Municipalities of Mato Grosso do Sul host event focused on innovation | Sebrae and My Own Business

Experiences that inspire innovation provide a new perspective for entrepreneurs. From technology to creativity, innovative companies stand out in the market, boost competitiveness and tend to grow more economically. Therefore, Sebrae promoted this Saturday (16), the 10th edition of the Startup Day event, with the aim of boosting entrepreneurship, the exchange of knowledge, networking and expanding perspectives, contributing to the advancement of the startup ecosystem.

The event took place simultaneously throughout Brazil. In Mato Grosso do Sul, the cities of Campo Grande, Chapadão do Sul, Três Lagoas, Dourados, Ponta Porã, Bonito and Corumbá received more than 400 registrants and the program included more than 30 volunteer speakers, who are a reference on the topic of entrepreneurship and innovation. In the Capital alone, an audience of 60 people actively participated in the activities at the Living Lab – Sebrae/MS innovation and prototyping laboratory.

According to the manager of the Sebrae/MS Innovation Unit, Leandra Costa, Startup Day highlights that innovative entrepreneurship can be worked on and observed in the most diverse regions of the country. “In Mato Grosso Sul, being in seven municipalities means for us to take this culture of innovation to many more people, it is more internalization. We want to demystify that innovation in Brazil only happens in São Paulo, Santa Catarina or Minas Gerais. In Mato Grosso Sul, we have excellent potential. Today we serve almost 200 businesses, from different segments, such as education, health and environmental impact”, said the manager.

To encourage the emergence and development of more innovative ventures, in general, the Startup Day program provided information on what the startup business model is, defining the target audience, how to add value to the project, among others. In Campo Grande, the day began with the lecture “Use Growth strategy to boost sales in your startup”, given by Renato Borges, founding partner of Agrointeli, which has a commercial intelligence and agricultural management platform in the “palm of your hand” . From Mato Grosso do Sul, the business is currently in five countries and wants to scale further.

“We were born here in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, and we moved to Latin America. I used Growth, marketing and sales concepts and we scaled to five countries in less than four years. Being able to lead the company’s expansion and we are in Portugal, we have an office there and it is a great opportunity for us to also learn from the European market”, said Borges, who is also one of the mentors at Living Lab, and reinforces Sebrae’s role in its trajectory. “We started here at Living Lab, so, with great pride, every time I speak, especially at events outside of here, I highlight that I’m from Mato Grosso do Sul”, he added.

The program in Campo Grande continued with the lecture “Unregistered brand is an invitation to imitation: Protecting your intellectual assets with brands and patents for startups”, with lawyer Juliana Hartmann, who is also a mentor at Living Lab. Afterwards, the panel “Experiences lived from idea to market” brought together owners of startups founded in the state, to share challenges, guidance and lots of information with the public.

One of the panelists, Rodrigo Oliveira, owner of Timework, a platform focused on productivity through the management of engineering, architecture and design projects, guided entrepreneurs to experience all stages of their niche, to be able to identify real needs, and, from them, propose solutions. “My tip is, within your niche, experience everything. In my case, it was from the project, going to construction, post-construction… So, I like to see everything, which allowed me to think of something to help with the organization,” he said.

Also participating in the panel were businesspeople Thiago Oliveira, from Porter SGE, a business management system for businesses; and Charles Viegas, from Alfaneo, a company that develops artificial intelligence (AI) projects on demand.

Simultaneously with the main programming, in the Living Lab’s Maker environment, the workshop “3D Printing: first steps in practice” was held, which showed in a simple way how to make, from scratch, a prototype in software and then print it on the printer in 3D. One of the participants was businesswoman and publicist Mercedes Trindade. Born in Venezuela, she has lived in Campo Grande for eight years and is a technology entrepreneur.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to do 3D printing and I think the workshop is great, because we think it’s a big deal and it’s very simple. I’m an advertiser, so I already know how to use Photoshop, Illustrator, it’s just a matter of knowing how the program works and doing the tests, because it’s trial and error. Being able to prototype is something very useful, especially for us, who want to do different things. I’m here already imagining what I can do”, she reported.

Other equipment is available at the Living Lab for entrepreneurs who want to get their hands dirty and prototype ideas and projects, as well as mentoring, acceleration programs and various events open to the entrepreneurial community. Since its inauguration, the laboratory has received more than 830 innovative ideas and has been contributing to the consolidation of innovation ecosystems present in Mato Grosso do Sul.

The Living Lab is located at Rua Brasil, number 205, in Campo Grande. For more information about Sebrae/MS’ innovation actions, interested parties can contact the Relationship Center, at number 0800 570 0800or via the website: ms.sebrae.com.br.