The Brazilian economy is still expanding, but what can we Brits sell them that they haven’t already got? Theo travels to Brazil’s business hub, Sao Paolo, to Bauru – in the heart of sugar cane country – and to the glamorous Rio De Janeiro to chart the fortunes of three British companies with very different aims and ambitions.
There’s Sleek Make Up, an East London company specialising in cosmetics for darker-skinned women. Dreamaid, a web site aimed at helping the world’s poorer artists sell their wares to richer customers around the world, using Brazil as the testing ground. A familiar name in the UK, Cadbury were eyeing the Brazilian chocolate market, one of the fastest-growing in the world. (This programme was filmed before Kraft's takeover of Cadbury.) But there are dangers ahead for each of these companies. In the UK Sleek relies on having its own dedicated stands, where you can try on the make up yourself. So how are they going to sell make up in a country where the supermarkets just put it in bubble-wrap and sling it on the shelves, stopping customers from having a test? How does a global giant set about selling its Crème Eggs and Dairy Milk in a country where Kraft and Nestle already control 90% of the market, and the taste in chocolate is very different to that of the British? And how can Dreamaid succeed in the hardest task that faces any internet start-up – to get people to visit your site in the first place? The Brazilians are often characterised as laid-back and easy-going. But is doing business there going to be easy?