Luiza Helena Trajano Inácio Rodrigues (born 9 October 1948), is a Brazilian

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessperson. She is chair of the retailer

Magazine Luiza Magazine Luiza is a Brazilian retail company, along with GPA, Viavarejo, Lojas Americanas Lojas Americanas is a Brazilian retail chain founded in 1929 in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, by the Austrian-Brazilian Max Landesmann and Ameri ...

and associated companies. In July 2020, ''

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'' noted that she was Brazil's wealthiest woman. Trajano is an advisory board member to both

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Brazil and

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Brazil, among other entities. In 2021 Luiza was listed by

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magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is a feminist. As of April 2022, her net worth was estimated at US$1.4 billion.

Life

Trajano was born in

Franca Franca is a municipality in the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, Brazil. The city is located in the northeastern portion of the state, distant 401 km (249 mi) from the state capital (São Paulo), and 676 km (420 mi) from Brasília, Brasil ...

in the state of São Paulo. She graduated in law from Faculdade de Direito de Franca (School of Law of Franca) in 1972. Trajano's parents (she is the only daughter) owned a retail store in Franca under the brand name Magazine Luiza. Trajano worked in various departments such as sales, purchase and management, prior to becoming the company's director-superintendent in 1991.Virtude rende lucros
Época, March 2009, p. 74 Under her chairpersonship, Magazine Luiza became a

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of over 1,000 stores scattered throughout 18 Brazilian states with over 18 million clients and 27 thousand employees, as well as a

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. During Brazil's 2018 presidential election, Trajano held a Q&A session with several candidates. The eventual winning candidate,

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

, did not attend. Shortly afterwards, Bolsonaro

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'Who's Luiza Trajano anyway?' Reports emerged that he had resented being excluded by the organisation for failing to confirm participation in time.

Role in promoting women's empowerment

Trajano is the chairperson of

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Grupo Mulheres do Brasil (Women of Brazil), founded in 2013 by 40 Brazilian women entrepreneurs. The organisation is dedicated to promoting equal rights, work, safety, health and education for all. Over 48,000 women across 14 countries are currently associated with Women of Brazil. In 2017, the

femicide Femicide or feminicide is a hate crime which is broadly defined as "the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female," but definitions of it vary depending on cultural context. In 1976, the feminist author Diana E. H. Russel ...

of Magazine Luiza store manager Denise Neves dos Anjos, who then was 37 with 13 of service, by her husband shocked Trajano and made her not only become vocal about

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

, but take action within her company, whose workforce is 50% female. Trajano is reported as creating a domestic violence

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for workers (including male workers), with the company providing

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and legal assistance, mapping relocation opportunities and alerting the authorities. Also, outsourced workforce providers for Magazine Luiza were required to employ at least 2% of abused women so they could get financial independence which can be an important step towards leaving an abusive husband. "I have asked my friends to report, instead of turning a blind eye...women's condition has made incredible progress, but we still have to fight for equal pay, for instance. And violence is something we cannot tolerate," Trajano said at the time. Trajano favours quotas for women on company boards, claiming the situation in Brazil is such that it will take 100 years for boards to have 20% or 30% of women if no quotas are adopted. She mentions her aunt (the founder of Magazine Luiza) and late mother as inspirations.

Views on and role in affirmative action

In September 2020, Magazine Luiza announced its 2021 trainee program would be open to black candidates only. Trajano said it was 'an important step towards consolidating our corporate diversity.' The program will also be waiving English skills and previous work experience requirements. The announcement sparked controversy and met with opposition from conservative quarters. For instance,

's government deputy leader in the

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said he was personally filing a complaint with the

Public Prosecutor's Office Public prosecutor's offices are criminal justice bodies attached to the judiciary. They are separate from the courts in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and are called the Staatsanwaltschaft. This kind of office als ...

on account of 'racism.' According to Trajano: 'Our colour-blind programs never worked...we know people will sue, but we'll keep on track. We will fight and we won't give up that easily.' In 2019, Trajano had stated racial inequality 'is still a very serious thing. We have only one Black female chairperson of a major Brazilian corporation...and our struggle now is to have Black female directors, chairpersons...but also males, to have them hold heftier positions within enterprises.' On 21 September 2020, highlighting criticism of the trainee program was expected yet not "as aggressive," she added: "We did not intend to change Brazil, only our company...we respect dissenting points of view...what we feel is it isn't easy for people to understand systemic racism and sexism." And: "We are really happy to break the taboo."

Awards

Trajano was elected Person of the Year 2020 by the Brazilian American Chamber of Commerce.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trajano, Luiza People from Franca 1951 births Living people Brazilian businesspeople Brazilian billionaires Female billionaires