Their number has almost doubled and a half over the past seven years, with retail, clothing manufacturing and services remaining the most popular sectors
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JLco - Julia Amaral / iStock [Photo source]
Brazil has reached a new record in the number of foreign nationals registered as Individual Microentrepreneurs (MEIs). As of June 2026, the country had more than 106,000 active foreign entrepreneurs, representing an increase of 24 per cent compared with the previous year. This was reported by Brasil 247, a TV BRICS partner, citing a study by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE).
The upward trend has continued for several years. While Brazil had 42,900 foreign individual microentrepreneurs in 2019, their number had increased by almost two and a half times by the middle of 2026. They now account for 0.78 per cent of the country's more than 13.5 million registered entrepreneurs.
The largest group of foreign entrepreneurs comes from Venezuela, with 26,300 registered business owners, accounting for around one quarter of the total. They are followed by entrepreneurs from Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina and Cuba. Together, nationals of the ten leading countries represent around 80 per cent of all foreign individual microentrepreneurs in Brazil.
The most popular business activities remain retail sales of clothing and accessories, garment manufacturing, hairdressing and beauty services, education, food services, courier delivery, construction services, taxi services, catering and advertising. These ten sectors account for more than half of all registered foreign entrepreneurs.
The highest concentration of foreign small business owners is found in Brazil's South-East and Southern regions. Sao Paulo state leads by a considerable margin, with around 39,000 registered foreign entrepreneurs, followed by Santa Catarina, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul.
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