São Paulo – The trip of the Brazilian architect and businesswoman Ana Cristina de Souza Gomes to the United Arab Emirates last year resulted in good contacts and deals closed. Part of the flooring for the Messilah Beach Hotel, under construction on the coast of Kuwait, was manufactured by her company, Solarium Revestimentos, a maker of cement flooring and wall tiles. "It was our first time exporting to the Arab world," said the architect.
The negotiation was conducted by means of a partnership with British architecture firm Point of Design, which has a branch in Dubai. The flooring shipped to Kuwait is in the Basic line, one of the first to be developed by Solarium, and is characterised by thinner texture and smaller pores. Now, Ana Cristina is negotiating with one of the companies owned by the Dubai royal family. "The deal is in a quite advanced stage," said the architect, who has been in touch with the people in charge since last year.
According to Gomes, during her prospecting trip to the United Arab Emirates, she noticed that the local market has no cement tiles similar to the ones manufactured by the Brazilian company. This encouraged Solarium to continue investing in deals with the region. However, even though she has seen the potential of the Arab countries, Ana Cristina is concerned about the global crisis, especially in Dubai. "With this crisis, I do not see much of a buyer market, but we are going to keep on betting anyway," she added.
Solarium only started exporting recently, so much so that the company only established a foreign sales department last year. According to Ana Cristina, so far, shipments to other countries were made through the intermediation of architects who work for construction companies and large enterprises. In the case of sales to Angola, for instance, the tiles were shipped by Brazilian construction company Camargo Corrêa.
In spite of the crisis, Ana Cristina stated that the company is working to increase exports. South America, Central America and Africa are among the priority markets for the organisation, which has doubled its production capacity.
Sustainability
Established more than 10 years ago, Solarium always had the environment as one of its main concerns. Last year, the company inaugurated a green factory in the city of São Bernardo do Campo, in the Greater São Paulo area, that reuses water from washing machines, does not use electric or gas kilns and donates the material disposed during quality control to charity organisations.
Another of the company’s projects that focuses on sustainability is Projeto Pescar, which offers professional training courses to impoverished communities in the region of São Paulo. According to Ana Cristina, the course offered is for tile laying and is acknowledged by the Ministry of Education. The first classes began in February and the course lasts one year. "Employability is one of our commitments," said Ana Cristina.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
