S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Brazilian business owner Wisam Osman is the son of a Lebanese father, does business with the Middle East and is now planning to open a store of Arab products in the city of Foz do Igua\u00e7u, Paran\u00e1, near the border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The entrepreneur plans to open his store in a duty-free zone set to open in the Brazilian city and expects it to be up and running next year.<\/p>\n
Osman believes that the Arab products will stand out among other traditional imported brand products. Born in Foz do Igua\u00e7u and with a good knowledge of trade in the border region, he says that tourists, who come to the city from many parts of the world, are interested in products related to the history of local immigration \u2013 Foz is famous for having a large Arab community.<\/p>\n
At the store, the business owner plans to offer perfumes, tobacco articles, wines, water pipes, apparel, handicraft, Arab music instruments and even food products, such as dates and pistachio. The idea is to sell the very best from each Arab country. Osman believes that the store will also be appealing to the Arab community in the region.<\/p>\n
The business owner is closely monitoring the local procedures for opening the duty free shop in Foz do Igua\u00e7u. In March, the Federal Revenue Service issued a regulatory framework for free trade zones in Brazilian cities that share a land border with cities in the neighboring country. There are nearly 30 cities in Brazil that fit this profile and will be able to set up free trade zones to sell products exempt of some taxes.<\/p>\n
Wisam Osman will open his new business as an already established name in the trade of imported products in Paraguay. In the country, he owns the well-known chain store Maced\u00f4nia<\/a>, which\u00a0sells many types of products imported from suppliers in Lebanon, Tunisia and the UAE. From Turkey, a non-Arab Middle East country, Maced\u00f4nia sells the cosmetics brand Flormar<\/a>.<\/p>\n As nearly all of Arab retailers, Osman operates in many trade fronts, and is negotiating exports of keratin from a Brazilian brand to Egypt. Egyptians contacted the business owner with the demand and he is planning to import products from the Arab country later on. He rather not reveal the name of the brand since negotiations are still ongoing.<\/p>\n Osman\u2019s family owns a trading company named T\u00eaxtil Osman, in Foz do Igua\u00e7u. Wisam Osman is the son of a Lebanese father from the Bekaa Valley. His mother was born in Colombia of Lebanese parents. They met in Lebanon but moved to Foz do Igua\u00e7u in the 1970s.<\/p>\n Wisam was born one year after his parents arrived in the city and he grew up around retail stores. His relatives were retailers and the family lived above the trading company. \u201cMy playground was the storage and the staff were my friends,\u201d he told ANBA, recalling also the coming and going of the trucks. His inclination to retail was just natural.<\/p>\n Due to his businesses, Osman attends many international trade expos and, thus, he made many contacts with Arab business owners. These contacts should facilitate the opening of the Arab store in Foz do Igua\u00e7u. He already visited Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.<\/p>\n Products from the Maced\u00f4nia stores were in exhibition last week at the Middle East Exhibition in the Festival das Cataratas<\/a>, in Foz do Igua\u00e7u. Promoters used products from Turkish brand Flormar to make up the visitors and perfumes from French brands produced in Arab countries were in exhibition. The Brazilian journalist L\u00fa Braga<\/a>, who lives in Lebanon, organized the space.<\/p>\n Contact info:<\/strong> Translated by S\u00e9rgio Kakitani <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nWebsite: www.macedonia.com.py
\nPhone: +595 61 500098
\nEmail: wisam@macedonia.com.py<\/p>\n