From the Newsroom
São Paulo – The state of Santa Catarina, located in the south of Brazil, will have a Centre for Small Company Internationalisation. Establishment of the institute was made official on Saturday (03), by the Santa Catarina state Support Service to the Small Business (Sebrae) and by the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). According to information supplied by Agência Sebrae, the organization news agency, the objective is to assist small companies in the state to expand their participation in world trade.
The centre is going to operate from the head offices of the Sebrae, in Florianópolis, the state capital. Apart from providing consultancy and courses, professionals in foreign trade will help the entrepreneurs identify export opportunities. An estimated 800 companies in the furniture, flower and ornamental plant, garment, and software sectors will be assisted for a period of 18 months.
Investment will be US$ 6.4 million. Half of these funds will come from the Brazilian Sebrae and another 50% will come from the Santa Catarina Sebrae and from companies in the sectors involved. The objective, according to Santa Catarina Sebrae regional and sector project manager Marcondes da Silva Cândido, is that, by the end of the project, at least 50 companies from each sector should be exporting.
The centre professionals should, for example, help businessmen in the area of flowers and ornamental plants to adapt to the North American market, which makes a series of demands in the sanitary and technical area. The accord was signed during the Entrepreneur Fair in Florianópolis.
