Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
5 minute post!
I've been neglecting my blog for too long and literally have 5 minutes to dedicate to typing furiously fast about my new cafe space (yes!) and the elections; the two things that have held front line in my life (after children and husband of course).
1 October I started running Sophie & Theo's Cafe based in Escola São Paulo ** come find us from 8am - 10pm at Rua Augusta 2239, Jardins. It's a haven from the crazy Augusta and there is internet and coffee, and of course our famous cupcakes. Since it's opened I've been tearing around São Paulo trying to find reliable and cheap suppliers, pulling giant trolleys through Atacadão and Makro (bulk buy stores), dealing with bureaucracy (trying to rent a coffee machine has taken literally the entire month) but we are slowly getting there. I will continue my posts on setting up a business here and hiring staff in the next few weeks when things start to come into shape.
Elections... so we went to watch the election results with our Brazilian friends who voted PT. They are educated, middle class Brazilians who I have alot of respect for but I couldnt' bring myself to cheer with them when we turned on the TV. The very nature of what my husband does (bring foreign investment into Brazil) was 100% reliant on a PSDB win. Now we will have to see what the next 1-2 years brings for us or we will be looking for our next home (country).
Next 5 minute blog will be my 2 cents on the Election. In the meantime read this re: Bolsa Familia
http://m.brasildamudanca.com.br/bolsafamilia/mitos/#mentira-1
Come and visit the café!
Monday, 15 September 2014
Thursday, 11 September 2014
SP Night Market - Birthday Edition
We have SP Night Market next Saturday 20th at Escola São Paulo, Rua Augusta 2239, from 12pm to 9pm.
If you haven't been before it's a great place to meet new friends, business contacts, do a little shopping, have your caricature done by our featured artist, eat some great food (we have our favourite Indian food in town, plus Paella, French pastries and of course Cupcakes and free cocktail for every-adult-one courtesy of the fantastic Del Cocktail!
Our lineup for entertainment includes a networking talk by Cassia Verginia de Resende, a talk about healthy eating by Chef Tatiana Cardoso, one of the leaders in gluten-free here in São Paulo (she is really amazing!) and to top it all off a private evening gig on the rooftop by the one-and-only Camille Miller!
This is a great review we got from Yelp
"I've found that what I seek when I go somewhere in São Paulo is to be treated as a person, (and not an anonymous "customer"), and interact with other people, which is exactly what I found at SP Night Market. Besides finding goods for sale that I wasn't even expecting to come across there, I had to chance to have actual conversations with vendors, exchanging ideas and experiences with vendors. I even socialized a little around the foosball table. I can't wait for the next edition!" Jonathan D
http://www.yelp.com/biz/sp-night-market-s%C3%A3o-paulo
Friday, 29 August 2014
Thursday, 28 August 2014
Starting a business in São Paulo : To register or not to register?
As she watched my cupcake business grow (she recommended her step-daughter who was my first official hire), she voiced her interest in helping me more with that side rather than the house. She even tried to quit so she could follow her dream of baking and selling from home herself, which was put on hold when some heavy rain damaged their house and they are in the middle of renovations (which means she needs a regular salary). So she officially moved over to the cupcake business earlier this year. Unfortunately it has not worked out for numerous reasons and I have had to let her go.
If you hire on an ad-hoc basis you can pay under the table. If you hire part-time on a weekly basis (i.e. semi-permanent) you need to register your hire, as well as full time. There is an official trial period of up to 3 months and I highly recommend that you write in their work book 'Carteira de Trabalho' that they have 3 months (you can elect for a shorter trial period). If you fire them within the 3 months you are liable to fines 'multas' but you can fire them on the 90th day of their trial without any fines. After this trial period has expired it's a whole different ball game which I've gone through, luckily with the help of my accountant so I can't give you a step by step guide here but can advise his services (see his details below).
By law, employees are guaranteed a pay increase every September (** will check the rate) but because I am firing Sonia within a month of this guaranteed pay increase there is a fine I have to pay out, which in reality is one extra month. There are different rates / fines if you dismiss them and pay out the notice (i.e. they leave the same day) or if you dismiss them with advance notice (30 days) so they work out their notice. They also have the right to leave work 2 hours early each workday during their notice or leave 7 days earlier - to give them the opportunity to look for another job.
Against advice, Sonia worked out her notice and she only missed 2 days of work surprisingly! She is / was obviously a big part of our family (since our second daughter was 2 months old) so we have left on friendly terms. The main point I want to make is to follow the rules and make sure everything is paid out, and signed for because every ex-employee has the right to sue within 2 years of being fired!
My advice if you are going to hire full time staff make sure you register formally and do everything by the book. Yes. the taxes are high but the end cost will be the same and less of a headache. You will be liable for "vale transporte" and "vale refeição" = travel and lunch money, and together this will be a minimum of R25 per employee. Below is a sample salary slip for one of my staff. And here is the contact of our fabulous accountant who helped with registering the company, employees, other taxes and available for any documentations we have.
Tel: 11-2281-96-99
TIM: 11-98652-00-06
Monday, 14 July 2014
Starting a business in São Paulo : To register or not to register?
In a scale that ranks economies based on ease of doing business, Brazil is ranked 116 out of 189 (1). If you are going to set up a business here you need to be prepared for the weeks, months or years that something simple (yes, like opening a bank account) can take, or firing a registered employee (which I'm currently going through) or getting paid by a client or just getting some business cards made here (that don't cost an arm and a leg)!!! Patience is not one of my top virtues but it is such an essential one that I have been learning in my time here in Brazil.
