São Paulo – P3D, a producer of software for three-dimensional simulation for primary and secondary school, headquartered in the city of São Paulo, is negotiating its first exports to the Arab market. Sales, already in an advanced stage of negotiations, should be closed with distributors from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Contact was made during participation in the Meetes technology and education fair, which took place in Jeddah, the main economic hub in Saudi Arabia, in March. "It was our first fair in the Arab market and we have already had an excellent result," said Mervyn Lowe, the founder and owner of the company.
According to Lowe, when P3D was established, five years ago, Brazil still had little technology in the classroom. "Our technological proposal was daring and revolutionary. As soon as we launched the product at Educar fair (in São Paulo) we attracted the attention of international exhibitors," said the businessman. In the same year, 2004, Lowe visited NECC, an annual fair turned to the use of computers in education, in Boston, on the East Coast of the United States. Since then, he has started focussing mainly on the foreign market.
"We noticed that we had an innovative product, made in Brazil. Our software is a 3D model for information and interactive use that makes a skeleton turn, allows observation of a map with elevations and mountains, or even the possibility of drawing or writing on an image," explained the businessman. According to him, the software also serves to boost the use of electronic whiteboards, "still a luxury and adopted by just 10% of the world," he said.
Nowadays, the software, which is focussed on science, biology, geography and chemistry, is produced in nine different states and is already present in schools in 20 countries like Chile, the Untied States, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Turkey, India, Colombia and Australia. "We are now preparing the version in Arabic," he said.
Sales are normally through distributors. In some cases, though, deals are closed directly with the school. "In Australia, for example, we always sell directly to schools. Only now will we be in contact with a distributor," he said.
P3D has revenues of between 2 million Brazilian reals (US$ 1 million) and 3 million reals (US$ 1.5 million) for example, being 50% the result of exports. The company, which has grown on average 50% a year, should grow around 30% in 2009. "We have identified a fantastic possibility of domestic and foreign growth," pointed out Lowe.
Contact
Site: www.p3d.com.br
Telephone: (+55 11) 5505-0556
*Translated by Mark Ament
