Across the United States, small businesses face a paradox. While they contribute substantially to job creation and economic stability, they are often ill equipped to manage their most vital asset: people. In industries ranging from hospitality to healthcare, millions of small firms operate without the resources or guidance needed to implement effective human resources strategies. The result is a recurring cycle of misalignment, inefficiency, and burnout that weakens businesses from the inside out. For HR expert Milene Reis, this is a national shortfall hiding in plain sight.
A decade of leadership in Brazil’s public sector has shaped Reis’s perspective on the challenges small organizations face when structure is lacking. At the State Public Prosecutor’s Office in São Paulo, she managed employee performance across thousands of staff, authored institutional policies, and introduced training programs that increased operational cohesion. Her work consistently focused on translating complexity into clarity by streamlining systems, reducing procedural delays, and creating environments where individuals could thrive. Now, with the launch of Innova Business Consulting LLC in Florida, she aims to bring that same clarity to America’s underserved small business sector.
Scheduled to operate as S.M.A.R.T. Business Consulting, the firm will target companies with fewer than 50 employees, businesses that comprise a large portion of the 33 million small enterprises in the U.S. yet often lack the foundational support to manage workforce issues effectively. These businesses frequently struggle with fragmented communication, unclear role expectations, and rising absenteeism, problems made worse by minimal access to professional HR guidance. Reis’s consulting model is designed to address these gaps not through long term hires but through specialized interventions built around data, behavioral insight, and scalable strategy.
“There is a misconception that only large organizations need HR systems. But it is often the smallest teams that suffer the most when there is no structure,” said Reis. “What we are building is a way for those businesses to gain access to the tools and insights they have historically gone without.”
The company will center its services around the proprietary S.M.A.R.T. framework, which emphasizes strategic planning, management modernization, and talent development. However, its true differentiator may lie in how it integrates behavioral analysis with technology. Through the use of profiling tools like DISC and MBTI, the consultancy plans to help businesses match employees to roles not just by skill but by temperament and cultural compatibility. This method, when paired with AI augmented workflow systems, is expected to reduce role friction and enhance operational alignment, factors that contribute heavily to staff disengagement and internal churn.
High attrition has become a particularly pressing issue for small enterprises. According to recent workforce studies, employee disengagement and turnover cost U.S. businesses over one trillion dollars annually. While large firms may absorb such costs, smaller operations often cannot. In hospitality and food service sectors, where turnover rates can exceed 70 percent annually, these losses are more than financial. They disrupt continuity, erode morale, and place significant strain on owner managers. Innova’s model aims to help firms mitigate these patterns by introducing preventative systems rooted in organizational psychology and performance science.
Beyond recruitment and retention, the firm will emphasize the cultivation of healthy workplace environments. Drawing from public health data and organizational research, Reis has built programming that addresses psychological safety, stress reduction, and internal trust, issues frequently overlooked in performance focused consulting. By offering communication coaching, structured feedback protocols, and mental health initiatives, Innova plans to support both the operational and emotional ecosystems of the businesses it serves.
Though the company will begin in Florida, where tourism, logistics, and service based industries offer fertile ground, its vision is far reaching. The firm’s flexible delivery model, which includes both in person consulting and digital tools, is designed for replication in other states, particularly in regions where small firms lack affordable access to strategic HR services. According to recent labor projections, the U.S. will face over one million management role openings annually through 2032, driven largely by retirements and evolving skill demands. Innova’s services could help fill this gap not by replacing internal teams but by equipping small business leaders with the tools to act more strategically.
For Reis, the company’s national relevance goes beyond workforce metrics. It is about inclusion, about ensuring that small firms, which employ nearly half of the private sector workforce, are not excluded from advances in HR technology and methodology simply because of size.
“Workplace dynamics are changing rapidly, and too many small businesses are left behind in that shift,” she noted. “Our goal is to make sure they are not just reacting to problems but actively building systems that make their organizations more sustainable.”
As Innova Business Consulting LLC prepares to launch, it stands as part of a broader movement to redefine what effective HR can look like outside of corporate towers. By offering strategy without bureaucracy and expertise without excess cost, it signals a shift toward inclusivity in how American workplaces are supported. At the helm is a leader with a track record of institutional transformation and a belief that even the smallest team deserves the infrastructure to succeed.
