More than 617 000 startups were registered in Brazil in 2010 from 467,000 four years earlier. The sectors where growth was higher, according to the study, were the services and family farming.
The worst results are with Spain in this period (down 14.6%), Ireland (-7.6%), United States (-6.7%) and Japan (-6.2%).
In Spain, for example, 76,622 companies were created in 2010 from 143,859 in 2006.

Among the countries surveyed are members of the four members of the G8 and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
Despite the positive results from 2006, the study indicates that Brazil is one of the three countries showed a decline in the number of startups between 2009 and 2010. During this period, the national result was -0.7% versus -7.8% of the U.S. and -33.8% of Estonia.
The economies with the biggest increase in the number of startups between 2009 and 2010 were Dubai, United Arab Emirates (53.1%), Russia (22%) and China (20.8%).

The study also shows that the sum of the economies of the BRIC group of four members who entered the study created 18% more new business per year between 2006 and 2010, compared to 0.4% of the remaining countries.
But between 2009 and 2010, the creation of startups between Brazil, Russia, India and China grew 18%, against 3.3% of the other country.

The president of UHY, John Wolfgang, considers ‘impressive’ the difference between developed and emerging economies.

For him, the government can do more to encourage the creation of startups. ‘Many of the respondents in our study emphasized high labor taxes and complex regulations as barriers to growth for small businesses, “he says.

“Brazil has created a number of facilitators for micro-enterprises, as the single tax system and the ability to spread the payment of taxes. This makes companies able to last longer, “said Moreira.

He says, however, that there remain some significant barriers to the sector in the country, the main one being the excess of regulators, which, according to the consultant, impose excessive inspections and create unnecessary bureaucracy for entrepreneurs.

But at least for those who live in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and is deathly afraid of plane, even though just need to stay within a 50 minutes, a new mode of transportation promises to revolutionize travel between the two major cities: the bullet train. The design of the immense work has already been approved and goes through phases of bidding. The auction service concession has been delayed a few times by changes in the announcement made by the National Transportation Agency (ANTT).

Bureaucracy aside, you know how the bullet train will work?

Budgeted at R $ 33.1 billion, it will cover 510km between the International Airport Tom Jobim in Rio de Janeiro and Viracopos International Airport, in Campinas, passing also through the city of São Paulo.

According to the edict, the maximum amount that may be charged for economy class passengers will be R$ 0.49 per km. Thus, the limit price of passage between Rio and Sao Paulo, for example, will be at R$ 200.

Excerpt from the high speed train will travel (Image: Wikipedia)

Despite hitting ANTT firm in economics, so that the passage does not pass the U.S. $ 0.49 per km, the technology eases the writing that you will use the bullet train. The requirement is that it has technical conditions to achieve speeds above 300km/h, which will make the connection between the City and Marvelous Land of Drizzle, which lasts more than 5 hours by driving in the Via Dutra, be done in just 90 minutes.

And there are two types of technology: the MagLev system, which works on magnetic levitation, and the common rail system, but with some differences that make the greater capacity of the train.

How will be the rails and wheels? 

In levitation, are used rails and steel wheels, and by means of magnets, the bullet train runs almost as if levitating above the track, which greatly increases its speed compared to regular trains, for there is no friction to hinder. A field is generated to stop the vehicle and a second magnetic field is generated to propel it at speeds that can reach 350km/h.

In another system, an evolution of regular trains, the implementation is more expensive than the MagLev system, despite the high costs required to make a straighter path and no hair-pin bends – which implies the construction of tunnels and bridges. No curves, the entire system gains in stability, which removes the risk of derailment. In addition, the manufacture of rails is done continuously, seamlessly, so that the journey is more comfortable for the passenger and faster than regular trains.

In both systems, the “fuel” for the trains is electricity . In the levitation, it is necessary to generate magnetic fields. In the evolution of regular trains, energy feeds the trip through high voltage cables hanging over the cars or a third rail, similar to what exists to move the subway.

A Portuguese consortium is preparing to build the largest biodiesel plant in the country, which will operate with 90% of its raw material – mainly soybean and sunflower – from Brazil, Angola and Mozambique.

The refinery should start operating in 2010 and has an annual capacity of 250k tons, according to a shareholder. The rest of the raw material will come from Portugal, and can be soybean, rapeseed and palm.

Operation

The consortium, known as GreenCyber is owned by Hagen construction, of individual investors and the bank EFISA.

The refinery will be built at the port of Sines, south of Portugal, where the biodiesel can be exported and with easy access to roads and railways that connect the country to Spain.

The refinery will try to take advantage of the government’s objective to reduce dependence on oil, in addition to reach the target of a mixture of 10% in diesel by 2010, or 600k tons per year.

Extension

Acording to the investor Pedro Sampaio Nunes, the refinery could easily expand the capacity.  “Our facility allows us to easily triple our capacity, which I believe will happen in the next 10 years,” he said.

Portugal currently has four refineries to produce biodiesel, producing a total of 500k tons per year.

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Russia had the worst note (5.9), then China (6.5), Mexico (6.6), India (6.8), Brazil and Italy (tied with 7.4). Belgium and Canada are the least corrupt countries (note 8.8).

The survey is based on interviews with 2742 executives, conducted between Aug. 5 and 29 October, 2008. They scored from 0 to 10 based on the honesty of his colleagues in each country.

