Brazilians appear in a list of innovative companies
O Estado de S. Paulo - 05/27/2008
Instituto Empreender Endeavor, an international NGO that seeks the development of companies to encourage economic growth, has recently selected 15 new members in its last meeting, in Mexico. They are small-, mid- and large-sized companies that, in the assessment of the NGO, have great development potential. From them, two are Brazilian companies: Ângelus, manufacturer of odontological products, and Tecno Logys, a company that provides solutions for the civil construction. The selection involved more than 500 entrepreneurs worldwide. "Only the ahead-of-innovative-businesses companies and the companies that have growth potential and that are examples for their sector and for society reached the last stage, such as the two Brazilian companies", says Paulo Veras, Managing Director of Endeavor in the Country. The meeting in Mexico had the participation of great entrepreneurs - like Emilio Azcárraga, president of the executive committee of Televisa, and Edgar Bronfman Jr, president of Warner Music. The approval of such evaluators was necessary for the Institute to approve the admission of these companies. Ângelus was instituted 13 years ago, when Roberto, then dentist, and his wife Sonia decided to develop products to use in their office. "Every time I needed an abutment, for instance, I had to make it myself. So, we decided to develop a pre-cast model that only needed to be adapted to each patient." After the metal pins, came the fiber glass and the carbon pins and other products. Currently, Ângelus exports to 53 countries. "We already have good products. Now, with Endeavor's help, we want to focus on the expansion, specially the international one. We will choose target markets instead of selling to anyone". Alcântara makes no comments on the sales of Ângelus, but he says that until next year the company will go from a small-sized business (annual sales up to R$ 2.4 million/US$ 1.5 million) to a mid-sized company. The other selected company, Tecno Logys, operates in a fairly different area. "We develop solutions for the civil construction", says the president of the company, Valério Dornelles. In order to avoid the waste from construction, for example, Tecno Logys invented blocks for the construction of walls that already have space for pipes and wires. This is the flagship of the company, which has also developed systems for the transport of mortar making use of gravity and specific ideas for each different project. Dornelles has already owned other companies before, but so far he had never felt satisfied. He believes that to become part of the Endeavor group will be essential for the company's growth. From now on, these two companies will be monitored by Endeavor full time, which includes access to management, legal, communication and business consulting.