IDB, Brazil sign $1.5 million for entrepreneurs returning to Brazil

Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique V. Iglesias and SEBRAE President Paulo Tarciso Okamotto today signed the documents of a $1,550,000 Multilateral Investment Fund grant for a technical cooperation program to help Brazilians returning home after working and saving in Japan with the goal of starting new businesses.

Brazil's Minister for Planning, Budget and Management, Paulo Bernardo Silva, and Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine were guests of honor at the ceremony, which was held ahead of the annual meeting of the IDB's Board of Governors, which will session here April 10-12.  

The Brazilian Micro-Enterprise and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE) National Office will be in charge of the program. It will disseminate the program, select and train potential entrepreneurs in Japan, integrate and give them business training in Brazil, help the start-up and growth of new businesses and gather information for the experience to be replicated in the region.

According to a recent study, Brazilian immigrants to Japan grew from 56,000 in 1990 to nearly 270,000 by the end of 2002, making Brazilians Japan’s third largest immigrant community after the Koreans and Chinese. More than 50 percent of the Brazilian migrants are young and well educated. Most remain in Japan for 1 to 5 years, and report having moved to save money and open their own businesses upon returning to Brazil.

The program supported by the MIF will help the “Dekassegui,” as Brazilians of Japanese descent who immigrate to Japan are typically called, in the process of launching their own businesses. The program will include activities in the states of Sao Paulo, Parana, Mato Grosso do Sul and Para.

The Multilateral Investment Fund is an autonomous fund, administered by the Inter-American Development Bank, that provides grants, investments and loans to promote private sector growth, labor force training and small enterprise modernization in Latin America and the Caribbean.