{"id":214443,"date":"2019-05-24T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T10:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=214443"},"modified":"2019-06-30T18:35:39","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T21:35:39","slug":"the-brazilian-who-brings-acai-to-kuwait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/the-brazilian-who-brings-acai-to-kuwait\/","title":{"rendered":"The Brazilian who brings a\u00e7a\u00ed to Kuwait"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 An unlikely encounter between a Brazilian and a Kuwaiti in Madrid turned out to be a business success case. Marcelo Gurgel Prado and Sabah Al-Sabah (pictured above)<\/em> met while doing their MBA studies in 2009 in Spain, and three years later founded the trading company Brazfoods<\/a>, which exports a\u00e7a\u00ed to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.<\/p>\n

During a vacation, Sabah went to Rio de Janeiro for the New Year\u2019s Eve and fell in love with the Brazilian culture. Prado tells that the idea came about after this visit. His Arab friend told him that Kuwait had to learn more about Brazil and wanted to bring a Brazilian product to his country.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Brazfoods exports frozen a\u00e7a\u00ed in three sizes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prado and Sabah became partners and founded Braz Foods in 2012. Since then, the trading company frozen a\u00e7a\u00ed for consumption in three versions: a\u00e7a\u00ed with guarana, a\u00e7a\u00ed with strawberry, and a\u00e7a\u00ed with banana, in three different sizes, 250 grams, 500 grams, and 3.6 kilograms. Its private label is called \u201cA\u00e7a\u00ed Brazil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the Amazon\u2019s fruit, the company exports sorbets made from other Brazilian North fruits such as tapereb\u00e1, graviola, mango, and Brazilian nuts, but in a much lower volume. \u201cThe other fruits don\u2019t sell that much because of the high competition against countries such as Thailand and India that sell the same products at much lower prices, as they are closer to the Middle East,\u201d Prado explained to ANBA in a phone interview from Madrid, where he lives. A\u00e7a\u00ed, however, doesn\u2019t have much competition in the Arab country, said the director, since it is a typically Brazilian product.<\/p>\n

According to Prado, a 20-ton container of the product is exported to Kuwait every three months to serve supermarkets and juice shops around Kuwait City. Part of it is transported by refrigerated trucks to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and other part goes to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sabah with a client at Brazfoods\u2019 stand in Gulfood trade show in Dubai in 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are talking with other trading companies and want to expand business to Qatar and Oman, and we\u2019d also like to prospect North Africa, especially Egypt,\u201d told Prado. According to the director, Qatar is a major challenge because of Saudi Arabian economic embargo on that country, which is in force since mid-2017. \u201cWe\u2019d have to send products by plane, which would make the final product much pricier, but we are analyzing it and intend to close a deal with them before the 2022 World Cup,\u201d he reported.<\/p>\n

The raw material comes from Bel\u00e9m while the final product is manufactured in Rio de Janeiro and shipped through the Rio Port. The ship takes around 60 days to get to Kuwait, and all the products are halal-certified, which means they are fit for Muslim consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cI visit Kuwait every fourth months or so and I love that region, their culture,\u201d said Prado. \u201cSince they are Muslims and don\u2019t consume alcohol, the social gatherings are usually in coffee or juice shops, and because of the hot weather, a\u00e7a\u00ed is a great option and is becoming very popular,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sabah has already brought the brand to Gulfood, the main food industry show in the Middle East, that occurs every year in Dubai.<\/p>\n

In addition to Brazfoods, Prado also works at a Spanish trading company that exports products like olive oil, olives, jam\u00f3n (Spanish cured ham), and wine to Brazil, and sells Spanish olive oil and olives to Kuwait. In addition to the trading company, Sabah owns a construction company in Kuwait.<\/p>\n

Contact Info<\/strong><\/p>\n

Braz Foods
\nMarcelo Gurgel Prado
\n(+34) 600 633 195
\nmarcelo.gurgel@brazfoods.com
\nbrazfoods.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Press Release<\/div>\n
Press Release<\/div>\n
Press Release<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marcelo Prado is a partner-director at the trading company Braz Foods together with Kuwaiti businessman Sabah Al-Sabah. For seven years, they have exported a\u00e7a\u00ed and other sorbets made of Northern Brazil fruits to the Arab country and wants to expand business to the Middle East and North Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2305,"featured_media":214426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[4984,28238,3242,1765,8730,2540,8733,8731,3561,8732],"class_list":{"0":"post-214443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business-opportunities","8":"tag-acai","9":"tag-acai-en-2","10":"tag-amazonia","11":"tag-belem","12":"tag-brazfoods","13":"tag-fruits","14":"tag-marcelo-gurgel-prado","15":"tag-marcelo-prado","16":"tag-rio-de-janeiro","17":"tag-sabah-al-sabah"},"wps_subtitle":"Marcelo Prado is a partner-director at the trading company Braz Foods together with Kuwaiti businessman Sabah Al-Sabah. For seven years, they have exported a\u00e7a\u00ed and other sorbets made of Northern Brazil fruits to the Arab country and wants to expand business to the Middle East and North Africa.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}