The Pará government has been strategically preparing for COP 30, which will be held in Belém in 2025, one year from now. Through initiatives such as improvements in company registration, training and partnerships with institutions such as Sebrae, the state seeks to create a more favorable and attractive business environment, both for local entrepreneurs and for attracting new investments.

The Pará Commercial Board (Jucepa) has contributed to this, with emphasis on reducing the response time for opening companies. The feasibility of registering a company, which previously took between 6 and 9 days, is now resolved in up to 48 hours, in addition to the implementation of Pix as a payment method, facilitating the operation of entrepreneurs and improving the efficiency of the process.

By October 2024, Pará had registered the opening of 70,313 companies, a growth of 6.5% compared to the same period in 2023, when 66,034 CNPJs were opened.

Individual microentrepreneurs (MEI) are the majority of new companies. The sectors most represented among new openings include clothing retail, sales promotion and restaurants. Belém, as the host city of COP 30, leads in the number of companies opened, with 18,305 new CNPJs registered by October of this year.

“In the data collected from January to October 31 of this year, 2024, we have 70,313 companies opened. Compared to the calculation for the entire year of 2023, that is, from January to December, we have already surpassed the result of the previous year. And this is part of several strategies that we have applied within the Secretariat, such as the implementation of Pix, which we were one of the pioneers here in the State, which can facilitate the payment formats of DAI”, emphasizes the president of Jucepa, Filipe Meireles.

Meireles also added: “Now in 2024, we implemented automatic viability within a 48-hour period here in the capital. Previously, the average time was 6 to 9 days. We also implemented artificial intelligence. This aims not only to make analyses more effective to avoid errors and subsequent problems, but also to speed up this crucial service for the growth of entrepreneurship in Pará. We are very happy to be preparing to host an event like COP next year, which will certainly be wonderful and will leave a legacy within the state.”

Local entrepreneurs, such as Maria Helena Galdino, owner of a restaurant serving typical Pará food, are already noticing the positive effects of preparing for COP 30.

“I own the Sabor da Nega business, where I sell regional Pará and Brazilian food such as Tacacá, Maniçoba, Caranguejo and Feijoada. COP 30 is already happening in our city, this year it is already busy, very busy, it will be a great event for our city and for us, especially the entrepreneurs who are already prepared. I work in the gastronomic sector in Pará, offering flavors, and God willing, there will be many exchanges of knowledge, of people from all over the world here in our state, in Belém do Pará”, he comments.

Training

Capacita COP 30 is another state initiative that helps generate jobs and income, and is another attraction for companies. The Pará government program is coordinated by the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Higher, Professional and Technological Education (Sectet), and aims to guarantee professional qualifications for the Pará workforce that will work in November 2025 at the largest global event on climate change.

The course offerings are divided into four areas: tourism, hospitality and leisure; food production; infrastructure; and security. The technical courses will be held in four locations: Metropolitan Region of Belém, Santarém, Salinópolis and the Marajó Archipelago.

It is in its third phase, with over 2,000 vacancies being offered in 31 courses in the areas of Tourism, Leisure, Hospitality and Infrastructure. By the end of this third phase, 12,000 certifications will be issued, and the goal is to reach the COP 30 event, with 22,000 people from Pará qualified for the job market.

Entrepreneur Jaciara Ferreira took the Tour Guide course at Capacita COP 30 and is already planning to open her own company. "I am training myself, seeking more knowledge, because I am looking to the future. I am already organizing the opening of my tour guide company next year, because it is an area that is growing a lot in Belém do Pará, with COP 30, and I am also taking an English course, all to welcome the tourists who will be coming to the city", she says.

For Laiana Santos, owner of Antonieta Hostel Café e Bistrô, the COP training will help Belém consolidate itself as a tourist city. “We had a hotel, which we closed during the pandemic, and we continued with the hostel, which was an expansion of the hotel, but we prefer the hostel because it has closer contact with our guests and we can welcome and recommend the beauties of our city.

e. COP30 is a great opportunity for Belém do Pará to consolidate itself as a tourist city, improving its infrastructure, hotel network and training to better welcome visitors each day”, he states.

Partnership with Sebrae

Since Belém was announced as the host city for COP 30, Sebrae in Pará, through its agencies, has intensified its support for small businesses in Pará. In addition, in partnership with the State Government, Sebrae participates in the Capacita COP 30 program. More than a thousand entrepreneurs have already received training in courses offered by the entity alone.

Sebrae in Pará has already served 22,691 companies in the food and beverage segment, 8,866 in the creative economy segment, 3,809 in the hospitality segment and 2,964 in the urban mobility segment, totaling more than 15 thousand services.

“COP 30 will be a unique opportunity to show the world our vocation for entrepreneurship, since the Amazon is a hotbed for small businesses and the Conference will be a business showcase to showcase Pará to Brazil and the world. Through Sebrae/PA, we have been promoting several projects to position the region as a bioeconomy hub, connecting values ??such as innovation, preservation of local culture, ancestral knowledge and biodiversity. Our intention is to take advantage of this positive scenario created by the announcement of COP 30 to strengthen small businesses, providing conditions for them to definitively assume the role of protagonists in the sustainable development of the Amazon, in addition to fostering entrepreneurship, of course,” says Rubens Magno, the managing director of Sebrae in Pará. Data on business registration in Pará

Companies opened (by size) up to 10/31/2024:

MEI - Individual Microentrepreneur

2024 - 52,436 MEIs opened

2023 - 46,844 MEIs opened

ME - Microenterprise

2024 - 11,797 establishments opened

2024 - 13,775 establishments opened

EPP - Small Businesses

2024 - 4,692 EPPs opened

2023 - 4,174 EPPs opened

Activities/segments

Retail Trade of Clothing and Accessories - 3,691 companies

Sales Promotion - 3,246 companies

Restaurants and Similar - 1,883 companies

Retail Trade of Beverages - 1,633 companies

Five cities that opened the most companies:

Belém - 18,305

Ananindeua - 6,727

Parauapebas - 3,937

Santarém - 3,687

Active companies until 11/04/2024:

638.8 thousand companies

Active companies, by city:

Belém - 174,378

Ananindeua - 60,085

Santarém - 33,684

Marabá - 30,035

Parauapebas - 29,189.

Source: Agência Pará