• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Street Smart Brazil

We teach smart Portuguese

  • Contact
  • My Account
  • Cart
  • Policies
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Speak Portuguese With Ease
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop for Lessons
  • Starter Kit
  • Translation/Interpretation
  • Testimonials
  • Resources
  • Blog
Doing Business with Brazil: Why Is Network So Important?

Doing Business with Brazil: Why Is Network So Important?

posted on March 18, 2015

Doing Business with Brazil: Why Is Network So Important?

Brazil has been getting a lot of attention from the international business community. This is no surprise, given the size and continued growth of its economy, the abundant natural resources, thriving tourism, and two major world sports events (the World Cup 2014 and the Summer Olympics 2016) – which have spurred huge improvements to infrastructure.

It all adds up to one inescapable conclusion: Brazil is THE place to be if you want to grow your business internationally.

The proof is in the numbers: the number of new businesses registered in Brazil grew from 680,881 in 2009 to 1,370,460 in 2010.

The challenges of doing business with Brazil

Unfortunately, international companies cannot expect to simply “open up shop” in Brazil and encounter no difficulties – success requires doing your homework.

The first problem is geography: Brazil is a huge country, with 26 states and 5 regions. The language – Portuguese – is one of the few things the whole country has in common. There are unique differences between each region, and even each state – differences in everything from culture to tax systems.

Speaking of Portuguese – that brings us to the second problem: very few people – estimates are about 5% – in Brazil speak English fluently.

The third problem revolves around legislation: bureaucracy, the complex (and high) tax system – including import duty and taxes – and the complex labor laws.

The final issue is culture: the Brazilian business culture is very unique and requires adaptation, as we covered in a previous blog post.

How to network in Brazil

All these challenges can be overcome if you do one thing: build a good business network in Brazil! But… how do you do that?

1. Learn Portuguese

First thing to do in order to ensure success is: learn Portuguese! It’s a beautiful language and, in relative terms (e.g., compared to Mandarin or Arabic or Russian) not that hard to learn.

By learning Portuguese it will be much, much easier to overcome all the challenges above: you’ll understand the glue that holds Brazil, will be able to communicate with virtually everybody in the country, will be able to better understand the legislation (without needing an invariably flawed translation) and will learn the culture as you learn the language.

2. Go out and mingle

Go to industry events within your business area. Attend every event you can and bring plenty of business cards.

This is particularly important in your early stages of learning Portuguese: you’re much more likely to find English-speaking Brazilians in IT industry events, and being in an environment where both languages are spoken will help you learn and practice it in an environment that is more familiar and ultimately less stressful. Having said that – do make sure you have basic Portuguese nailed down by the time you come to a tradeshow in Brazil, otherwise you will be pretty lost.

3. Make friends in Brazil!

Brazilians don’t really separate business and personal relationships. Your strongest, most fruitful business relationships in Brazil will be with people you can call your friends (“amigos”).

If you follow these tips, not only you’ll be sure to succeed in Brazil, your whole business will benefit.

So, what are you waiting for? Book a Trial Session to see how we can help you speak great Portuguese and navigate the Brazilian culture with ease.

Related Posts:

  • One-minute Portuguese Lesson [Video]: Vestir a…
  • One-word Portuguese Lesson [Video]: Tô quebrado –…
  • One-minute Portuguese Lesson [Video]: Pisar na bola…
Share ... Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Email this to someone
email

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Brazilian Portuguese
  • Business Culture
  • Culture and History
  • Flashcards
  • Food
  • Grammar
  • Idiomatic Expressions
  • Learning Languages
  • Music
  • Pronunciation
  • Resources
  • Video lessons
  • Visiting Brazil
  • Vocabulary

Schedule a Trial Session

Testimonials

Street Smart Brazil has been incredible. As someone who is focused on international business as a profession and a passion, learning languages has always been critical in helping me bridge cultures an… – Jessica

Meet The Team

Find Resources

Make your learning fun and easy with good resources.
Learn More

51 Portuguese Idioms – Speak Like a Brazilian

You will learn each expression inside a real-life context: everyday situations that could happen to any of us.
Purchase Now >

Recent Posts

  • Portuguese Conversation Group Class open now
  • Brazilian New Year’s Eve Traditions and Superstitions
  • Use the Infinitive in Portuguese instead of -ING in English – Portuguese lesson
  • To Turn On in Portuguese: 3 Different Verbs– Portuguese lesson
  • 5 New Books to Learn Portuguese

Footer Subscribe

Footer Video CTA

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all the new video lessons

Subscribe

https://youtu.be/Q8ONwVoTG9M

Footer Full CTA

Book a Trial Lesson today to get started.

Get Started Now

Footer CTA

Street Smart Brazil

  • About
  • Shop For a Portuguese Class
  • Testimonials
  • Blog

Portuguese Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Preparation Course
  • Aulas de Inglês

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese


phone 415.573.8180
email info@streetsmartbrazil.com
Oakland, California

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Sitemap

© 2014–2021 Street Smart Brazil, All Rights Reserved | Website by Web Savvy Marketing