São Paulo – Hores Representation of Companies, a trading company based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, will meet with 33 Brazilian companies during the business matchmaking rounds at the 16th International Business Meeting of the Northeast (Einne), in Salvador, Bahia. Organized by the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), the event will run from October 23 to 25, attended by 82 buyers from 31 countries, who will meet with 230 businessmen from the nine states in northeast Brazil.
The meeting targets micro and small businesses. The Hores representative is coming to Brazil looking for various items, such as nuts, meat, fisheries, professional attire, cosmetics, beauty products, natural products, healthcare products, lighting fixtures, bed, bath and linen items, embroidery, furniture, decoration items, kitchen products, marble and granite, plastic, and oil and gas industry equipment.
“They have already attended the 2011 International Business Meeting in Maceió. At that event we spotted the company as a good buyer,” says Cristiane Mota, Einne manager and Market Access and Financial Services Access analyst at Sebrae-Bahia. According to Mota, last year, the items on most demand from Arabs were foodstuffs, such as sugar and maize-based products, and civil construction products. The company was also looking for technology transfer arrangements with Brazilian companies.
She says distance and language are still limiting factors when it comes to relations between Arab and Brazilian companies. “The most importers we will have at the event are from Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa, such as Angola and Cape Verde, and also from south America,” she says. The meeting kicks off on the 23rd with a seminar for Brazilian companies, and the matchmaking rounds with importing companies will take place on the 24th and 25th.
Aside from the Emirati trading company, attendance has been confirmed by importers from Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Canada, United States, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Cape Verde, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay.
Internationalization
According to the Einne manager, large northeast Brazilian companies concentrate exports. The degree of internationalization of small businesses varies greatly, according to Mota. “We have companies at an advanced stage of internationalization, which are not only exporting, but also preparing to compete against foreign companies which are getting set to operate in Brazil, but we also have companies which are only beginning to export,” she says.
The Einne selects companies with exporting potential for the matchmaking rounds and coaches them to take part in them and in the international market. Mota explains that the focus is on preparing these companies so they may be competitive domestically at first, so then they can get a share of the foreign market.
The Einne organizers are forecasting the rounds in Salvador will generate R$ 600,000 worth of business already during the event itself, and R$ 35 million in future deals. The preceding edition, held in Olinda, Pernambuco, generated R$ 307,000 worth of immediate deals.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
