This Monday (25) in your ANBA Bulletin: Manaus, Brazil-based cosmetics, phytomedicine and functional foods startup Biozer just got its halal certification and plans shipping products to the Arab world. The certificate ensures that the items are fit for consumption by Muslims. The company manufactures oils and other natural and vegan items based on Amazon products. The intended market is Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “We’re aware that you need a great product to get into Dubai. That’s why we got our halal certificate. We want people to use the products the same way the caboclos and Indians use the forest,” said operations director Domingos Amaral Neto (pictured, on the right). Biozer is in the process of becoming an Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce member company to help with sales to the Middle East. Check out the full story by Bruna Garcia.

And the story of the Lebanese descendant Bichara family. Tuffi, his wife Marcia and their son Mateus run the lodge-cum-farm Cafezal em Flor in Monte Alegre do Sul, São Paulo and pioneered the agritourism in the state. Besides enjoying their stay in the countryside, visitors may immerse themselves in the coffee production. The state produces and sells special beans. Last week, the three of them were invited to speak at the International Coffee Week in Belo Horizonte about the business opportunities in coffee farms as a new feature for tourists. “Visitors are present with their bodies. They feel the warmth, the scents… It moves people,” Marcia noted to our reporter Thais Sousa.

And the post about Saudi Arabia by Alexandre Rocha on our Blog. The increase of the women’s participation in the labor force is a clear sign of the change process taking place in the country, so is the bloom of leisure and entertainment events in public spaces. The journalist has been there several times since 2008 and talks about the changes he noted in his last visit in late October.