The United States finished in ninth place with note 8.1 , along with France and Singapore.

The Transparency International said that the 22 countries covered in the survey answered together for 75% of total exports of goods and services and direct investments in the world.

In previous research, in 2006, India had the lowest note, followed by China and Russia. Switzerland, Sweden and Australia led the ranking.

The trading  dollar surpassed the rate of $ 2.50 this Thursday(4). The currency has gained strength at the end of the trading session and finished the day with recovery of 2.46%, negotiated to $2,536 for the sale.
With this, accumulated in the year, the dollar has been valued 42.71% against the real. Only in the first week of December, the accumulated high is 9.54%. The price for this Thursday is the highest recorded since April 28, 2005.

This Thursday, the chairman of the Central Bank (BC), Henrique Meirelles, said the monetary authority has spent, by the end of November, U.S. $ 6.7 billion of its reserves in direct sales exchange market. Together, all forms of intervention by BC in the exchange market already total $ 49.5 billion.

Banco do Brasil confirmed this Thursday (20) the acquisition of Nossa Caixa for U.S. $ 5.38 billion. The news was communicated through the Securities Commission (CVM) and the Stock Exchange of Sao Paulo.

The payments will be made in 18 months of $ 299.2 million starting in March 2009 – corrected by the basic interest rate.

“The value of the transaction was calculated on the basis of economic and financial assessment prepared by consultants hired by Banco do Brasil, which took into consideration, among other methods, the prospects for future profitability and cash flow of Nossa Caixa”, informed Banco do Brasil.

The sale of Nossa Caixa was preceded by meeting with the governor of Sao Paulo, Jose Serra, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, held this Wednesday (19). However, after the meeting the governor Jose Serra denied that the issues has been discussed.

The Central Bank reported this Wednesday (29) $ 6.1 billion left the country in October until last Friday (24), from the financial account – which records all transactions that are not related with trade balance.

Transiting from “financial account” the applications, and withdrawals of funds from stock exchanges, the remittances of profits and dividends to the outside world and foreign direct investment (FDI) among others.

The withdrawal of the country’s resources through the financial account coincides with the period of crisis in financial markets around the world and also from strong fluctuations in the stock exchange, and the quotation of U.S. dollars in Brazil. Last week, the BC had already confirmed that foreign investors withdrew U.S. $ 4.3 billion of stock exchanges.

Total Movement

The Central Bank also confirmed this Wednesday (29), that the Brazilian trade balance brought U.S. $ 1.73 billion for the Brazilian economy in October, until the 24th (last Friday).

Together, the movement’s financial account and the Brazilian trade balance are all buying and selling dollars of the country with the world – which is known as flow exchange.

Thus, although the international crisis has contributed to the outflow of resources from the financial account, the balance counterbalances this value and the total turnover was negative in a slightly smaller proportion: $ 4.39 billion.

Ian Fernando was the host and he answered most of the questions brought to the table. AJ and Ron B have a  lot of experience too and shared valuable information with the group.

We had the chance to ask questions about anything we feel like. And the guys answered pretty much everything. I hope in the next meetups I can come up with some good question that will help understand better the Internet Marketing industry.

We talked about a lot of stuff, here are some of the topics discussed:

• Keyword tools to accelerate campaigns.
• Landing Pages x Direct Link.
• John Chow, Shoemoney and Zac Johnson’s blog.
• Prosper 202 and Optimize My Site.
• Black Ink 2 and PPC Classroom.

In my opinion in the following meetups we should talk more about the new trends and the future of Pay-Per-Click. Many people is saying that PPC is saturated, but I think only 10% of all internet marketers are making six figure income, the whole other 90% are just picking pennies.

According to Central Bank (BC) in 2007 reached U.S. $ 2.8 billion the amount of money sent to families in Brazil by Brazilians who live in other countries. Of this total, more than $ 1.3 billion comes from the United States, virtually the same amount established by BC in 1997, the total values returned.

That money, which is usually called a referral, comes from Brazilian people  who have left the country to seek better financial conditions and also work to help families who stayed in Brazil.

In addition to the data from BC, the numbers established by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) also show that United States is the main source of remittances: 42% of total, according to the IDB.

However, the IDB has established a total remitted higher in 2007: $ 7.1 billion. The second main source is Japan (34%), followed by the European Union (16%).

Data from MIF / IDB show that most of the people receiving these money in Brazil is concentrated in the SouthEast (58%) and South (39%). In general are women (65%), with low education (only 21% have higher education) and low-income classes.

Because of this profile, the specialist from IDB in Brasilia, Luciano Schweizer points out that these remittances are a very important social role in the country “Generally these people who emigrate usually makes 5 times more money than they would make in Brazil,” he says.

Among the major investments made with those resources in Brazil, is the purchase of property,  the improvement in the level of education and access to health services. “And in some cases, such as the dekasseguis, (Brazilians) that go to Japan and to Portugal, a large proportion of those who return to Brazil use the money to open and run a company,” says Schweizer.

Moreover, such values also create an impact on the financial market here. As Brazil has one of the highest levels of the bank remittance, between 60% and 70%, “obviously this money arrives and circulates within the formal financial system, and this is a work that the bank (IDB) has developed to increase the formality of such shipments because it lets people manage a history in the financial system and have access to other services offered in this system, “he says.