“TEvery year around 1,000 exporting companies and, in terms of visitors, exhibitors and consultants, around 300 […]🇧🇷 Through the embassies, we will have 20 represented”, said the director of international relations at the AIP foundation, Fátima Vila Maior, in statements to Lusa.

The event, which will take place at the Lisbon Congress Center, aims to be “a world of information for exporting companies and for those who want to start in this activity”, allowing to create opportunities in the different export markets.

In this edition, the initiative, which is organized in partnership with Novo Banco and AICEP – Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade of Portugal, will feature themed cafes, where topics such as digital ‘marketing’ or information on markets .

Also noteworthy is a ‘digital lab’, through which companies can accelerate digital processes, essential for internationalization.

“Nowadays, a company that wants to go international has to have a set of valences, such as an ‘online’ store, payment processes or an international scope and, sometimes, it is not easy for an SME [pequena e média empresa] having that kind of suppliers”, underlined Fátima Vila Maior.

There are ‘B2B’ meetings (a business model in which the customer is also a company), consultancy in areas such as transport, packaging or mutual guarantees.

Novo Banco will disclose information on financial instruments, while AICEP will be responsible for disclosing market data.

At this event, internationalization diagnoses and workshops will also be carried out, where topics such as increasing online sales or having successful stores will be addressed.

“Let’s have a set of ‘business angels’ [investidores informais] who are going to have meetings with the companies to find partnerships and other activities that have to do with their objectives”, he added.

Small companies can access a ‘nursery’, a space that will permanently have four consultants to carry out diagnoses, for example, helping companies to adapt their product to the market.

Visitors can also participate in ‘web buyer’ markets such as Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Singapore or the United Kingdom.

“It is an excellent opportunity for a company, especially for an SME, to have consultancy with someone who, in fact, knows the markets and to be able to find here their partner or supplier, who is more adaptable to their type of product and information”, considered the Director of International Relations at AIP.

Fátima Vila Maior pointed out that, in recent years, the export process has undergone a “complete change”, for example, now having a higher cost, in terms of transport.

“Perhaps today’s companies need to geographically redefine their markets […]🇧🇷 Not to mention the sustainability of the planet, which makes us want to look for closer geographies. Nowadays, with all the geopolitical changes, our export markets are going to suffer and we have to find alternatives”, he concluded.

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