With 99% of Brazilian companies classified as small and medium-sized, and 78% of their leaders pointing to networking as the main source of new business, a growing movement is transforming how entrepreneurs access knowledge, connections, and opportunities: the rise of networking clubs outside major financial centers. In a continental country like Brazil, most entrepreneurs are not on Faria Lima, nor do they have easy access to the same type of capital, training, or visibility. But that doesn’t mean they are not ready to scale. On the contrary, they want what was once a privilege of a few: practical education, visibility, and high-level network. This quest for growth and qualification has been observed more intensely in medium-sized cities and regional hubs, which house thousands of emerging companies with high scaling potential.
In Brazil, 41.7% of entrepreneurs point to investment in education as the best strategy to face periods of instability and maintain competitiveness. Concurrently, the number of groups, communities, and platforms offering immersions, mentorships, and events focused on business generation is increasing, combining high-level relationships with relevant content for SMEs’ daily lives. In Latin America, the phenomenon is even broader. The region already has over 100 million people involved in entrepreneurship and has seen a surge in business events focusing on training and networking. Countries like Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia are incorporating networking as a tool for economic development, often linking mentorship, immersions, and practical content to the creation of business communities. In 2024, Latin America exceeded 76 million 5G connections, accelerating business digitalization and market integration.
It is in this context that the Grupo X has established itself as one of the main hubs of business education in Brazil, with international presence and operations in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and England. With a turnover of R$ 30 million in the last 12 months, 167 thousand businesses impacted, and R$ 350 million generated by its students, the proposal is clear: to take the entrepreneur out of regional isolation and put them on the map of the new economy. “Networking is not just exchanging business cards. It’s exchanging views, learning from those who have made mistakes and succeeded, and growing faster together. “We have many billionaires scattered across the country who do not have access to connections. Brazil is not Faria Lima,” says Jorge Kotz, CEO of Grupo X. For him, the strength of networking clubs reveals a new entrepreneurial elite that does not come from the top, but from the base. They are business people who have grown behind the scenes, away from the spotlight of Sao Paulo or Brasilia, and who now have real tools to scale. “The strength of networking clubs reveals a new entrepreneurial elite that does not come from the top, but from the base. And now they have tools to scale.”
