The first season has five episodes and each is about 10 minutes long. In addition to the real testimonies of the entrepreneurs, each episode has the participation of a BNDES professional and a representative of a financial institution accredited by the Bank. They comment on the challenges reported and show the importance of credit for small entrepreneurs. 

 

“The ‘Desafios de Empreender’ series inspires small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs with real success stories, and, above all, it faithfully portrays the true national heroes,” explains BNDES’s president, Gustavo Montezano. “Our emergency actions to fight the crisis demonstrated how small- and medium-sized companies became a priority in BNDES’s actions, because those who have the most difficulty to access credit in the market were the most supported by BNDES.”

 

The first episode of the series tells the story of two business partners in a small gym in Marilândia (ES). A couple of medicinal tea producers in Imbituva (PR) are the characters of the second episode. The third tells the story of two rural producers – mother and daughter – of Santo Ângelo (RS). The owner of a delivery restaurant in Manaus (AM) and the owner of an artisanal cachaçaria in Quilombo (SC) star in the fourth and fifth episodes, respectively.

 

BNDES and MSMEs – Support for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) is one of the strategic priorities of BNDES given their great importance they have in job creation. This special attention to smaller enterprises is reflected in more advantageous financial conditions, such as lower interest rates and longer payment terms, besides exclusive products, such as the BNDES Card and guarantee of access to credit. The participation of MSMEs in the total disbursements of BNDES has grown in recent years, increasing from 27.5% in 2015 to 48.4 % in 2019. And, from January to September 2020, MSMEs had access to 53.8% of the total volume of resources released by BNDES in the period.