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Luiza Trajano
Brazilian billionaire businessperson, Magazine Luiza

Luiza Trajano defende o protagonismo feminino e a igualdade no mercado de trabalho

🎥 Jul 01, 2024 📺 TMC News Br ⏱ 13m
Em entrevista à TMC, a empresária Luiza Trajano destacou o protagonismo feminino na economia e defende maior presença de mulheres em cargos de liderança no Brasil. A presidente do conselho do Magazine Luiza falou sobre os avanços das mulheres no mercado de trabalho, os desafios ainda existentes e a meta de alcançar maior igualdade até 2030, além de comentar o papel feminino nas decisões de consumo e na gestão das famílias. 📌 Inscreva-se no canal da #TMCNewsBR para estar sempre bem informado:    / @tmcnewsbr   🟠 Transamérica agora é TMC🟠 Quem escuta, sabe. Acesse nosso site: https://tmc.com....
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About Luiza Trajano

Luiza Helena Trajano, president of the board of directors of Magazine Luiza, has appeared in several interviews and podcasts in recent months, discussing leadership, gender equity, retail innovation, and artificial intelligence. In a July 2026 episode of the Na Caixa podcast, she said she has "often had to give up profit for purpose" but added that "profit is indispensable." On the Equity Channel, she described quotas as "a transitional process to correct an inequality" and stated, "If you don't do it for purpose, do it because it gives profit." She also spoke about the role of women in business, saying she wants "50% of women in high-level positions" and that women should "sit together with men" to make decisions. Trajano has also addressed the future of physical retail and technology. At a LIDE event, she said "the physical store will not disappear" but must "sell experience, encounter." She described artificial intelligence as "a tsunami" and noted that Magazine Luiza has integrated AI into customer service, including a WhatsApp feature. In a conversation on the PodeMãe podcast, she discussed the company's new physical concept, the Galeria Magalu, which combines retail, a theater, and a YouTube studio. She also encouraged entrepreneurs in Franca, saying "the entrepreneur is the one who seeks solutions."

Source: AI-verified profile updated from Luiza Trajano's recent appearances. Browse all interviews →

