SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - On Monday, January 26th, the World Trade Center São Paulo had the pleasure of welcoming Mrs. Diana Villaveces, the Executive Director of the World Trace Center Ibagué in Colombia, to Brazil. The intention of her stay, lasting four days until Thursday, January 29th, was to learn more about the WTC Business Club model and to encourage bilateral trade between Brazil and Colombia. The visit focused mainly on strengthening ties between the two countries in investments, tourism, and trade.

The World Trade Center Ibagué is one of four World Trade Centers in Colombia. Much like the WTCs found globally, they are committed to promoting and facilitating the flow of goods nationally and internationally. They are currently building a new complex which is set to include a hotel, an office building, and a commercial center. The WTC Ibagué is also planning to bring a Business Club to their offices.

During Mrs. Villaveces’ stay, the WTC São Paulo and the WTC Ibagué discussed strategies to encourage local businesses to form partnerships and to increase trade between the two countries. The two centers want to foster bilateral trade negations by utilizing the World Trade Center network and through ProColombia, Colombia’s promotion agency. The country was recently named as a strategic destination for Brazilian businesses by Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments. The WTC São Paulo is constantly searching for new opportunities abroad for their members and close ties with Colombian businesses will prove to be lucrative in the near future.

The World Trade Center São Paulo Business Club employs a unique model unseen in other locations around the world in order to attract local businesses and boost commerce in the area. By concentrating on the content and networking aspects of the more than 150 events held annually, members of the Club have unprecedented access to the marketplace and to priceless business knowledge. The value added to the World Trade Center by the Business Club is why Mrs. Villaveces chose São Paulo as the destination for her site visit and why she had individual interviews with the directors of each branch of the WTC Club.

Mrs. Diana Villaveces had the opportunity to attend two events held by the WTC São Paulo Business Club. On January 28th, she attended an event entitled “Supplier's Qualification Process”, which hosted the speakers Alexande de Castro, Commercial Director at Braskem, Leandro Cury, Commercial Manager from Grupo Pão de Açucar, and Luiz Scavarda, Global Strategic Development General Manager from Vale. On January 29th, Mrs. Villaveces attended “Customer Experience”, which discussed the changing portrait of the average Brazilian consumer. Speaking at this event was Marcos Calliari, the Managing Director at Kantar Worldpanel, Jefferson Sperandéo, Director of Marketing from C&C, and Fernando Cosenza, Director of Marketing and Innovation at Boa Vista. She found both events interesting and helpful.

Mrs. Diana Villaveces and the WTC São Paulo have created a plan to ensure that the decisions made throughout the past week are implemented with success in the future. In the coming weeks, both sides will promote the opportunities created with this visit to their respective networks. Ms. Villaveces and the WTC São Paulo will maintain contact throughout this process to secure the final details of the project and to further develop the connection between the two World Trade Centers. The WTC São Paulo was thrilled to host Mrs. Diana Villaveces and hopes to see her and other directors from other locations around the world in the future.

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