in Medinah Keller's jewelry store
everything glitters
she's a hands-on owner overseeing her
jewelry from design of the pieces to
production to some of the sales her
business is only five years old but she
already owns five stores in Brazil with
plans to open three more this year miss
Geller is 28 years old she was 25 she
made her first million they started from
zero I had 100 rails about $50 in my
pocket and I used to dismantle jewelry
pieces and put them back together to
create a different product because I
didn't have the money at the time to do
more
I sold door to door at first my family's
from the middle-class
we weren't millionaires this new
millionaire class in Brazil that's
flourishing is people that see the
opportunity and grow not only as Brazil
lifted more than 30 million people into
the middle class in recent years but the
number of rich Brazilians is growing as
well according to one economic analysis
since 2007 Brazil has created 19 new
millionaires every day and many are just
like Geller from a new generation of
young Brazilians that come from mostly
middle-class backgrounds they've worked
very hard and are now very wealthy
according to the Brazilian government
the richest citizens are those from the
a class meaning they make more than
$5,000 a month the class or the
upper-middle class with an income of
about more than $3,000 a month in 2003
there were 13 million Brazilians that
made up the A or B class in 2009 at rose
to 20 million and by 2014 is expected to
be 31 million despite worries of a
possible economic slowdown in Brazil and
what some call an overheating economy
Geller's only worries she says is not
being able to keep in stock enough
jewelry for her clients
but she's playing it safe despite her
millions she's yet to splurge on a
vacation home abroad not yet not yet but
I am planning to have one in New York or
Milan for her and so many other
Brazilian millionaires a plan now very
much in reach
dear Elizondo al Jazeera Sao Paulo