[:pb]The Rio de Janeiro Trade Association opened on this monday an exhibition of Brazilian export products during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. The goal is to present the country’s export potential.

Isaura Daniel/ ANSA

São Paulo – Brazilian exporters want to take advantage of the international flow going through Rio de Janeiro due to the 2016 Summer Olympics to boost their businesses. A project named “Entrepreneurial Flame” will exhibit products from Brazilian companies that do or have the potential for international trade at the Rio de Janeiro Trade Association (ACRio) headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. They will be on display at the entrance hall in a showroom.

“Brazil is facing a great challenge with its economy; it’s a critical moment to the economy and productive sector. We have only a small share in global exports, of 1.2%, among the Brics we have the smallest share of exports representation in the GDP, to export can be a way out”, said the project’s general coordinator, Marcus Barão.

According to him, it was based on this perception that the Entrepreneurial Flame project was created. The name of the initiative is referencing the Olympic Torch. The companies that will exhibit their products were selected in meetings held in cities throughout Brazil, many of them that received the Olympic Torch. They applied for the project and were selected according to its export potential.

Overall, 140 companies will exhibit their products from Monday (25) to September 16, almost until the end of the Paralympics Games. The Summer Olympics take place from August 5 to August 21, and the Paralympics from September 7 to September 18. The idea is for the Entrepreneur Flame exhibition to attract business owners that are coming to Brazil to watch the Olympics and also those that will be there only on business.

Concurrent actions at Casa Rio, another of ACRio’s facilities, will include roughly 30 events and business matchmaking sessions for Brazilian companies and importers, and the organizers expect them to also visit the showroom. The Rio de Janeiro Trade Association is also calling on international executives to join via consulates, chambers of commerce and the media.

Products at the showroom, whose purpose will be to showcase Brazil’s export potential, will include biojewelry, furniture, cachaça, food products, textiles, high-technology products and pharmaceuticals from all over Brazil. “The Flame will pass, but the fire cannot go out. The Olympics will pass, but Brazil cannot stop,” says Barão in a reference to the economic benefits that can accrue from the initiative.

Besides the showroom, the Trade Association will distribute a catalog introducing 240 Brazilian exporting companies to organizations and embassies associated with the 32 countries that are the export priorities of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Services – the Arab ones among them include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Egypt.

The ministry is partners with Entrepreneurial Flame. Companies involved in the project will also have their products shown on the ministry’s Vitrine do Exportador (Exporter’s Shop Window) website, under a dedicated tab. ACRio’s project also relies on other partners and supporters, including the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), the Brazilian Postal Service, and the young businessmen federation Confederação dos Jovens Empresários.

Entrepreneurial Flame Showroom / July 25 to September 16

Entrance hall to the Rio de Janeiro Trade Association (ACRio)/Rua da Candelária, 09 – Rio de Janeiro – RJ / Open from Monday to Friday, from 9am to 6pm

For more on the showroom and the matchmaking call +55 (21) 2514-1274

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