According to the BBC, the online revolution in Brazil has opened up new opportunities to create small businesses that never existed before.
Fabio Seixas is a 35-year-old “serial entrepreneur” whose three previous businesses went bust.
But he appears to have struck gold with an innovative way of selling designer T-shirts online, by getting his customers to do much of the work.
His website runs online competitions asking people to submit designs for T-shirts, which are then displayed on the site and people vote for the ones they like best.
He then manufactures the winning entries.
It means he only produces goods he is sure customers will like, and in internet-crazy Brazil his online design competitions have become very popular.
“With a local shop, you don’t have access to many people, but with the internet I can have customers all over this big country,” he says.
He created his company with $7,000 five years ago, and now his turnover is $1m a year.
He says that it is hard for entrepreneurs to raise money in Brazil.
“We don’t have access to venture capital and the banks are not lending money, but the internet allows us to start a business with low costs,” he says.
“You have to be innovative to attract attention. We’re doing well because people are talking about us.”
Photo by andronicusmax