What is the name of your organization?
Be.Labs Aceleradora
What is the name of your solution?
Hurricane Effect
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Transforming underbanked women from Brazil’s underserved regions into confident, connected, and financially empowered entrepreneurs.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
João Pessoa, PB, Brasil
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Brazil
What type of organization is your solution team?
Hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
Millions of women in Brazil’s North, Northeast, and Center-West regions remain trapped in informal work, with limited digital access, low financial literacy, and no connection to formal markets or services. These women—many of them Black, Indigenous, or heads of household—often operate small businesses without registration, mentorship, or training, making them invisible to the financial system and highly vulnerable to poverty and instability.
The issue reflects global trends: 2 billion people globally work informally, 1.4 billion are unbanked, and 2.6 billion remain offline—disproportionately affecting women. In Brazil alone, over 30 million women are economically excluded.
The contributing factors include digital illiteracy, institutional mistrust, gender norms, lack of accessible training, and high startup costs. Financial service providers lack incentives to reach these markets, further perpetuating the cycle.
Be.Labs directly tackles these barriers with a scalable, human-centered approach to financial inclusion, business development, and digital participation for vulnerable women entrepreneurs.
What is your solution?
Efeito Furacão (Hurricane Effect) is Be.Labs' flagship program — a five-phase, tech-integrated pre-acceleration solution that empowers women entrepreneurs from underserved regions to formalize, grow, and digitize their businesses.
Using a human-centered curriculum adapted to low-literacy, low-connectivity contexts, the program combines practical business training, mentorship, digital literacy, and access to formal economic systems. Participants learn to price correctly, manage finances, use digital sales channels (e.g., WhatsApp, Instagram), and access government and fintech services.
Each cohort is supported by “furacanizadoras” — volunteer or paid female mentors from across Brazil — and by a new AI-powered platform called Mentore.se, which scales guidance and diagnostics based on each entrepreneur’s needs.
Through Efeito Furacão, informal workers become formal entrepreneurs, unbanked women access financial services, and disconnected communities gain the tools to thrive in the digital economy.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Be.Labs serves women entrepreneurs in Brazil’s most underserved territories, particularly the North, Northeast, and Center-West — where digital, economic, and gender-based exclusion intersect.
These women are:
Often heads of household;
Operating in informal economies;
Lacking formal education and digital literacy;
Frequently excluded from financial systems, credit, and business support.
By participating in Efeito Furacão, they gain:
Practical knowledge to manage and grow their businesses;
Financial education to separate personal and business finances;
Access to formalization (MEI/CNPJ), unlocking credit and protection;
Digital tools to increase visibility, customer reach, and sales;
Mentorship and peer support that boosts confidence and resilience.
Impact results from past cohorts include:
50.5% average increase in monthly revenue;
85.7% report improved confidence in business leadership;
21.7% increase in financial organization skills;
Over 3,500 women impacted across 250+ cities.
