São Paulo – Saudis are interested in interchange with new business owners in Brazil, particularly innovative startups in state-of-the-art industries such as gaming. A delegation consisting of Saudi young entrepreneurs led by the Arab country’s Social Development Bank has been in Brazil since late last week and was welcomed in the headquarters of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) in São Paulo on Monday (10).
The group’s interest in Brazil is broad-based, but partnerships in more disruptive business were the most mentioned during the meeting at the ABCC. The gathering was attended by professionals of the bank and entrepreneurs, who expressed interest in cooperating in gaming, movies, events, technology, leadership, startups, and more traditional industries like coffee and dates.
Saeed Alzahrani, Advisor to the CEO and General Supervisor of the Empowerment and Development Sector at the Social Development Bank, told ANBA his institution aims to support new entrepreneurs from diverse fields like craft, trade, freelance, industry, agriculture, and electronics through training and funding.
The mission to Brazil aims to share experiences with local companies, strike interchange and trade agreements, lure Brazilian businesses to Saudi Arabia, and bring Saudi companies to Brazil. The trip also works toward fostering Brazil-Saudi trade through companies of all sizes in industries as varied as coffee and poultry.
Alzahrani spoke of the interchange that has been initiated with gaming firms from Brazil, adding that Brazilian entrepreneurs from this industry will visit Saudi Arabia in July to discuss collaboration and make agreements. The Arab country has a strategy to become an electronic games hub by 2030 as part of its Vision 2030 plan to diversify economic activities.
The group of young people from Saudi Arabia has appointments in São Paulo, then travels to Goiás for attending the G20 YEA Summit, a G20 event on innovation for young entrepreneurs. FIVE, an event in Goiás on finance, investment, value and entrepreneurship, is held alongside it from June 12 to 14. The Saudi business mission will then move on to Florianópolis, Santa Catarina state, where the program wraps up.
Brazil-Arab interchange
ABCC CEO & secretary-general Tamer Mansour and institutional relations director Fernanda Baltazar welcomed the Saudis, alongside young professionals in IT, marketing, international projects, and certification. The possibility of a collaboration between the group and the ABCC was discussed during the meeting.
Mansour presented to the Saudis the current level of Brazil-Saudi trade, as well as the ABCC’s activities, including the CCAB Lab, its innovation laboratory aimed at fostering interchanges and business opportunities for startups from Brazil and the Arab countries alike. Mansour also spoked about Ellos, the ABCC’s platform that has digitalized Brazil-Arab customs clearance.
Read more:
Brazilian startups find promising environment in the Gulf
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
