Berliner Boersenzeitung - Brazil 'finfluencers' bring finance to the favelas

EUR -
AED 4.02928
AFN 75.692818
ALL 98.230283
AMD 424.526499
ANG 1.976439
AOA 998.266389
ARS 1066.001016
AUD 1.612696
AWG 1.977335
AZN 1.863965
BAM 1.944898
BBD 2.214209
BDT 131.046636
BGN 1.957257
BHD 0.413514
BIF 3181.595132
BMD 1.096996
BND 1.423434
BOB 7.577594
BRL 5.983669
BSD 1.096663
BTN 92.020037
BWP 14.505822
BYN 3.588816
BYR 21501.121252
BZD 2.21043
CAD 1.489293
CDF 3148.378983
CHF 0.942308
CLF 0.036652
CLP 1011.452275
CNY 7.733383
CNH 7.782029
COP 4584.35718
CRC 568.816783
CUC 1.096996
CUP 29.070394
CVE 109.650374
CZK 25.333254
DJF 195.277188
DKK 7.456336
DOP 65.950925
DZD 145.776338
EGP 53.031085
ERN 16.45494
ETB 131.190033
FJD 2.425439
FKP 0.835427
GBP 0.836717
GEL 2.994743
GGP 0.835427
GHS 17.348912
GIP 0.835427
GMD 75.692831
GNF 9468.015018
GTQ 8.485513
GYD 229.426084
HKD 8.520061
HNL 27.2684
HRK 7.458488
HTG 144.59084
HUF 401.139072
IDR 17173.472102
ILS 4.183339
IMP 0.835427
INR 92.160882
IQD 1436.560707
IRR 46169.818195
ISK 148.88356
JEP 0.835427
JMD 173.278717
JOD 0.777331
JPY 162.890194
KES 141.468786
KGS 92.902942
KHR 4451.09077
KMF 489.803593
KPW 987.295762
KRW 1479.34843
KWD 0.335999
KYD 0.913886
KZT 529.616158
LAK 24215.485107
LBP 98202.836496
LKR 322.077587
LRD 211.645587
LSL 19.158684
LTL 3.239144
LVL 0.663562
LYD 5.229686
MAD 10.726472
MDL 19.240327
MGA 5022.890858
MKD 61.564827
MMK 3563.000159
MNT 3727.592298
MOP 8.769524
MRU 43.41504
MUR 50.999087
MVR 16.849469
MWK 1901.558483
MXN 21.032593
MYR 4.628916
MZN 70.0706
NAD 19.158684
NGN 1804.646485
NIO 40.35417
NOK 11.695469
NPR 147.232059
NZD 1.779336
OMR 0.422397
PAB 1.096663
PEN 4.09377
PGK 4.367519
PHP 62.159157
PKR 304.313598
PLN 4.31572
PYG 8548.162703
QAR 3.998424
RON 4.976737
RSD 116.999054
RUB 104.488911
RWF 1485.785237
SAR 4.120618
SBD 9.149807
SCR 14.537392
SDG 659.844023
SEK 11.373616
SGD 1.431212
SHP 0.835427
SLE 25.063399
SLL 23003.451609
SOS 626.692896
SRD 34.226646
STD 22705.602007
SVC 9.595303
SYP 2756.235245
SZL 19.150828
THB 36.474867
TJS 11.679042
TMT 3.839486
TND 3.367816
TOP 2.569275
TRY 37.567362
TTD 7.437379
TWD 35.412153
TZS 2991.098835
UAH 45.147633
UGX 4021.494878
USD 1.096996
UYU 45.863339
UZS 13971.81084
VEF 3973925.575776
VES 40.522005
VND 27172.59048
VUV 130.237567
WST 3.068805
XAF 652.306557
XAG 0.033642
XAU 0.000412
XCD 2.964687
XDR 0.815536
XOF 652.300644
XPF 119.331742
YER 274.632862
ZAR 19.152765
ZMK 9874.314377
ZMW 28.868446
ZWL 353.232259
  • CMSC

