Greater Richmond Partnership Visits Four Brazilian Cities in Five Business Days

Barry Matherly, then Vice – President of the Greater Richmond Partnership, Gary McLaren, Executive Director of Henrico VA Economic Development Authority, and Ben Humphrey, Project Manager of Chesterfield County Economic Development, joined our President, R. Panico Peres, on a scouting trip to Brazil last December.

Barry has been to Brazil several times and has recently secured two new Brazilian companies to his region. Gary returned to Brazil for the second time and this was Ben’s first trip to the South American largest economy.

The delegation started the trip in Brazil’s business center, São Paulo, moved to Campinas, flew to Curitiba, and flew back to São Paulo for one last day of meetings before returning to Richmond, VA. The group managed to visit 30-plus companies ranging from a couple of family owned businesses to multi-billion dollar corporations. All interested in getting a foothold in the US market.

The GRPVA managed to present its case to each company by educating their executives on its strategic location, competitive labor force, and, to Brazilians delight, amiable climate. Many of the Brazilian executives were surprised to learn that Richmond’s economic prowess is comparable to Curitiba’s and that its average temperature mimics Porto Alegre’s.

On top of a very successful trip, we at No Borders were very pleased to learn that last month Barry earned his promotion to President & CEO of this important Economic Development Partnership. Congratulations again Barry!