Business in Brazil

Hello everyone,

Seeing as we are here in Brazil to start a business, I thought I would share how far we have gotten the past two months.

First, here's a bit of background.  Shaun and I have been interested in Brazil for years.  We originally hoped to come down and do some sort of mission aid work, but Shaun ended up hearing about a lead on the coco-peat industry.  I like to call Shaun a visionary.  Fortunately, unlike some people who only see the big picture and dream all the time, Shaun likes to make things happen as well.  He loves business, economics, and studies these topics continually (I have to admit it is sometimes hard to appear remain interested).  If anyone follows economics, there is a lot of talk right now about Brazil's rapid economic growth.  In the northeast there are lots of opportunities, but not as many people who have experience running businesses.  There is also lots of unemployment.  We are hoping to start this business and use it to help the community as well.  Anyways, our hope was to be down here last January. Obviously, things have slightly changed, and it has been hard to remain patient.  My general feeling over the last two months is that our lessons in patience are not going to end soon.

Prior to our arrival, our Brazilian administrator submitted all our paperwork to the bank to open up a bank account for the business.  The business was already registered, and we needed the account to deposit the money to apply for investment visas.  The bank informed Hermes that to open a bank account should not be a problem.

Here's a summary of our time here thus far:

Day 1-7 - Carnival

Day 8 - business meeting

Day 9 - business meeting

Day 12 - Where's the bank account?

Shaun had more meetings interspersed.

Day 20 - Where's the bank account? "Oh, the paperwork is in Recife, we should have it open in no time."

Day 30 - Where's the bank account? (does everyone get my point here yet?)

Day 35 - Where's the bank account? (FORTY days after we submitted our paperwork). "Oh, sorry sir, you do not have the right paperwork from the federal police to show you are allowed in the country!"

Shaun's lawyers had told him it was difficult to open a bank account.  However, because they were saying it could be done, and the bank we had originally applied with (which is a large Brazilian bank) said we had the right paperwork (on their website as well), we had just waited...and waited....and waited.

Not understanding this turn of events, we applied at two more banks.  One took 3 days to say it was not possible, the other took 2 hours.  The paperwork we needed was a Foreigner's Identity Card.  You can't get one of these cards unless you at least have a 12 month visa.  Not a Tourist Visa.

We were stumped.  There is a possibility of an investment visa.  But how to get money here into our very own company!?!?!?!?!?!

Finally we checked out some more internet sites.  And on two other banks' websites we were told that a foreigner without a permanent or temporary visa could open a business account with 4 things:

1) articles of association

2) CNPJ (business number)

3) Brazilian with our Power of Attorney

4) Resident Card of the business' legal representation

So Simple.

Now you may think this could all have been prevented.  Maybe yes, maybe no.  But I like to think of it as a learning opportunity regarding doing business in Brazil.  And we get to learn it before we've even started.  Some important notes to take if you are planning to start a business here:

1) Never expect a straight answer.  Always second guess.

2) We learned forums are often full of information (however watch out for mis-information or dated information.)

3) Things take a long time.

4) Things take a long time (and really this was only the first two months, which in the whole scheme of things is not very long.  I think it just seemed really long because we've already been waiting for two years.

So around two weeks ago, we got to the point of wondering if it was worth it.  Many Brazilians we talk to caution us that it will not get better.  Things will always remain slow.  A foreign friend of our neighbour, when he heard about us, said that we would never do business in Brazil, as he had tried and there was too much red tape.  So it was a low point.  

It's so easy to get sucked into emotions and not know if you are thinking logically or if you are only using emotions.  And it is harder if you start to read up on cultural adaptation and all that jazz, because just like a marriage (or some marriages, I should say), there's a honeymoon period, and then a "what have I done?" period, and then a period where you can accept the pros and cons of a culture.  So are we questioning just based on emotions, or are we realistically wondering if we can handle the different business landscape here?

We went out for drinks with Sandro and Djane and our friend Luiz I think the next night, and of course they convinced us that we needed to keep-on-keeping-on.  One of the great things about Brazilian culture.  And now that I think of it, we spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons of each culture in a energetic, sometimes heated way, which was really fun.  And the band kept playing a song: Sempre Em Frente.  I guess that is now our new motto.  So for now, we keep doing what we're doing.  Shaun is confident that the bank account can now be opened no problem next week, so we will take one day at a time and see where that leads.  He also feels like once we actually have the equipment in hand to produce the peat, how can anyone stop us?  

In the meantime, we only have 3 1/2 weeks left here, if you can believe it.  And we'll keep you posted if anything else develops.

Talk to you soon,

Brenda

Odds and Ends

This post has been in my drafts for a week, so I thought I might as well just publish it.  These past two weeks we have had a lot of revelations about business in Brazil, so I think I will attempt to do a post this week about our discoveries we've made.  Many apparently small issues have grown into weeks of waiting, which have delayed the start to our plans unfortunately.

So here's a few pictures of two weeks ago...

We had an "infestation" of massive bristly orange caterpillars, which we were told were poisonous (fever, swelling, etc.).  Seth wanted to keep one as a pet...

Does anyone know what type of caterpillar this is?  Seth and I have perused the internet endlessly, to no avail.  It does not appear to be included in any of the top 10 most dangerous caterpillars lists, which has been a huge comfort to me.

