São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce won the Deal Making Prize at the trade show of the São Paulo Supermarkets Association (Apas), in the Large Stand category. The prize ceremony happened on Friday (5), the expo’s closing day.
The Arab Brazilian Chamber’s stand in Brazil’s premier supermarket industry show spanned 100 sqm of floor space, featuring exhibitors from Egypt, Morocco, the UAE, Qatar, and Tunisia. This was the Chamber’s fourth time at the event.
“Winning a deal-making prize is fully in line with our objectives. The stand was created in order to enable deals for Arabs, which is part of the Chamber’s mission statement, i.e. to create business opportunities both for Brazilians in Arab countries and for Arabs in Brazil. Therefore, this prize means a lot to us,” said Arab Brazilian Chamber president Rubens Hannun, who congratulated his team on the accolade received.
According to Apas, prize winners were not chosen on the basis of actual deals made during the expo, but of existing conditions for deals to come to fruition, as well as the likelihood of future deals. The aspects considered included the number of meetings that exhibitors had. At the Arab Chamber’s stand, 214 meetings took place between the Arab exhibitors and visiting supermarket industry players.
Such a high number of meetings was the outcome of work done jointly by the Arab Chamber and Apas. “First off, we enrolled the Arabs in a matchmaking program that paired them with the Brazilian supermarkets that had the strongest demand for the goods they were offering. Moreover, we had a dedicated in-stand team to find the Brazilians who wanted those Arab goods, and we promoted those goods before and during the expo,” explained the Arab Chamber’s Marketing analyst Tâmara Machado. She was the one who accepted the prize on behalf of the organization during a ceremony at the closing of the trade show.
Factors taken into account in pairing exhibitors and supermarkets included product types, the size of the supermarkets that the exporters wanted to deal with, and retail vs. wholesale.
“We created an environment, a supply-meets-demand stand. A stand that allowed Arab companies to keep in touch with several business owners, not only from Brazil, but also from other Latin American countries,” said Arab Chamber CEO Michel Alaby. “The prize attests to the efficacy and efficiency of the entire Arab Brazilian Chamber team in regard to our participation in the Apas Show,” he said.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum