Investors from Brazil and Portugal are negotiating partnerships for industrial projects in the textile, fruit and chocolate sectors, which could move forward this year, Marco Lessa, known as the Brazilian chocolate entrepreneur, told Lusa.
Marco Lessa leads a group of entrepreneurs and entities that seek to promote rapprochement between investors from Brazil and Portugal and explains that the objective “is to create bridges, with a differential, at the speed of the private sector”.
This work was already being done by the public sector, through the promotion agencies of the two countries, only without the speed and “pragmatism” of the private ones, he said.
“The leadership and initiative is mine, as CEO of the M21 group, but in an articulation with agents from the third sector, non-governmental organizations, cooperatives, associations and government agents, from the states and the federal Government itself” of Brazil, he assumed.
The Brazilian group M21, which began as a communication and marketing company, of which Marco Lessa is executive president and co-owner, creates innovative events and projects, one of the best known being the Chocolate Festival da Baía, which is already going on 34.Th edition, two of which were held in the north of Portugal by the entrepreneur, who is already preparing the third Portuguese edition of the event for October this year, in Vila Nova de Gaia.
Today, the group is also already in the chocolate industry and product trade.
In an interview with Lusa, a year after Lula da Silva took office as president of Brazil and political and economic relations between the two countries have intensified, Marco Lessa said that with regard to luso-Brazilian relations he has a motto: “Portugal can leave Brazil better and Brazil can leave Portugal greater”.
Therefore, in addition to the two editions of the Chocolate Festival in Portugal, the entrepreneur created in October last year, also in Vila Nova de Gaia, Casa Brasiliana, a business hub between Brazilian brands and products and the rest of the world, a project that he hopes to consolidate this year.
“Today there are already about 30 brands of Brazilian products in Casa Brasiliana, but it is obvious that our intention is to expand and reach the end of 2024 with more than 100 products exposed and for sale in the most diverse segments,” he announced.
The objective is that “there are more Brazilian investments in Portugal and more Portuguese investments in Brazil, more ‘joint-ventures'”, that is, to move from the trade and export of Brazilian products from Portugal, to a complementary process of industrialization that adds value, said the businessman.
As an example, the businessman pointed to the Cotton of Brazil, especially that of Bahia, with a long thread of “exceptional quality”, but which still does not have a reputation like that of Peru or Egypt in international markets.
Now, ” if Portugal has a tradition in the textile sector, why not make an approximation of these two sectors and have an investment in a Portugal-Brazil operation, making a first stage of manufacturing this cotton, which arrives to transform into fabric here, from factories that already exist, mainly in the north, or from a partnership between the two countries. The same goes for fruit, ” he said.
In addition to negotiations between Portuguese and Brazilian investors for a project in that area, Marco Lessa guarantees that there are also talks for a project to transform tropical fruits into juices. The same can be done for cocoa. “It’s bringing the cocoa when it’s processed,” he said.
“There are countless possibilities”, so that the relationship is not “so predatory” in the sense that Brazil is only the supplier of raw materials, and Portugal and Europe also invest in raw materials, creating a first stage of manufacturing or even complete industrialization, but it can also be divided into two stages by tax facilities”, he said.
On the other hand, the businessman recalled the “numerous investments by Portuguese groups in the tourism sector in Brazil” and the “incredible potential for expansion” that still exists in the country for hotel groups from the Iberian Peninsula, and, in particular, from Portugal, which should also be taken advantage of.
Thus, in 2024, there will be “a process of conversation of sectors such as textiles, fruits and cocoa, because there are already Brazilian entrepreneurs expressing interest,” he said.
In addition, Marco will hold in Portugal, in April, a fair of Brazilian products, the “Brazil origins week”.