And on Good Friday, we enjoyed a delicious crab feast at Sandro and Djane's terreno.

A Festa

I just thought I'd upload a few pics of Shaun's birthday a little over a week ago.  He shares his birthday with our good friend and neighbour Thacianne, so we had a nice little party at Sandro's terreno.

The day started off with a perfect present for Shaun from Hermes and Thacianne: this beautiful big hammock.  I guess they were sick of us asking where was a good place to buy hammocks!  Shaun said: "they know my heart"  which I had a good laugh over.  But in the end, they really could not have given him something more perfect.  

Enjoying food and good company.

And we played some v-ball in the afternoon.  Perfect ending to the day.

Thanks Djane, for opening up your land to us every Saturday!

Goodnight :)

Check out this Blog :)

If you remember, a while back we got a super-cute dress in the mail for Lyla's birthday, from my talented sister-in-law Tania.  Well, I thought I would take a couple of pictures to do the dress justice, as the lighting and subject (Lyla) did not cooperate to show the true craftmanship that Tania put into the dress.  And while I was taking pictures of that, I realized how many things we had brought along that were made by Tania!  So I got all picture happy and thought I'd show off her work and link to her craft blog.

In case you can't tell by looking at pictures in the blog, Lyla is a very tall and sturdy two-year-old.  I think because of this, Tania and I both assumed she would fit a larger pattern.  The ties over the shoulders are a bit too broad to stay on her properly, so in this picture I tied it halter style around her neck, which looked great.

Here the dress is, tied "normal."  I also tried criss-crossing it in the back, which worked well.

I thought I would try it on Hazel too, and you can see the straps are a good fit for her.  To me, she looks so old here! 

And now for some more of the goodies that Tania has created for our family:

The last few years, Tania has found a crafty project to make the kids for their birthdays.  This is a pencil crayon roll-up case that Hazel got for her fourth birthday with a colouring book.  It is honestly one of the best inventions ever: it keeps the drawing supplies neat, and little kids can see all the colours without dumping the box of crayons out.

Here is the baby blanket that Tania made Hazel. when she was born.  Lyla's using it these days.  I believe this is called a rag quilt?  So cute, and  that backing material that you can see at the top of the picture: didn't every little girl have a nightgown in that material when they were younger?

Tania also made book bags one year for all the school-aged children.  The one with the bikes on it is Seth's.  And one day, after my diaper bag somehow became fermented with spilt applesauce, I randomly asked Tania if she could make me something like a book bag for a few diapers and wipes.  She had the other bag ready for me by the next day.

Okay and now for her blog link: http://maddisworldcrafts.blogspot.com

Enjoy browsing when you get a chance :)  

And thanks Tania, for all the time you spend making cool things for our family!

Another Animal (the Story of Our Life Here)

When we brought this home from our friends' house to show Seth, he immediately wanted to phone his cousin who once-upon-a-time had these at pets.  Believe me, they were never as big as this one!

Seth ended up letting it go, thinking it would have a  better life out in the wild.  We don't really know where Seth got his interest and compassion for all things insect, reptilian, amphibian, etc., because although I find the information about them fascinating, I can't say there's any love lost between us.  And I think Shaun is even more hesitant about these animals than me!

Borrowing Trouble

Does anyone know that expression?   Well, I guess that is what I've been doing regarding Seth and School.  On Tuesday he went to school, and of course, being late like usual, it happened to be the most perfect timing where all the boys in his class were going to play soccer for gym.  And since then, he hasn't looked back.  Every day he is wanting to go to school, and when I jokingly told Shaun in front of Seth that Seth wasn't enjoying school and didn't want to go back, he looked at me and said that he actually just didn't like homeschooling with me!  There's more people and recesses at this new school.  So I guess my questions about whether I'd ever want to homeschool have been answered, and as "sad" as I am about him not enjoying our time together, I am so excited that he is loving school here!  Hopefully it will continue.  And hopefully he will adjust to the fact that he still needs to do some English lessons with me most days.  So here's a few pictures of Seth at school on his first day.

And of course, we needed to have our family pickup for the bus on Seth's first day of school.  We were planning to send Hazel all this week as well, as she also loved it, however, she has had a fever and cough since Monday night.  We are hoping next week she will feel well enough to go with Seth.

"Sandro, there's Sandro and the bus!"

Our First Pet

Hello Everyone,

We headed up to Recife on Monday to drop off the car we are using, hoping that it will be fixed within a week.  We borrowed a friend's car, and I am proud to say that I managed to keep up with Shaun along the curvy, bumpy, pot-holey, animal and bike-filled roads, where there at times are no indications for lanes or where to go.  I think he actually drove a lot slower than usual, to his chagrin, but still, our dear daughter Lyla decided to unload whatever she had had that morning to eat and drink in the form of vomit.  Happily, it was in our car and not our friend's.

Anyways, we dropped by at the Wieske household, and Seth was finally able to pick up the present they gave him for his fifth birthday a year-and-a-half ago.  You can see that birthday entry here.

And here's a picture of the slightly bigger tarturuga.  It was the first question Seth asked when he got up the next morning: Where's my turtle?  The perfect gift for our animal loving son.