São Paulo – Walkmed has high hopes for the international market. The dermatological medical product company, which currently exports 10% of its production, wants to increase the rate to 50% as early as next year. Its current target countries include Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Portugal and Spain, where the company maintains a subsidiary. Aiming for international growth, the enterprise based in Santos, on the coast of the São Paulo state, is also targeting the Arab market.
“Our products may benefit people in all regions of the world,” says Alberto Cardoso de Gouveia, the CEO of Walkmed. “Besides, there is the weather issue, the region is very hot and that completely affects people’s skins. I am highly interested in finding a distributor or importer in the Arab world,” he says. Gouveia explains that Walkmed’s products are based on a molecule named polyhexanide, which has the ability to prevent infections. “It is biocompatible and may be used in skin lesions or lesions stemming from surgical processes,” says the executive, who has a background in industrial pharmaceutics.
After spending one year at the business incubator in Santos and establishing a partnership with a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the company obtained the funds it needed to grow. Presently, it boasts an average output of 14,000 items per month, including soaps, aqueous solutions, gels, skin protectors, among others. Product uses include asepsis of the hands and of female private parts, wound filling, and surgical incision site marking.
Walkmed has conquered customers such as the Brazilian Army, and it has sold to federal, state and municipal hospitals in several states of Brazil. According to Gouveia, the next step is to place its products at major drugstore chains. With regard to the foreign market, the main bet is a factory that the company has built in Uberlândia, in the state of Minas Gerais, which should enter into operation in early 2012.
The new plant, which should employ up to 25 people, will be turned solely to export products. “I am certain that my products will be successful overseas,” says Gouveia, adding that his formulas include Brazilian ingredients such as Copaíba, Murumuru, Buriti and Camomila. Currently, Walkmed’s products are made in two outsourced factories, one in the capital of São Paulo and another in Taquaritinga, in the interior of São Paulo.
Established in 1994, Walkmed has 17 direct employees and 45 indirect ones. The company posts average monthly revenues of around 230,000 reais (US$ 130,350 at current exchange rates).
Contact
Walkmed
Tel.: +55 13 3219-3658
Email: alberto@walkmed.com.br
Site: www.walkmed.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
