Fear of Failure: The Development of Entrepreneurship in Brazil

The reason why Brazil was chosen for this research is because Brazil is one of the countries which is suspected to develop their economy on a large scale in the next few years. Therefore, their behaviour towards Entrepreneurship is deemed to change. In this report the development of the Fair of Failure in Brazil over the 10-year period from 2007 to 2017 will be described. Country Description Brazil is located on the eastern coast of South America and covers over 50% of the entire continent. The country is 8,514,877 km2 and has a population of over 200 million people. 

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and has a coast of 7,400 km. Brazil used to be a colony of Portugal and that is why the main language in Brazil is Portuguese. The country gained their independence in 1822 (Worldatlas, 2015). Brazil is a BRICs country, which means it is predicted to become one of the dominant suppliers in the upcoming years. In 2017 Brazil exported $219 billion worth of goods. Their main export products are soybeans, iron ore, crude petroleum, raw sugar and cars. Problem Statement During the financial crisis of 2008, Brazil was only affected slightly. After the introduction of the Real Plan in 1994, which introduced a new currency as a plan to decrease the corruption, the Brazilian economy stabilized. 

That is why when the financial crisis spread to South America Brazil was one of the least affected countries. In the second quarter of 2009 Brazil had almost completely recovered from the crisis, whereas many other countries, especially in Europe, were still struggling. Although the 2008 financial crisis had little impact on Brazil's economy, the country was hit by its own crisis between 2014 and 2017. At the end of 2015, the economy had decreased by 3.7% and the unemployment level increased to 9%. In 2015 the Gross Domestic Product decreased with 3,55% and the following year it decreased with another 3,74%. After the year 2017, the GDP has started to increase again.

In 2017 the inflation is Brazil was determined at 2,9%. This is the lowest the inflation has ever been. In 2018 the conservative Jair Bolsonaro was elected as president. He promised to improve Brazil’s economy by lowering tariffs and signing new trade agreements. He cut public debt by 20% and simplified the tax system. Because of those actions Brazil’s stock market rose 10%. The GDP is predicted to keep increasing until 2022 with percentages above 2%. This is relatively lower than the other BRICs countries such as India and China, but it is still a steady increase. (Statista, 2019) The perceived entrepreneurship opportunities in 2017 are 46.42% and the perceived capabilities are 55.89%. 

Both of those have been increasing over the pas few years and are predicted to keep increasing. However, the established business ownership has decreased from 18,89% in 2015 to 16,50% in 2017 %. After looking at a poll done by Folha de S.Paulo it resulted that 72% of those surveyed thought the economic situation in Brazil had aggravated in 2018. When looking at the Fear of Failure rate in Brazil, it is noted that after a long period of fluctuation the percentage has rose to 39,82% in 2017. Although this percentage is an increase compared to the year before, it is still below the peak in 2015, which was at 44,74%.