Ricardo Nunes

Ricardo Luís Reis Nunes, mayor of the city of São Paulo, is a businessman originally from São Paulo and a resident of the city's Southern Zone. He is affiliated to the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) since the age of 18, and has always worked in defence of democracy.

At the age of 21, he ran in his first elections for city councilor but was not elected. Twenty years later, in 2012, he was elected for his first term at São Paulo City Council and re-elected in 2016 with 55,000 votes.

As a councilor, he mobilized his entrepreneurial experience to support the city of São Paulo’s legislature. He studied in depth the city's economic situation and, for six years, was the rapporteur of the Budget Guidelines Law and the city’s budget. He also served on several parliamentary investigative commissions on active debt, tax and fiscal evasion. The combined work of these commissions resulted in the payment of over 3 billion Brazilian reais to the municipal treasury.

During his mandates, he also presented bills to encourage and support entrepreneurship, businesses and attract new investments to the Southern Zone of the City, focusing on projects that could generate jobs and income for residents – including emitting licenses for business operation, incentives for location and permanence of businesses in the Southern Zone. During the past year, he has also led strategies to ensure the gradual and safe re-opening of commerce in the city backed up by the guidelines of the public health authorities.  

He was director of AESUL (Business Association of the Southern Region of São Paulo) and has always worked as a volunteer in social projects focused on education.