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Belmiro Gomes’ journey combines childhood work, transition through operational roles, entry through technology, and rise in wholesale, in a story marked by adaptation, business growth, and decisions that changed Assaí’s size in Brazilian retail.
Belmiro Gomes, CEO of Assaí, went from informal jobs in childhood to leading one of the largest food retail companies in Brazil, after going through operational roles, technology, and management positions in wholesale.
According to an interview published by EXAME magazine this Sunday (22), the executive started working early due to his father’s illness and, years later, took over a company that recorded a loss close to R$ 70 million.
The business turnaround gained momentum from 2011, when Gomes took over Assaí at a time of financial losses, smaller operations, and the need for scale in a competitive market.
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At the time, according to the interview, the network was earning about R$ 3 billion per year and employed approximately 6,000 people, a number far from the size achieved in the following years.
By 2025, the company reported revenue of R$ 84.7 billion, more than 90,000 employees, and national presence, consolidating itself among the main groups in Brazilian food retail.
Belmiro Gomes and the beginning of the journey in Paraná
Born in Santo André, in the ABC region of São Paulo, Belmiro Gomes moved as a child to Maringá, in Paraná, after the family faced a sudden change caused by his father’s illness.
The need to help at home led the future executive to take on activities far from the corporate environment, long before occupying meeting rooms and participating in strategic decisions in retail.
Before entering the food sector, he carried bags of cotton, sold ice cream on the streets, tried to work as a shoeshine boy, and circulated through banks and notaries as an office boy.
The first formal position, with a signed work card, came in 1985, in an administrative role that required constant travel, responsibility with documents, and direct contact with different areas of companies.
In the interview with EXAME, Gomes attributed this early start to the family situation and recalled that he and his sister had to work very early to help at home.
Recalling the period when he sold ice cream, the executive said that the job seemed to offer a car and commission, but the vehicle was the cart he had to push through the streets himself.
Entry into wholesale began with technology
Gomes’ contact with wholesale did not start directly through the stores, but through technology, at a time when computing was beginning to gain space within Brazilian companies.
After working in an appliance chain and supermarkets, he became interested in programming and found in this path a gateway to the sector.
In 1988, Gomes joined Atacadão as a Cobol programmer, a language used in corporate systems and common in administrative and financial areas of large companies.
From this technical role, he went through different areas of the company, including data entry, finance, sales, purchasing, operations, store management, and directorial positions.
This circulation through various sectors helped to form an operational view of the business, something the executive himself relates to the learning accumulated throughout his career.
Speaking about this process, Gomes summarized part of his professional philosophy in a direct phrase: “There will always be something new to learn.”
Assaí in loss and the turnaround under new management
The most significant change in his career occurred after the sale of Atacadão to Carrefour in 2007, when Gomes remained with the company for another three years.
Shortly after, in 2010, he received the invitation to take over Assaí, a chain that was still facing losses and needed to gain scale to compete more strongly in Brazilian wholesale.
Upon taking command in February 2011, he found a company with an annual revenue of approximately R$ 3 billion, 6,000 employees, and losses close to R$ 70 million the previous year.
With the new management, the company began to expand its presence, strengthen operations, and gain relevance in a segment that grew with consumers and small merchants seeking lower prices.
Another important move occurred in 2021, when Assaí decided to purchase 66 commercial points from Extra for R$ 7 billion, in an operation with a significant impact on the network.
The acquisition expanded the company’s physical presence but also came before a cycle of higher interest rates, which pressured financial expenses and led the company to review its investment pace.
Assaí’s Revenue Reaches R$ 84.7 Billion
When announcing the 2025 results in February 2026, Assaí reported revenue of R$ 84.7 billion, an increase of 5.2% over 2024, in addition to generating free cash flow of R$ 2.8 billion.
In the same report, the company stated it had reduced net debt by R$ 1.2 billion and ended the year with leverage of 2.56 times.
For 2026, the company said it would continue with capital discipline and selective growth, with plans to open 5 new stores during the period.
The strategy was presented amid an environment of high interest rates, pressured consumption, and a focus on reducing leverage, factors that began to guide expansion decisions.
Currently, the network claims to have more than 300 stores in 24 states and the Federal District, as well as over 90,000 employees in its operation.
The company also states that its shares are traded on B3 under the code ASAI3, being the only wholesale retail company listed on the Brazilian stock exchange.
Resilience and Communication Marked the Career
Explaining the factors that helped in his professional rise, Belmiro Gomes highlighted resilience, curiosity, and communication skills as important characteristics for his career path.
In the executive’s assessment, coming from a lower-income family contributed to maintaining a connection with different audiences, both inside and outside the company.
This ability to communicate is associated with how Gomes describes leadership, especially in a sector sensitive to income, credit, food inflation, and financial costs.
During the interview, he stated that talent and experience are not enough when the scenario changes rapidly and requires constant adaptation from companies and professionals.
The trajectory, therefore, is not presented by the executive as a linear sequence of growth, but as a path marked by learning, reacting to unforeseen events, and understanding market changes.
Between the early jobs in Maringá and the expansion phase of Assaí, Gomes maintained the idea of adaptation as a core principle, applied both to his personal career and business decisions.
