Dectar just spent one week in Sao Paulo and were hosted by Enterprise Ireland at Ireland House which has pride of place on Avenida Paulista, in the heart of Sao Paulo.
When you get to Brazil its impossible to not be impressed by the sheer size of the place. Brazil is the 5th largest county in the world both in terms of surface area and population (210+ million people). Sao Paulo city, the largest in the southern hemisphere, is the 10th richest in the world and Sao Paulo state counts for around one 3rd of Brazils GDP. The city is also the regional HQ for many regional Latin American brands and organisations.
Brazilians are early adopters of technology and the government is keen to mirror global norms on data cybersecurity. Brazil has developed its own GDPR-type law which comes into effect in August.
Further pushing the security and privacy agenda is a decree published on 6th February 2020 establishing a National Cybersecurity Strategy. One of the main measures suggested by the government to deal with cyber threats is investment in education at a variety of levels.
In the security sector there are many opportunities in Brazil for international firms with quality technology that has helped organizations in the EU up their game and prepare for GDPR. Cybersecurity is more and more seen as an enabling technology and an investment rather than a cost to be avoided.
I had great meetings with many top people including Daniel Haddad, CEO at CeCyber and Marcelo Lau from FIAP. Special thanks to Melissa Feddis, Daniel Dall’Agnol and Julio Freitas for support and market research during this last week.