Transcript (10 segments)
D
Dani0:01
Let's continue talking a bit about the issue of predictability, which I think is a word we can use to summarize this perception you're bringing us, given what we're seeing in terms of signals. Despite the preaching and even from President Lula, I think there's no one, except perhaps poor Gabriel Galipolo, defending the current interest rate level in Brazil. There's been no signal, and the Central Bank has made it quite clear in its communications that things will change or there won't be a major turnaround in the short term. In this scenario, Luiza, talking to our listeners, especially micro and small entrepreneurs, who we know are starting businesses in Brazil, many betting on their own companies and looking at your trajectory as a model. What is the golden advice for someone starting a small business who needs to leverage their own fortune in this high-interest scenario, with debt suggesting caution when selling on credit?
L
Luiza Trajano1:25
Well, first, there's no golden advice, right? If Luiza Trajano doesn't have it, what do the rest of us do? No, but what I can say is, first, focus on the sale. The sale has to be made, perhaps with a smaller profit margin to sell cheaper in a short period and for cash. But the most important thing right now is cash flow. I tell small business owners this a lot: they have to be very careful with what goes out, because not everything that comes in is profit, and not everything that comes in can be spent. It's like having two rackets in your hand. One you have to sell to survive, and the other you have to sell consciously and also fight to collect payment. I've lived through many such moments. I think I'm the person who has lived through the most crises in this country. You saw a time when Collor took all the money out of the economy, leaving only 50 cruzeiros. Imagine taking all the money out of the economy, from small and large businesses, from individuals and corporations. But you can survive in a country that still has so much consumption to be done. We need to build 10 million homes in 10 years to reach the social equality level of developed countries. Most people don't have air conditioning, don't have a fully automatic washing machine, and don't have what they'd like. So it's not even consumerism; it's about giving others the opportunity to have what some already have. In a country where we have no real crisis—you see how Brazilians united after the natural disaster in the South. Japan has to have huge stores just to prepare for earthquakes. So, in a country with great economic diversity and necessary consumption for the next 15 to 20 years, you can't get discouraged. You have to keep going if your business is doing well, and if not, well... and look for cheaper credit where it's offered. Another thing I tell the financial sector is about Credit Score. It needs to be more available for small and medium-sized companies. Creditors need to adapt more. There's a lot of money stuck in some banks that can't be released because the credit score, the data that releases the credit, is from 10 or 15 years ago, and we're in a different reality now. I think all of this needs to be connected.
F
Felipe4:09
Luiza, Dani called you a model, and we can't question that statement. But you make many references to the past, to the crises you and Brazil have been through. I'd like you to make a comparison in two parts. When you started back then, what were the main differences thinking back then versus today, economically speaking, for an entrepreneur? And then the second part of my question is for women specifically, and I'm not even talking about the businesswoman, which is a very important part of our economy, but about women as protagonists of their own lives.
L
Luiza Trajano4:57
Well, let's talk economically. You had different difficulties. Capital was much harder to get; it was much less available in the market for companies, especially retail companies. You had much more national competition than international competition, which is healthy but involves much more difference in positioning. Today, you have much more international competition, which has a side where you can form alliances and even gain some advantages, but it's much harder for the small garment maker, for the small factory owner, and for the large ones too. And there's a huge technological change. Whoever doesn't align with digital won't survive. At the same time, physical stores have never been as strong as they are now, but they also have to be digital, they have to be omnichannel. So there are very interesting differences, but always for that moment. The lack of capital, the unavailability of capital, was a very big problem for me, but I didn't have such intense competition. I had local competition that fought with the same criteria. On the other hand, when digital arrived, Magalu was one that sought to enter digital, despite having been physical for almost 40 years. Suddenly we have digital, then artificial intelligence that will revolutionize. We've had three big changes: the internet, then mobile, and now it will be a tsunami. AI is very serious. What I've been telling small businesses is to ally with it, to show it, because it will help you cut costs and many other things. Don't try to stay without it, and it's very easy to get into. I've helped many small businesses by saying it's like entering WhatsApp: you download an AI and get in. So today there are other problems. But what I want to make very clear—and I'll talk about women in a moment—is that in every moment you're living, you have a problem that at that time also seemed big. Looking back today, you say, 'Wow, that one was small compared to what I'm living now.' But we learn to live with problems more calmly. Trajano.
D
Dani7:34
Now let's talk a bit about... Let me introduce here quickly because I want to talk about the summit, the Women in Professions Summit. It's the largest event focused on the professional development of women, on female protagonism. And we have several fronts to look at, both women as the driving force and protagonists of their businesses, and we have an immense range. I think we could already take a bit from what you were saying about this series of opportunities, but also women as the driving force of the economy as consumers, because most families in Brazil are headed by women, single mothers are thriving, often the woman is accompanied but she has the higher income, a woman with more than one job. Explain a bit what the map of this year's summit should bring, both for consumers and entrepreneurs.
L
Luiza Trajano8:29
But let me answer Felipe as a woman now, and you help me too, Dani. So here's the thing, Felipe, we've evolved a lot. I come from a family where I don't fight just for myself, I was born an entrepreneur, from an entrepreneurial woman, as it wasn't called back then. But I increasingly saw the greater difficulty of being a woman, of being in front of something, and that structural machismo that existed, which wasn't out of malice. Men were raised in a totally mechanical management style. So I just want to make it very clear that we have already evolved a lot, just as Black people have, but we have a lot more to evolve. And our fight now, speaking a bit about the summit, we also thank the men who helped us evolve; they were intelligent, right, Dani? Because in reality, they were intelligent. As Dani said, the woman decides even the car she'll buy, the computer, the paint color, she decides everything. And the woman from a simpler class, I say she's the minister of finance, she manages little, still raises children, puts them in school, and does everything else. So we have evolved, and we can't deny that. But what the summit is seeking, Dani, is an evolution, because we understand that what we want is to sit at the table in high positions alongside men. We don't want to surpass men; we want to be together. So we are seeking this summit in all professions, 50% in top positions by 2030, because now we've evolved, but we have to reach how many bank presidents are there still? There are 18... only women in politics. And it's not even for me, because I'm already in a position, but my fight is because I understand how many times I was called, Felipe, because I was a woman to participate on a board. The fact that my role as a woman made a difference. Of course I have experience, but women also acquire experience. So when I say that having two, three, four women on a board to solve a problem makes a very big difference when they come together. Just yesterday I was in a group of 12 company presidents that helped found the IDB, and I was the only woman—not that the IDB now has more women, but from those who helped found it 20 years ago. Suddenly I turn and say, 'Let me give you my feminine perspective. My way of seeing processes is different from yours.' So it balances things out. That's how we founded the IDB 20 years ago. So today what we fight for is to have more women, Dani, which is the summit. It's the first professions summit. We will have all professions, including general services, all professions. We will have them there to show that we can jump to 50% and join men. And we are inviting Felipe, men, to join us in this summit too. Feel invited.
So, but without you men helping us, we won't get there, you know? It's together with men that I say, a man has a granddaughter or a daughter who is a woman, or will have a granddaughter who is a woman. He doesn't want her to earn 20% less because she's a woman. He doesn't want her to not be able to be a company president just because she's a woman. He wants her to be able to be whatever she wants. When it hits daughters and granddaughters, you know that's real. But today we have many men allies, and I say they are interested because they saw that our moment has arrived too. So this summit will be for 10,000 people, for 10,000 women and men invited. We will have more than 8 or 10 stages together, where we will be talking about agriculture, business, finance, technology, all of these, and what the role of women is and what we need to do for us to be at 50% by 2030. Yes, jumping to 50% is our fight.
F
Felipe12:37
I didn't even need to do my promotion because Dani already did. Let me remind everyone that there's still time to register, to arrange accommodation and everything else. It will be in São Paulo city, at Expo Center Norte, which is in the north zone, blue pavilion, on August 4th and 5th, the Women in Professions Summit. Luiza Trajano, thank you for talking to us here at TMC. Have a great day. Always promoting this summit, and you are all invited to be there.
L
Luiza Trajano13:07
I'll demand it, I'll demand my registration. A kiss. Bye, bye. Thank you.
D
Dani13:11
Thank you. Ciao. Ciao. Ciao.