Industry in Espírito Santo Growing 23 Times More Than National Industry

Interview with Marcos Guerra, President of Espirito Santo’s Federation of Industry (Sistema Findes)

What is the role of Sistema Findes? What is its history and what is its differential?

Sistema Findes was founded more than 50 years ago. Several associations are part of it. Among them, the SENAI, SESI, the Rota Imperial Institue and more than 30 trade unions. It is important to say that we are present in all the 78 cities of Espírito santo. Volunteers, from the President to the Counsel Members, manage this institution. These are very competent people, it is a private institution, but we still have the same responsibilities as the public institutions, which means that we have to respond to all the public control institutions, therefore all the members will be held accountable for their actions.

Is the institution different from the institutions existing in the other States?

We have a project to bring the workers to the institution, we try to contact them directly to show all the advantages offered. The institutions from other States are interested and try to copy the project. We don’t want to stay in power forever. I mean that we want the new members to be a part of the institution and therefore we are always training new people to manage Sistema Findes. For the institution, new leaderships are very important and we are searching for people to be a part of our team. As we are a private institution, we can work independently, however we are always talking to the government in order to find solutions for the industry in Espírito Santo. We have a strong economy and more than 50% of our production goes to the international market.

The mining industry plays a very important role in our economy, last year it represented 29.6% of our GDP. Because of it, we have a small number of companies, but they are a very important part of our economy. We have to be careful and protect the small companies, as they are the ones that are employing the largest number of workers.

Since I was appointed President, I tried to identify each part of the industries and “split” it into different sectors. With the industries separated in sectors, it is possible to help each sector individually. What i wanted to do was to give special attention to the sectors when they had problems. The world economy is in crisis and we have to be aware of the problems of our industries to help them and keep the country growing. In Espírito Santo we are doing that, we are always in contact with the industries and the workers.

How important is the industry for the economy in Espírito Santo?

The industry is important, 34.5% of the GDP specifically comes from industries. If we add the tourism, it will be around 42% of the GDP. The industries are producing for the tourists as well as to the population.

In your opinion, which sectors will grow in the next years and which ones will not be able to grow?

I think that the logistics sector will play an important role in the future. Espírito Santo is near the main States of Brazil and therefore the products can reach the other States easily.

The mining industry will keep growing. We have the second largest oil reserves in Espírito Santo and in the north; there is a big quantity of granite. 73% of the marble and granite exportation in Brazil is from Espírito Santo, so the mining industry is important for the economy.

We try to help industries with problem. 80% of the companies are from Espírito Santo. We use everything we have to help our industries, with the government as our partner, we can make the industries grow and if we know the sectors that are having problems, and we can help them.

Innovation is the key, we are creating the Innovation Institute because there are many cheap imported products in the country and our industries need to deliver quality and good price.

We are working with our government because tax cuts are necessary in some sectors, with it they can invest in the quality of the products. To create products with quality you need many things, but above all you need investments, you need to create a brand and offer it to the market.

Can you tell us the names of big companies that are currently in Espírito Santo?

The international market plays an important role in our economy. We have several companies that came to Espírito Santo and today are big brands. We have: Aracruz Celulose, Vale do Rio Doce, Garoto, Samarco Mineração, and Petrobras. These are important companies in Espírito Santo. Petrobras has a project to invest a billion in our State.

What would you tell investors interested in coming to Espírito Santo? How can Sistema Findes help these investors?

We are in contact with investors and we are the main channel for the industries when they need the government. Espírito Santo has an excellent infrastructure with ports and roads and the state is near the main markets in Brazil. We have laws to protect the investors and their investments; therefore investing in the State is safe.

Espírito Santo is growing above average, 4 times more than the national average. Last year the Brazilian GDP was 2.7% while our GDP was 9.2%. The numbers show that Espírito Santo is really growing and has a strong economy.

Just last year, the industry in Espírito Santo grew 23 times more than the national industry. There are big companies in the State, but together with the government, we are giving the conditions for the industry to grow.

I recently went to Singapore to meet a company, they will build their first dockyard out of their country, and it will be a 500 millions investment and it will be important for the economy of our State. They will build the dockyard in a city called Aracruz and besides that, we have several other projects with international investors.

One of the problems we have to fight against is the fact that, before, the government didn’t show the State to the investors. Therefore, they didn’t come here, because they didn’t know what the State had to offer. It was the same with tourism, the tourists didn’t know what they would find here, but now we are changing it and contacting the tourists and the investors.

The government is investing 17-18% of everything the State receives. In 2015, we will have around 98 billions of investments in Espírito Santo, these numbers are above average when compared with the other States. We will keep working and will keep growing above average.

Another important aspect is the fact that we are always preparing our population to take part and work with the big projects in Espírito Santo. Usually when you have a big project, many people from other parts will come to work with the project. When the project ends these people, will stay and will have problems to find other jobs, which creates slums. With the help of the other institutions, we are offering courses and preparing the people to work with the projects in Espírito Santo.

The tourism industry is very important for Espírito Santo, we have lovely beaches and in winter in 45 minutes, you can go to our mountains to take advantage of our excellent hotels. Espírito Santo is a good place for tourists, we have the necessary structure to receive the tourists and can offer them quality. We just need to keep working and show the world what we have to offer.

Do you have an internationalization strategy? How are you working to show the State?

We need to show all the good things the tourists and the investors will find in Espírito Santo. Our role, together with the government, is to prepare the state to receive the tourists and the investors, but we need to do more than that. We need to search for the investors, we need to contact the right investors and bring them to our State. When we went to Rotterdam and Singapore we went to contact directly the investors that we wanted to bring to Espírito Santo. As we identified our strengths, we could contact the right investors.

For instance, the oil industry plays a very important role in Espírito Santo, therefore we contacted a company from Singapore to build a dockyard in the state. Petrobras will be their main client, which means that they will work with a Brazilian company and will bring technology to Espírito Santo. The idea is to have the whole production cycle working together and keep the State growing. We have many things to offer the investors, knowing that we can contact and select the investors to work with the State and create a partnership with these companies. We have several programs in Espírito Santo and we have the national government, which is offering conditions for the economy to grow. These programs were designed to help the industries and our aim is to attract companies interested in taking advantage of all the things we have here.