São PauloOverall Score: 33.4 out of 100 | Overall Rank: 51 out of 55

Momentum Rank

43

Sao Paulo55 City medianOverall Cityscore
60
Technology

40

20Markets

0Culture

TalentCapital

Basic Facts:• Population: 22 .4 million in the Greater São Paulometro area
• Gross Metro Product: $413.8 billion (2022)• Top industries by employment:
1) Telecommunications
2) IT
3) Commerce

Overall Rank

51

Operating Environment

51

Markets

46

Size

11Cost24

Notable Strengths
The largest city in the southern hemisphere, São Paulo isthe engine not only of the Brazilian economy but of theentire Mercosur bloc. A vibrant, cosmopolitan city withmore than 20 million inhabitants in the greater São Paulometro area, the city attracts diverse talent from acrossBrazil and the globe, ranking 11th in the size subpillar inmarkets. The city is home to some of the most prestigious
universities in Latin America including the University ofSão Paulo (ranked 2nd in Latin America by Time Higher
Education), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (ranked4th), and Universidade Estadual Paulista (ranked 11th).
Accepting only 5% of applicants, the University of SãoPaulo is the largest in Brazil, with nearly 98,000 students47% women- across 11 campuses and boasting morethan 70 libraries, five affiliated hospitals, and 24 museumsand galleries and counts 13 Brazilian presidents asalumni.

Access45

Policy49

Talent48

Women's Skill & Experience

42

Access to Qualified Personnel

51

Capital49

Number/Value

36

Gender Proportion

45

Women's Capital Base

49

Enabling Environment

48

Culture52

Access to Mentors & Role Models

55São Paulo has also made significant investments inimproving the connectivity and recently launched 5G
mobile service as of August 2022. The city ranks 26th inthe connected subpillar and already boasted significant
coverage of 3G and 4G mobile services. Capitalizing on
digital infrastructure investments, the government has
expanded the digitization of government services throughinitiatives such Sao Paulo Mais Digital, Poupatempo SP,

Attitudes & Expectations

40Policy

46

Technology

38

Connected

26

Cost

13

Policy50

Equality

19

Sao Paulo Sem Papel, and ExtraGov in recent years. These investments have had a material impact on theenabling environment of the city. According to a 2022 study by the Interamerican Development Bank, investments indigital public services in the city of São Paulo produced a 67% savings for companies and 83% savings forindividuals.
Areas for improvement
The heavy burden of bureaucracy, such as the length of time and number of procedures required to open abusiness, and high corporate taxes and a complex tax system have a negative impact on the entrepreneurial
environment and tend to favor existing companies rather than the creation of new business. Combined withconstrained access to capital, such the limited number of investors, lack of large VC firms, and few crowdfundingopportunities, and high borrowing costs there are relatively high barriers to entry for women entrepreneurs in SãoPaulo. In fact, few women founders or executives are represented in 2nd or higher rounds of funding, ranking 38th in
this indicator and 54th out of 55 in the culture pillar.
As such, there is a notable absence of women leaders in both the private and public sectors. The last woman mayorof São Paulo, Marta Suplicy (PT), ended her term 17 years ago and women make up only 21.8% of the city council.
On the national level, women make up only 15% of congressional seats. No women currently lead major businessassociations in the city and few women are represented on the boards of these associations. Despite moderate
progress towards gender equality in areas such as education and health, women continue to lag in leadership roles
providing fewer role models for aspiring entrepreneurs. All of these factors puts São Paulo on the runway when it
comes to momentum in the WE Cities Index since 2017. This category shows that São Paulo is below the medianin terms of ranking and score out of the cities in the ranking, however being in the ranking with very competitive
cities show that São Paulo has many strengths that can be leveraged to foster women entrepreneurs and unleash
the engine of growth for the city that women entrepreneurs produce.