CCFB: Promoting Trading Partnerships Between France and Brazil

Interview with Benoit d’Iribarne, President of CCFB SP (Sao Paulo French-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce)

Could you please give us your evaluation of the Brazilian economy?

Brazil is a great country for its size, its history, its people and its good football team. It is a great country and has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, but it is also a complicated country. Because Brazil is a large country, there are many different areas in the country.

I think it is also because there is a great variety of people from the north to the south which makes the country complicated. Maybe because of this complication and the way the political system is designed, it’s a country that doesn’t move at the speed at which an American investor would like to see. But at the end of the day, I believe that Brazil has great potential and I think step by step it is taking advantage of its potential. We are optimistic about the future of the country.

In the industrial sector, what is the outlook for Brazil in 2014?

We work in various sectors, including industry, construction and services. Industry is not the easiest sector in Brazil because I think Brazil used to be a country that was very closed and I think today it is more open to the outside world. If you look at the cost of production in Brazil, it used to be very reasonable, but with inflation and currency devaluation, today it is a country that has to face some strong challenges from importation.

On the other hand, if you look over the recent past, the currency has devaluated a little bit and some efforts have started to grasp the costs of the country. Even though if you look at the economy on the industrial side, I think it has been more or less stable since 2007. It did not have any growth in 2007. I believe in the years and months to come, we may enjoy a small amount of growth in this area. But this is not the only part of the country. We all know the greater strength of the country is perhaps agriculture, services and construction. I think in those sectors, the potential for growth in the years to come is very big.

So you are not pessimistic about things?

No, I think maybe people used to be overly optimistic about Brazil and some of the British newspapers are overly pessimistic at the moment. I think the reality is somewhere in between. We need to have a reasonable optimism. I believe Brazil can grow by 3 or 4% for many years if it solves some of its small internal issues which need to be improved.

Could you tell us about the French-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and its main sectors, highlighting industrial markets?

France and Brazil have been partners for a long time; if you look at trade between France and Brazil, it is slightly above 10 billion US$ per year, which I think makes it Brazil’s 5th largest trading partner. Obviously the Chamber of Commerce is an important association which is really trying to promote business between France and Brazil, to promote exchange, and to promote the investment of France in Brazil. In order to do that, this association has two main objectives. To promote the business first of all, it has to offer some good services to its members. We have different services such as help for human resources, finance, fiscal issues and commercial development.

It is also an opportunity to do a lot of interesting networking with both other businesses and the Brazilian authorities. I think it’s a bit like a club and in order to facilitate this, the French-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce organizes many events every year. I believe there were 214 events organized last year, all promoting the exchange between members and the different authorities. We also have some important events like the Innovation and Technology forum where we have authorities from the two countries. We had participation of important people from Brazil, such as the Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Tombini. We had the Minister of Civil Cabinet, Mrs. Gleisi Hoffman. We had some important economists and CEOs from French and Brazilian companies. I think these kinds of meetings are an opportunity to exchange information and do important networking for the people.

In association with the Assembly of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the French–Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in Sao Paulo organizes a project called “Cap Brésil” that promotes knowledge transfer and training on the Brazilian market for representatives of different French regions, who are our interface with SMEs all over France. Meetings and private round-tables are set up between Brazilian actors and those representatives in order to provide them with a full overview of our market so they can gather all this information and pass it forward to French companies willing to open a business in Brazil.

What are your long-term goals at the Chamber of Commerce?

At the Chamber of Commerce, we need to have a stronger presence all over Brazil. Today the Chamber of Commerce is really strong in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Paraná, but Brazil is a big country so I would be happy if the Chamber of Commerce could be spread out all over the country. Anything that the Chamber of Commerce can do to help its members is good. The goal of the Chamber of Commerce is to be more efficient and help its members have more success. Everything that we can do to develop more focus surveys and to be more modern in terms of using all the digital tools that we are trying to use as a Chamber of Commerce, we would be very happy if we can do that over the coming years.

Do you have any other message to add?

I would like to thank you for the opportunity. I really think that Brazil is a land of opportunity but you cannot go there alone. It is important to get some local support. It could be having a partner or using the Chamber of Commerce to help you. With its size and the fact that it’s a complicated country with all its opportunities, it requires some understanding and some patience to be successful.

I imagine many people think Brazil is a land of wonders and it can be disappointing because they may come and face some big hurdles.

Yes, because of its complexity, some of the things may take more time than you would like. You may face some difficulties as an expat. You may face some bureaucracy. But I think that all of that is part of Brazilian life and the Brazilian people are used to it and used to solving these problems and going around them. So if you come here as a foreigner, you may find some difficulties that you don’t expect and you may not have all the tools to tackle those difficulties. I think it’s important to come here with a good idea and understand there is a potential but I would strongly recommend that you get into a network of people who can help you.

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