The Brazilian Silicon Valley
When I was looking for internship opportunities, I did not have an exact idea of what I wanted in mind. I was interested in trying anything that would allow me to put into practice what I learned on my freshman year, as well as to learn new things. Despite that, I knew for sure that I wanted to spend part of my summer in Brazil, my home country.
It was not until the winter break that I found out about Endeavor, which is a non-profit organization that fosters high-impact entrepreneurship around the world. I simply fell in love with the idea of working with different businesses that would make a big impact in many developing economies. After learning that the application process was open for internship in Brazil, I was sure that I wanted to intern with Endeavor, in Florianopolis (Floripa), Brazil.
When I first arrived in Floripa, two weeks ago, I did not know much about Floripa’s main industries. So, I was surprised to know that this small island city of no more than 500,000 people is actually one of the IT market leaders in the county. There are more than 900 IT companies in the city, a huge number when we take into consideration Floripa’s population size.
While working here, I have had the amazing opportunity to know about many of these companies! It is amazing to see how many entrepreneurs have been developing amazing projects and leading Brazil’s technological growth. It is no surprise that Floripa has been compared to Silicon Valley, although it is still in development.
This week, I visited the company Resultados Digitais with the Endeavor Investor Trek. Resultados Digitais is an amazing company that is specialized in providing small and mid-sized businesses with a digital marketing software that helps SMBs generate more leads and sales. It was great to see that a company that was small a couple of years ago is growing so quickly. Visiting Resultados Digitais as well as ACATE, a technology association, incubator and co-working space, encouraged me even more to keep working to support entrepreneurs who are working so hard to grow and make Brazil’s economy stronger.
Hercilio Luz Bridge, in Florianopolis, Brazil.