Founded in 1970 in Rio de Janeiro, the Instituto Brasiliero de Mercado de Capitas (Ibmec) has spread from those roots into other major Brazilian centres.
In 1987 it set up in Sao Paulo, where it has occupied a new campus in the Jardins district in 2017. This was followed by Belo Horizonte in 1991 and Brasilia in 2008, with a new campus created in the federal capital in 2013. In Rio it operates from two campuses, Centro and Barra.
Recognised as a university in 1995, it was taken over in 2015 in a deal estimated to be worth $700m by for-profit US education corporation DeVey, which in 2017 renamed its growing Brazilian operations Adtalem.
They were acquiring a capacity for innovation demonstrated in 1985 by the launch of Brazil’s first MBA in finance and international recognition in the shape of accreditation by the UK-based Association of MBAs (AMBA) and membership of the European Federation for Management Development (EFMD).
It aims to make students into "protagonists of their own identity" through "Education 2.0", creating "professionals with entrepreneurial spirit".
While studying they are also able to work for student-run companies including Ibmex Consulting, Ibema Projects and others focussing on money market, social entrepreneurship and technology and engineering. A recent agreement with the California-based Singularity University will enable the offer of SU’s "Exponential Foundations" courses in Portuguese.
Paulo Guedes, executive director of IBMEC Rio from 1983 to 1999, became Brazil’s Minister of the Economy when President Bolsonaro took office in 2019. Academic staff in Rio include Finance Professor Gilberto Braga, frequently quoted on Brazilian politics and economics in the international media.
