD, without the entrepreneurs, the vacancy rate would not be five times higher.
The impact is evident according to the study. In 2024, 94 % of the economically active population was occupied: the highest rate since 2019. One in four busy Brazilians is an entrepreneur. Business owners represent 27.4 % of the national occupation rate: 23.5 % act on their own, while 3.9 % are employers. Formalization also grew: from 8.1 % to 9.3 % between 2019 and 2024.
For Sebrae President Décio Lima, entrepreneurship “was no longer just an individual choice and has become a strategic part of the country’s development policy.”
Behind the data, trajectories that begin small and grow with courage, creativity and hard work
Among the thousands of examples that illustrate the impact of entrepreneurship in Brazil, the story of Washington Vasconcellos stands out. Today, he is founder and CEO of 2Y Group, a complete hub of real estate solutions, with annual revenues of $ 98 million. But your journey started very different.
At the age of 18, while working in an industry, the young man received a call from his mother who echoes in memory today: “Son, there is a bailiff here at home. We will be dumped” the furniture scene being removed to be taken to a judicial deposit became unforgettable: “It was on a Tuesday, I remember very well. I, my mother and my sister we went to the house of relatives”
At this time, in addition to working as a draftsman during the day, he studied at night and survived eating a lunchon lunch and three mustard cheese breads in the afternoon: “I did the math and I had $ 1.00 per day to eat. It was the price of three small cheese breads in a boteco near college”
With the death of his father, in the midst of this scenario, he had to assume the role of family provider. He even sold the car to pay off debts, and that’s when the entrepreneurial vein, inherited from his mother who started as a bag, emerged in the midst of the crisis.
An entrepreneurial odyssey
In one day, talking to a friend who had an underwear store, Washington decided, with only $ 300 in his pocket, investing in the same branch. By now he was married. And with just that money, he bought the pieces and his wife started selling them over the internet. In a short time, they turned the initial investment into $ 10,000.
The couple opened a store, then another. During the pandemic, they adapted to digital. But revenues got worse. The alternative was, while working in the industry, and helped his wife in delivering the underwear, Washington also helped his mother, who had already replaced himself in the market and worked in a real estate.
That’s when the biggest challenge happened and also the biggest turn of your life: when observing the numbers and opportunities of the real estate sector, she had the boldness to build her first building, even without having the investment necessary for it.
He decided to risk it, and therefore there was no option: either sold, or sold the units on the plant. Only then would it be possible to start building. At Marra, he created a team of brokers who only won with the success of the business.
One million in one day
On a cloudy Saturday, Washington left home with his hands sweating with anxiety. He had gathered the team, which would take the possible buyers of the apartments, whom he needed so much, to a round of business.
“I was not believing. All the customers I attended, formalized the purchase. Even more units than I had planned. It was unbelievable. I left home with $ 10,000 in the account and came back with $ 1.2 million.”
More than undertaking and accumulating
Today, by irony – or not – of fate, the boy of the past, Washington, not only surpassed the dump of the family in youth, but has sold more than 1,100 apartments, employs more than 210 people and accumulates a personal assets of over $ 10 million:
“It’s curious, you know? I have no attachment to materials: today, with conviction, I can say that my greatest satisfaction is to deliver the keys of the apartment that was once someone’s dream.”
