Project wants to encourage the installation of startups in Amazonas

Cassandra Castro – from Cenarium

BRASÍLIA – Making Amazonas a more attractive state for the implementation of startups requires easy access to financing funds from the federal government. Brazil has today about 14 thousand startups, according to data from the consulting company HSM Management. Most are concentrated in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul.

A proposal by Congressman Delegado Pablo (PSL-AM), approved by the Commission of National Integration, Regional Development and the Amazon (Cindra), of the House of Representatives, wants to guarantee less bureaucratic access to federal resources to benefit and attract technological innovation companies to new business centers, such as the Manaus Free Trade Zone (ZFM).

The congressman’s proposal amends Law 7.827/89, which created the North, Northeast and Midwest constitutional financing funds (FNE, FCO and FNO). The measure also changed Law 10.177/01, which defines how the funds are used. The benefits brought by the change will also foster startups in other states in the North, Northeast, and Midwest regions.

Facilities

Geferson Oliveira is CEO of NavegAM, a startup that works with mobility in the Amazon, a region whose roads are the rivers. He and his partner realized the need for passengers and clients of boats in the Amazon and decided to make available a platform, to make a complete management for those who use the river transport to travel or send and receive orders.

NavegAM appeared in 2019 and already operates in two fronts: passage service and the logistics segment. The entrepreneur comments that the biggest obstacle faced by startups in the Amazon is bureaucracy and fears that even with the proposal of facilities for access to resources from the federal government, this ends up being something very time consuming, which ends up being detrimental to these companies.

“Everything that involves government has a lot of bureaucracy. We have the PIM (Industrial Pole of Manaus), there are resources to be invested in technology-based companies, but, generally, the ones who get this money are the institutes that develop for other companies. The startups would need more flexibility to have access to these resources and a faster and simpler way and freedom to develop their business properly”, says the CEO.

The proposal of the parliamentarian from Amazonas now goes to the Committees of Finance and Taxation, and Constitution and Justice and Citizenship, in addition to the vote in plenary.