    -0.0750

    24.665

    -0.3%

  • CMSD

    -0.0820

    24.808

    -0.33%

  • NGG

    -0.5650

    66.405

    -0.85%

  • BCC

    -0.2700

    138.02

    -0.2%

  • GSK

    0.1750

    38.545

    +0.45%

  • RIO

    -0.1800

    69.65

    -0.26%

  • JRI

    -0.0240

    13.276

    -0.18%

  • BTI

    0.1400

    35.25

    +0.4%

  • SCS

    0.2550

    12.875

    +1.98%

  • RBGPF

    -1.8700

    58.93

    -3.17%

  • RYCEF

    0.0000

    6.98

    0%

  • AZN

    -0.5400

    77.39

    -0.7%

  • BCE

    -0.1000

    33.74

    -0.3%

  • VOD

    -0.0200

    9.67

    -0.21%

  • BP

    0.5650

    33.025

    +1.71%

  • RELX

    -0.6000

    46.01

    -1.3%

Brazil 'finfluencers' bring finance to the favelas
Brazil 'finfluencers' bring finance to the favelas / Photo: Miguel SCHINCARIOL - AFP

Brazil 'finfluencers' bring finance to the favelas

With his tattooed arms, drop-fade haircut and baby-face looks, Murilo Duarte doesn't look like a typical financial adviser as he dishes out investment tips on social media from the Sao Paulo favela where he grew up.

Text size:

Duarte, 28, who has more than a million followers on social media, is one of the "finfluencers" -- financial influencers -- who have gone viral in Brazil, bringing financial education to the masses in a country known for its gaping inequalities.

"You don't have to have a lot of money to be an investor, but you have to get your accounts organized first," says one video by Duarte, better known as "Favelado Investidor," or Investor from the Favelas.

"The idea is to democratize access to financial education and the world of investing, especially for the lower classes forgotten by society," Duarte told AFP.

Smart and charismatic, Duarte grew up in Jardim Joao XXIII, a poor neighborhood on the west side of Sao Paulo, Brazil's economic capital.

He put himself through accounting school working as an intern at a notary public's office, then co-founded a financial education company in 2019.

By 2021, he had made his first million reais (around $185,000). He now lives in an upscale neighborhood, employs 12 people at his company and is one of the most prominent voices promoting financial literacy in Latin America's biggest economy.

"No matter where you're from, you can get wherever you want if you work hard," he tells followers on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

But he cautions against get-rich-quick schemes.

Getting on solid financial footing "is step-by-step," he says.

"I started to see real results in my personal finances after eight, nine, 10 years. I'm clear about that: I'm not selling a dream that's going to happen overnight. It's a process."

- Real-world economics -

Including financial analysts, traders and less traditional profiles like Duarte's, there are more than 1,250 "finfluencer" profiles in Brazil, one of the world's biggest social media-using countries, according to a recent report by financial industry group ANBIMA.

They have more than 165 million followers in all.

"There's been a huge increase in Brazilians' interest in economic information," said Amanda Brum, ANBIMA's executive manager for communications and marketing.

"Social networks allow (specialists) to build a direct connection with users, which helps their followers trust and identify with them."

The online gurus' tips are not all about multiplying income. Many give advice on day-to-day issues, such as dealing with fast-rising prices, in a country where the annual inflation rate hit more than 12 percent last year, before falling back to 4.18 percent currently.

Clayton Silva, who follows Duarte and also comes from a favela, says he was "drowning in debt and spiralling food prices" -- common problems for working-class families in Brazil.

But "his advice changed the way I manage my money: I don't borrow anymore, and I'm building up an emergency fund" for rainy days, said the 28-year-old driver and father of two.

Next step, he says: invest in the Sao Paulo stock exchange.

The number of individual investors in Latin America's biggest stock market grew 19 percent last year, to five million, notably driven by young investors, says Felipe Paiva of B3, the company that manages the exchange.

- From Instagram to Brasilia -

Financial education exploded on social media during Covid-19 stay-at-home measures in Brazil, when the economy imploded and many people were left looking for new income.

Fueling the trend, "the interest rate hit a historic low of two percent, motivating investors to diversify" in search of higher returns, said Marilia Fontes, a founding partner of investment firm Nord Research and a top financial influencer herself.

Some "finfluencers" have gotten so big their influence now reaches far beyond social media.

Nathalia Rodrigues, a 24-year-old business administration specialist, grew up in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Now known as "Nath Finance," she went viral using a four-year-old cell phone to give free financial advice to other Brazilians like herself on YouTube.

Last month, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva named her to his Sustainable Economic Development Council, a civil society panel to help the government develop public policy.

(S.G.Stein--BBZ)