Minas Gerais Agency | Government of Minas brings together municipalities that joined the Minas Livre Para Crescer program

The State Secretariat for Economic Development (Headquarters-MG) held a meeting with the municipalities of Minas Gerais that joined the State Debureaucratization Program – Minas Livre Para Crescer, to expand the implementation of economic freedom in the state.

Promoting an environment for networking, lectures and opportunities, the “Conexão Minas Livre” event featured the launch of a new line of credit, with a payment period of up to 48 months, for enterprises in free municipalities and a course for managers expand the improvement of the business environment.

“In addition to being the state with the most municipalities that have already adhered to economic freedom legislation, the Government of Minas provides all the instruments for a business environment favorable to entrepreneurship. The broad participation of managers in the event proves that everyone is interested in implementing what is already foreseen in the decrees and laws”, says the Secretary of State for Economic Development, Fernando Passalio.

Local development

Among mayors, economic freedom coordinators and technical staff, more than 400 representatives from Minas Gerais municipalities were present at the JK Auditorium, in the Administrative City of Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte.

For the coordinator of Economic Freedom of Patos de Minas, Lara Gabrielle Soares Sousa, the event made it possible to strengthen ties between the State and municipalities, with the aim of improving the business environment for the population. She says that progress in the program was fundamental in boosting local entrepreneurship.

“Our city used to take months to release a municipal registration, and, since the implementation of the system, we have been able to do this in minutes. A well-established company, in a municipality with no bureaucracy, is able to employ more and more people”, observes Lara.

The public was introduced to the tools and programs offered to improve the business environment, such as actions to attract investments, reduce bureaucracy when opening companies and technology and innovation initiatives.

The highlight of the event was the announcement of an initiative by the Development Bank of Minas Gerais (BDMG), the new line “BDMG Crédito para Crescer”, aimed at micro and small companies located in municipalities that are at the intermediate level of Minas Livre Para To grow.

Entrepreneurs in these locations will have access to reduced financing rates for various purposes, such as renovation, working capital, debt payment, equipment purchases and business investments.

“It’s another opportunity for entrepreneurs to invest and expand their business and, through this, create and provide more jobs, more income generation, more economic development for the municipality”, says the coordinator of Pirapora’s Economic Freedom, Leila Gonçalves Pereira.

Shaping the future

Also during the “Conexão Minas Livre”, Sede-MG launched the course “Leadership for Economic Freedom”, an innovative proposal to expand the training of municipal managers with knowledge aligned with the promotion of entrepreneurship and improvement of the business environment.

Divided into three modules, the course ranges from conceptual principles of economic freedom to practical public management instruments to implement and advance maturity in Minas Livre Para Crescer.

“It is not easy to dismantle this bureaucratic thinking that has been ingrained for hundreds of years in Brazilian public management. But, with the course, we demonstrate how simple it is to understand economic freedom: the State does not hinder the entrepreneur and, whenever possible, supports the private sector, which actually generates work, wealth and, ultimately, quality of life”, explains Rodrigo Melo, Undersecretary of Economic Freedom and Entrepreneurship at Headquarters-MG.

With classes taught by specialists from the Commercial Board of the State of Minas Gerais (Jucemg), BDMG, Invest Minas and Sebrae Minas, as well as managers from Headquarters-MG, the course is carried out in the Distance Learning (EaD) modality. Thus, city halls that are part of the program will receive access to the videos, as well as supporting material, through the Tecpop platform, completely free of charge.

Where freedom lives

Launched in December 2019, Minas Livre Para Crescer aims to make Minas Gerais the freest state in Brazil to undertake business, promoting legal security and improving the business environment. This happens through the implementation of Federal Law No. 13,874, of September 20, 2019, and State Decree No. 48,036, of September 10, 2020, at the municipal level.

In almost five years, Minas Gerais is already the state with the most municipalities (442) that have regulated economic freedom, benefiting more than 11 million people from Minas Gerais. In practice, recent results show the impact of the program in the state.

Of the more than 140 thousand jobs created in 2023 in the state, 56% were in free municipalities, highlighting the importance of the program for Minas Gerais to achieve full employment. Furthermore, between 2020 and 2023, there was a reduction of almost 63% in the time it took to open companies where there is economic freedom.

Within the scope of the program, in partnership with Jucemg and Sebrae Minas, at the end of 2023, Redesim + Livre was launched, ensuring agility in opening companies by automating the issuance of documents.

Adhesion to the system is the main indicator of advancement to the intermediate level in Minas Livre. The system has even been progressing with the expansion of license exemptions for 730 low-risk activities in the state.