Postcard from Sao Paolo: Business

The world economy may be going to hell in a handbasket, but you wouldn’t know it in Maria Irece da Silva’s tiny cosmetics store in the impoverished favela of Jardim CarumbĂ©. “The rich talk about the crisis but the poor don’t mention it,” says Da Silva, whose business — helping women look good in a country where style always trumps substance — is booming. Not even the worst recession in memory has stemmed the flow of shampoos, lipsticks and nail varnish from the shelves of her tiny beauty-aids store.

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