O Sebrae will be an important part of the New Industrial Policy Brazil (NIB), announced on Monday (22) by the National Council for Industrial Development (CNDI) in Brasília. The NIB highlights More Productive Brazil among government initiatives aimed at building a more innovative, sustainable, and competitive industry in the country. The program, focused on digital transformation, has the support of Sebrae to bring rapid innovation with productivity and efficiency gains to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) across the national territory. The planned investments for the program amount to R$ 2 billion.

To make the industry more modern and disruptive, the government sets the goal of digitally transforming 90% of the total Brazilian industrial companies and tripling the national production's share in new technology segments. The action plan for the New Industrial Policy was presented by the Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services (MDIC), Geraldo Alckmin, to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during a meeting at the Planalto Palace.

According to Alckmin, the More Productive Brazil program will reach 200 thousand companies, with 93.1 thousand services provided in the next three years. "I would like to thank the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI), Sebrae, the National Service for Industrial Apprenticeship (Senai), and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). This is a job where Senai and Sebrae will go company by company. Ninety-three thousand micro, small, and medium-sized industries in person. They go to the company, identify the bottleneck, identify the problem," detailed the Vice President.

"Senai is already hiring consultants and establishing the platform. And Sebrae, in person, I want to highlight Décio Lima from our Sebrae, does the project, and BNDES finances. That is, in-person support for micro, small, and medium-sized industries. And another two hundred thousand companies through the digital platform," he added. Alckmin also emphasized that "registrations are already open. Just go to the ABDI website, or Senai, or Sebrae." And he emphasized, "It's R$ 2 billion for digitization through More Productive Brazil. For us to gain efficiency in small industry."

New era of the Brazilian industry

In total, the federal government foresees R$ 300 billion for financing, under the management of BNDES, Financier of Studies and Projects (Finep), and Brazilian Association of Industrial Research and Innovation (Embrapii), with allocation to specific, non-refundable or refundable lines, and resources through the capital market, in line with the objectives and priorities of the missions to promote neo-industrialization until 2026.

During the event, the President of Sebrae Nacional, Décio Lima, emphasized the institution's commitment to establishing important partnerships for the national productive sector. "We are concluding the meeting led by President Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, where the entire productive sector was present in the new policy of neo-industrialization. With the presence mainly of BNDES and all the productive organs of the Brazilian industry chains, there was the launch of a credit agenda of R$ 300 billion for the next period. Therefore, the old is over, the time of Brazilian economic decline, which was produced by the previous period, mainly with the concepts of neoliberalism, is behind us because it led Brazil to an unprecedented crisis process."

Décio Lima celebrated the country's industrialization resumption. "Brazil recovers at this moment with enthusiasm, to continue its economic development, job creation, and, above all, to lift millions of Brazilians who are still in poverty and misery. And Sebrae is here, with the federal government, to establish important partnerships for the productive sector and industry."

President Lula, in turn, reinforced the need for the federal government to present concrete results of the actions of the New Industrial Policy in the coming years. He acknowledged the efforts of the Council, composed of representatives from ministries, BNDES, the productive sector, civil society, and workers.

"We can move away from the level we find ourselves in and make a qualitative leap. It is very important for Brazil that we return to having an innovative industrial policy, completely digitized as the world demands today. And that we can overcome once and for all the problem of Brazil never definitively being a large and developed country," he emphasized.

During a press conference, BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante also defended the role of the State as an inducer of Brazilian industrial development. According to him, the country is facing a historical window of opportunities and the challenges of accelerated digital transition and environmental crisis caused by climate change. He also took the opportunity to highlight the role of Sebrae, along with the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Microenterprise, and Small Business, in boosting the industry.