São Paulo – The Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA) celebrates its 20th anniversary this September 17, 2023, building its path covering Brazil’s relationship with the Arab countries. Founded in 2003 by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) to promote the exchange of information between Arabs and Brazilians, since then, the agency substantially gained visibility, created a version in a new language, launched more editorial spaces, and made changes in its design and forms of communication with its audience.
Over the last 20 years, ANBA has covered the main facts and evolution of the Brazil-Arab countries relationship. “If we look at the major milestones in this history of strengthening Brazil’s relations with the Arab countries, ANBA was present in all of them, playing a fundamental role in communicating, giving visibility, and encouraging the development of this connection,” said the Marketing & Content director of the ABCC, Silvana Gomes.
The agency’s coverage encompasses diplomacy between countries, government agreements, commercial activity from one region to another, international trade, stories of Brazilian and Arab companies, cultural and immigration connections between nations, and other themes that permeate this bilateral relationship. The United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt and the Expo 2020 world exhibition in the United Arab Emirates were some of the events covered by ANBA.
ANBA more than doubled its page views in recent years, going from around 28,000 a month five years ago to about 60,000 this year. The site has already undergone visual redesigns, the last in 2018, and will launch a new remodel later this year, with more navigability for mobile users and other new features. Born bilingual in English and Portuguese, the agency gained an Arabic version in 2019, becoming more attractive to readers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), native speakers of that language.
Since its creation, ANBA published around 59,000 news stories. ANBA’s journalism team traveled to 19 Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, and Tunisia, several of them visited more than once, and to 15 Brazilian states. Since 2021, ANBA has a journalist in Cairo, Egypt. In addition to the team of four journalists and two translators, ANBA also has freelance partners.
The agency launched a podcast, ANBA Cast, in late 2020 and an opinion articles section in 2021. Sixty articles have already been published, most signed by Arab diplomats on mission to Brazil. The podcast has 130 episodes, currently released every two weeks. Recorded in Portuguese, its main focus is market insights, information, and talks with Brazilian exporters. Last year, ANBA also adapted its brand look, harmonizing it with the ABCC’s visual identity.
One of ANBA’s essential characteristics is publishing news that can generate business, presenting opportunities to Arabs in Brazil and Brazilians in the Arab world, from exports and imports to investments, cooperation, and services. “ANBA has an important role in presenting Arab brands in Brazil and Brazilian brands in Arab countries, bridging the cultural gap and sending the appropriate message to each market,” said Gomes.
Also on trade, the director sees the agency as a vital source of information about Arab countries and Brazil for those who want to do business. “Everyone knows you need content to talk to commercial players; it is not enough to talk about the product; you need to learn about the reality of the country, a little about sports, cuisine, and the history of other companies that have been successful in the region. ANBA is a tool for companies to prepare; it brings 360 degrees of information,” she said.
At the ABCC since 2021, Gomes talked about her relationship with ANBA early on in the agency’s activities when she worked as an executive in the international promotion of the Brazilian cosmetics industry. At that time, Brazilian companies started participating in a trade show in Dubai, and ANBA’s coverage helped spread the word about the sector. “Currently, I am a board member of the ABCC, which ANBA is part of. Life brought me here to a project that was part of my career and path. I have a lot of affection for the agency,” she said.
The agency’s next steps, in addition to the website redesign later this year, will include selling advertisements and sponsored content. Currently, these spaces are only used by ABCC partners and initiatives. “It is a new role becoming tangible; Arab and Brazilian companies will be able to use it as a strategy to build their brands in other markets,” said Gomes.
ANBA has 35% of its page views from outside Brazil, with Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Algeria at the first spots among the Arab countries accessing the website. ANBA has content-sharing agreements with ten news agencies in Arab countries and one in Brazil and uses these media outlets as sources of information about the reality of Arab countries. The agency’s journalism team won 11 awards.
Currently, it is made up of editor-in-chief Isaura Daniel and reporters Bruna Garcia and Marcos Carrieri. The English translators are Guilherme Miranda and Elúsio Brasileiro. ANBA is part of the Marketing & Content department of the ABCC, headed by Gomes. Omar Assi is ANBA’s journalist in Cairo, Egypt.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
