São Paulo – Engineer Marcelo Condé, the owner of Spring Wireless, develops the software that integrates the client’s systems, supplies the handheld computers, does the maintenance and also negotiates internet traffic packages with mobile telephony operators. The wireless technology solutions developed by the company are used by 70,000 people in over 20 countries.
The first Spring clients abroad came in 2005, in Chile. In the five following years, came opportunities in several countries in Latin America, Europe and the United States. Spring Wireless provides services to large companies like AB Inbev, AES Eletropaulo, Santander Bank, BSH Bosch, Cadbury Adams, CET, Cisco, Citibank, Coca-Cola, DANE, Henkel, Itaú, Kimberly Clark, Kraft Foods, L´Oreal, Mc Donald’s, Merck, Motorola, Nestlé, Nivea, Oi, Pepsico, P&G, Sanofi Aventis, Saralee, ThyssenKrupp, Unilever, Visa and Whirpool.
The company does not have clients in Arab countries but considers the market one with great potential for its products and services. "In fact, we have already had some meetings in the Arab countries, aimed mainly at the offer of solutions and services for the financial market – mobile banking and payment (a service that permits financial transactions on mobile terminals, especially mobile phones and i-Phones)," said the engineer.
The main product made by the company is software that allows corporate applications to be accessed from palmtops and mobile phones. They are used by salesmen who need to place orders at points of sale and send them to drivers who have delivery routes and receive updates regularly on smart phones. They can also be used by bank managers to open bank accounts from outside the branch, using a portable device.
Marcelo Condé is a mechatronic engineer graduated from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo and with an MBA from Harvard Business School, in Boston. He started his career as a business consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton and later had the same post at GP Investimentos. In the Untied States, while getting his MBA, he worked in the merger and acquisition department at Goldman Sachs.
He established Spring Wireless in 2001, the same year he returned to Brazil. At the time, according to Condé, few people believed in the company, brainchild of an engineer with a career in banking, who had never worked in technology and wanted to invest in mobility. The answer came with figures. In the first year in operation with funds collected from Softbank, Spring got close to revenues of US$ 500,000. Currently, the company has over 600 collaborators at offices installed in 15 countries. Last year the company had revenues of US$ 93 million.
Contact
Site: www.springwireless.com
Telephone: (+55 11) 3472.7000
*Translated by Mark Ament