If you are passionate about your amazing business idea, have lots of patience, keen to learn and adapt yourself to the culture here (I was very quick to learn that things were never going to happen the way I wanted them to happen) then this roller-coaster ride of setting up and running business here in São Paulo is just the thing for you.
My first start up business was registered in London (that took 1 day to register, 1 week to set up a bank account); I've registered my Cupcake business here in São Paulo (that took 4 months before I got my CNPJ / tax number, and 2 months to set up a bank account) ; I've run events (SP Night Market, Social, Connect) unregistered but any corporate accounts can be run through our accountants CNPJ. But for this blog I'll be focused on my Cupcake business which I registered over 1.5 years ago here in São Paulo, set up a bank account, hired and registered staff and now in the process of firing one.
To register or not to register
The bureaucracy of registering your company is something that you want to put off a long as possible. Until you know that your business is on the up and up, and you need to hire officially and issue nota fiscals I would hold off on registering your business.
If you do want to register your start up business - say, it's a service like photography or consultancy - and you need to issue invoices (nota fiscals) then your best bet is to register your company as a Microempreendedor. It's similar to being self-employed where you do not need to register all your receipts; you agree that your expenses will having a ceiling of X (will check this figure and get back to you). You can register via the site here or you can even go in person to Sebrae which is a great source of information particularly if you need to know about legalities, paperwork, laws that might affect your particular business - essential to speak Portuguese. You do not need to make an appointment. The monthly fee for registering as a Micro-empreendedor is R $36,20 per month and taxable earnings are limited to R$60k and you can only hire 1 employee.
From my experience I have learnt that paid advice is worth it - as long as you're getting good advice! We tried to do our visas ourselves with cheaper agent and it was a nightmare, crying after each visit to the Policia Federal so after 4 years here in Brazil I am very happy to pay our accountant for sound, legit advice. I hired him to help me set up my Limited company here - I didn't want to be limited to R$60k per year, and just 1 employee - so I can't give you the how-to-set-up list myself as he did everything but at minimum you must have Permanent Residency (which we got through having a baby here, or you can also get through marrying a Brazilian), and recent proof of address. Be prepared to have a million copies of everything made, and cartorised. I highly recommend first going to get your signature registered at a local cartorio and if you need to get your documents authenticated take a baby / small child with you to skip the queue - or if you have no access to one, take your Portuguese homework to do while you wait in queue.
Another option, as a non-Brazilian is to set up your company and enter the country on an investor visa which was our first visa. I can highly recommend agents and lawyers to help you through this process. I believe the investment fee is still a minimum of $R$150,000, and the business must employ more than 10 Brazilians within 5 years of being operational (2).
I'll cover a few more topics in my blog over the next month:
To hire or not to hire
Banking: Opening an account
Website & Marketing
Networking
Co-working spaces/ Coffee shops for working
1. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.BUS.EASE.XQ
2. Will confirm this numbers shortly with agent
If you are passionate about your amazing business idea, have lots of patience, keen to learn and adapt yourself to the culture here (I was very quick to learn that things were never going to happen the way I wanted them to happen) then this roller-coaster ride of setting up and running business here in São Paulo is just the thing for you.
My first start up business was registered in London (that took 1 day to register, 1 week to set up a bank account); I've registered my Cupcake business here in São Paulo (that took 4 months before I got my CNPJ / tax number, and 2 months to set up a bank account) ; I've run events (SP Night Market, Social, Connect) unregistered but any corporate accounts can be run through our accountants CNPJ. But for this blog I'll be focused on my Cupcake business which I registered over 1.5 years ago here in São Paulo, set up a bank account, hired and registered staff and now in the process of firing one.
To register or not to register
The bureaucracy of registering your company is something that you want to put off a long as possible. Until you know that your business is on the up and up, and you need to hire officially and issue nota fiscals I would hold off on registering your business.
If you do want to register your start up business - say, it's a service like photography or consultancy - and you need to issue invoices (nota fiscals) then your best bet is to register your company as a Microempreendedor. It's similar to being self-employed where you do not need to register all your receipts; you agree that your expenses will having a ceiling of X (will check this figure and get back to you). You can register via the site here or you can even go in person to Sebrae which is a great source of information particularly if you need to know about legalities, paperwork, laws that might affect your particular business - essential to speak Portuguese. You do not need to make an appointment. The monthly fee for registering as a Micro-empreendedor is R $36,20 per month and taxable earnings are limited to R$60k and you can only hire 1 employee.
From my experience I have learnt that paid advice is worth it - as long as you're getting good advice! We tried to do our visas ourselves with cheaper agent and it was a nightmare, crying after each visit to the Policia Federal so after 4 years here in Brazil I am very happy to pay our accountant for sound, legit advice. I hired him to help me set up my Limited company here - I didn't want to be limited to R$60k per year, and just 1 employee - so I can't give you the how-to-set-up list myself as he did everything but at minimum you must have Permanent Residency (which we got through having a baby here, or you can also get through marrying a Brazilian), and recent proof of address. Be prepared to have a million copies of everything made, and cartorised. I highly recommend first going to get your signature registered at a local cartorio and if you need to get your documents authenticated take a baby / small child with you to skip the queue - or if you have no access to one, take your Portuguese homework to do while you wait in queue.
Another option, as a non-Brazilian is to set up your company and enter the country on an investor visa which was our first visa. I can highly recommend agents and lawyers to help you through this process. I believe the investment fee is still a minimum of $R$150,000, and the business must employ more than 10 Brazilians within 5 years of being operational (2).
I'll cover a few more topics in my blog over the next month:
To hire or not to hire
Banking: Opening an account
Website & Marketing
Networking
Co-working spaces/ Coffee shops for working
1. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.BUS.EASE.XQ
2. Will confirm this numbers shortly with agent
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