About Entrepreneurs Alliance

Aliança Empreendedora is a Brazilian NGO that works for economic and social inclusion through the support and integration of low income microentrepreneurs, normally excluded from the market.


Since the beginning (4years ago), Aliança Empreendedora supported more than 1.500 microentrepreneurs directly in 20 cities from 4 Brazilian states (expanding to 5 more in 2010), with an increase of 56% to 319% in the microentrepreneurs monthly income.

For this work, knowledge and experience, added to the network/social capital created with partners, communities and microentrepreneurs, Aliança began to work with companies, governments and NGOs in their inclusive/social business initiatives.

To increase the impact and awareness for the entrepreneurial inclusion, Aliança Empreendedora had the support of McKinsey in 2009 for its expansion/strategic plan and had partners and acknowledgements from organizations such as Ashoka, AVINA, WalMart, UBS, Santander, Sebrae, Artemisia, among others.

Now the NGO is structured as a “holding” model (1 nonprofit and 2 social business) that provides the tools and “Accesses” that microentrepreneurs need to grow. Based on its experience, Aliança Empreendedora developed a methodology that offers “4 Accesses” simultaneously in a 360º approach.

Through this model, microentrepreneurs can increase their income and business and get access to:
1 – Knowledge/Information,
2 – Markets/Commercialization,
3 – Microcredit and
4 – Infrastructure/Technology.
With this Methodology, microentrepreneurs have the tools to overcome the main barriers and challenges they face.

Two of these “Accesses” became social business. The first one (“Access to Market”) is called “Solidarium - Fair Trade”, that integrates dispersed groups and microentrepreneurs and connect them to big national retailers such as WalMart, Lojas Renner and Tok&Stok. Furthermore, it developed an e-commerce website and catalogues that help microentrepreneurs to sell their products in a market-based approach.


The second social business was created based on “Access to Credit” area. It is the “Impulso(Boost!)– Credit to the Microentrepreneur”, which aims at facilitating and supporting microentrepreneurs, providing them microcredit/investments.

From:Call for Paper "BOP in Latin America"