Real Estate Development in Northeast Brazil: Marroquim Engenharia

Interview with Mário Marroquim, Director of Marroquim Engenharia

What are the fields of expertise of Marroquim Engenharia and how is Marroquim different from other companies in this sector?

Our company deals with setting up businesses, particularly the administration and management aspects. We work with investors who want to take on a project and we make it profitable, it could be a residential or an office building for example. We work day to day with the investors focusing on developing their business and maximising revenue and value for our clients. Currently a large proportion of the investors in Alagoas and in Pará are coming to Marroquim Engenharia to manage their businesses.

So there are many types of investors, companies and investment funds.

Yes, here we work with small, local investors. Each individual investor is brought together and we create a mini fund to manage the undertaking of the business. My challenge is to go from dealing with many small investors to dealing with one important investor who can give speed to our business with larger revenues and larger projects. I am looking for opportunities to work with international investors.

Why should an investor choose Marroquim Engenharia and not another company?

We are specialised in project management. The most difficult part of taking on a business can not only be producing your product but it can be the execution and management side of the business including the logistics, organising the workforce etc. Our company specialises in managing this side of the project. We identify good investment opportunities, which tend to be in the property market, although we have now expanded into resorts, golf courses and even infrastructure. Then we look for potential investors. We normally bring a group of investors rather than just one investor. We have all the experience and skills for the management processes of setting up the investment or business which investors don’t tend to enjoy doing themselves and so they come to us.

Do you have concrete examples of projects that have been completed?

After 12 years since our company began, we have entered in the ITC Ranking as one of the 100 largest construction companies due to the volume of business we now deal with. We facilitate investors to make profit in the property markets. We have investors here in Alagoas. We have at least 5 business ventures here, it is a great volume of business. These investments are more expensive and so give larger revenues. We are not working in retail, civil construction or financial products. Our products normally cost 30% less than others on the market. Therefore our investors are able to have a 30 or 40% immediate profit over the market value. I give the investors the opportunity to maximise their profits.

What does Marroquim Engenharia do in Alagoas and in Pará? What do these states have to offer for potential investors compared to other states in Brazil?

Alagoas is blessed with varied natural beauty and has been voted one of the most beautiful states in Brazil. This obviously attracts tourism and tourism attracts foreign and local investors. The tourism sector brings with it a whole chain of investment in civil construction, in hotels etc. However, it’s a small industry for now, it is limited and so we felt the need to expand. Frontiers are small nowadays, it is easy to expand.

Our Commercial Director, my brother, has worked for many years in the telecom sector for multinational companies, he is very qualified and he has helped us move to Belém. Belém is a city that is similar in climate to Maceió and it has a very strong economic potential. It has great demand for real estate. In Belém, an investment group can finish in 2 or 3 days 60 apartments for a commercial residential venture. This is where you can really see the force of the investment potential and the revenue that can be generated. As it is a very big state covered by large areas of forest, the cities are small, so many farmers invest in the cities and the capital. The GDP of Belém is very high. The speed of doing business in Belém is really fast and not only in Belém but also in Marabá which has 250,000 inhabitants and a great potential with a recent discovery of mineral deposits. The federal government is looking to bring foreign investment into this city. We also recognise it as having a huge investment potential.

What are the future plans and projects over the next few years for Marroquim Engenharia?

We hope to open in 3 more states over the next 5 years and consolidate the states we already operate in. We hope to expand the businesses we deal with. We are branching out from the property market to develop businesses that generate income for the region in terms of our social responsibility to help the state. We will be working with the hotel sector, helping to bring in foreign investors and tourism as we believe tourism will be a great driver of the state’s economy and development. We want to support investments into condominiums and resorts for example. We are restructuring to be able to do this and over the next 5 years we want to be in 4 states. Our company likes to take on challenges.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I think that the social responsibility aspect is interesting and worth talking about. Our company is concerned about the environmental and social impact that our investments have. We won a national prize from the PSQT, the SESI (Social Service of Industry) prize. The prize recognises industries for their management and their social responsibility practices. We were honoured and we are always concerned with making improvements in terms of energy use, our environmental impact etc.; this is part of our mission. We want our business to be profitable but sustainable.