Brazilian professionals who are appreciated abroad and who you may not know

Brazilian dentists and mechanics, as well as professionals from other areas, have built their reputations in hotly contested areas.

“‘Oh, soccer, samba, carnival!’ is the comment, almost always accompanied by a smile, that many hear abroad when they say they are Brazilian.

But, while on the one hand this is a well-known face of Brazil outside its borders, many may not know that professionals of this nationality are sought after by the world in other fields as well.

BBC Brasil compiles here some stories that contradict the “mestizo complex” and show areas where Brazilian professionals are valued for technical excellence and professional efficiency – and where “typical” characteristics such as spontaneity and passion have helped a lot .

Dentists: award-winning technique and humane care

Priscila Kolbe, who has worked in London for 15 years, often says that no one sits in the dentist’s chair because they want to, but that her patients are definitely relieved to be treated by a Brazilian dentist.

“The Brazilian dentist doesn’t just work with his hands, he works with his heart. As Brazilians, at least I’m from Salvador, we have a different energy. Behind a professional there is a human being,” he says.

In addition to treatment and patient communication, Brazilian dentistry is internationally known for its technical excellence.

The USP dentistry course, for example, was considered the best in the world in 2022 in the international SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR), an annual ranking linked to the Conselho Superior de Investigaçōes Científicas (CSIC), the Spanish state agency dedicated to promoting scientific and technological research.

Brazil is also an exporter of new dental techniques such as Digital Smile Design (DSD), a concept developed in 2007 by Brazilian dentist and ceramist Christian Coachman, which allows the dentist to design treatments and show the patient a preview of the result.

Business is good for Priscila and expansions are on the way.

“In the UK this is a well recognized and therefore well paid profession. I started out as a hardworking individual dentist, one day I opened my first clinic, followed by a second and a third. Today we are a team of Brazilian dentists serving a London,” says the professional from Bahia, who is also successful on Instagram with nearly 30,000 followers.

Advertisers: Diversity for Innovation

In 2022, Brazil was once again a highlight of the Cannes Festival of Creativity, the world’s top advertising award. There were 70 Lions brought home and one of these was won by Daniel Schiavon’s team from Ogilvy.

«It is the third most awarded country in the world overall, which is no small thing. We’re competing with the US and London, which are the top spots, which have much higher budgets, where the headquarters of the biggest brands are located. here with a lot less, I think we can do a lot,” he says.

The secret, for Schiavon, lies in the characteristic “blend” of the town.

“All this Brazilian miscegenation allows us to speak to people from very different cultural backgrounds and this makes us perform very well in global festivals. Brazilian advertising benefits from the size of the country,” says the advertiser.

For Schiavon, the Brazilian way of being also contributes a lot to his advertising success.

“Actually we communicate very well, whatever the language, and we manage to express our opinions without fear of expressing ourselves and taking sides. This Latin way of knowing how to bring joy, emotion and all these very strong feelings helps us to build good projects because the big ideas with a story told without emotion don’t work,” he says.

With a reputation for innovation, Brazilian advertising has served as an example around the world.

“Sometimes we think that innovation will come from a first world country, where technology is more present. But we, here with Lu do Magalu, who was the Golden Lion at Cannes this year, are a project that Ogilvy China uses to sell Artificial Intelligence in their country.”

Daniel thinks the engine of innovation is a passionate way of doing things and a resulting above-average curiosity. The (digital figure) Lu do Magalu he mentioned is today the largest virtual digital influencer in the world, ahead of names like Barbie and Minnie Mouse, also speaking Portuguese instead of English.

“Lu was already Lu before there was talk of the metaverse, people didn’t even know the metaverse existed because there was no Mark Zuckerberg to coin a term,” says the publicist.

Pedro Alvim, Social Media Manager of Magalu, reveals that Lu’s success already generates income rather than expenses: “the cost of 3D technology is very high, it’s not a very democratic technology. It’s nice to say that Lu already pays for his clothes, it’s more expensive than a Chanel,” she says.

Chef: unique ingredients and passion

Anyone who smells heated tucupi on one of the streets in London’s Bethnal Green might be surprised, but there is a kitchen run by Brazilian chef Rafael Cagali.

Always inclined to use Brazilian ingredients in his gastronomic discoveries, the paulista has had success with the Da Terra restaurant, born just 3 years ago, but already with two Michelin stars.

“It was in January 2021 that we received the second star. It was a feeling that makes me cringe just remembering it,” says the chef.

Rafael’s name is far from the only one that stands out outside of Brazil, where Helena Rizzo has already been elected the best female chef in the world and Alex Atala has reached sixth place as the best global restaurant with the authorial DOM

For Rafael, one of the secrets of this success is. “the Brazilian way of being, very hardworking and with a great desire to make things happen. This helps to stand out more”, he opines.

The country’s biodiversity, which generates unique flavors in such diverse biomes, is also seen by him as one of the factors that differentiates the food of Brazilian chefs.

“People really like coumarin pepper. Customers want to take it home, they want to know where to buy it. They are excited to try other things from Brazil,” he says.

Mechanics: Brazilian way and improvisation

Another category in which Brazilians amass prizes abroad may come as a surprise: mechanics. Fernando Henrique Cruz, from São Paulo, for example, was elected the best mechanic in the world in 2019 in the Global TechMasters Truck, a global competition promoted by Mercedes-Benz every two years.

For Marcos Giglioli, who has, since 2019, a successful machine shop in Bournemouth on the coast of England, one of the differentials in his field is an old acquaintance of Brazilian culture.

“Our famous Brazilian way is not good for many things, but for our subsidiary here, which is focused on vehicle repair and maintenance, it becomes an advantage, because sometimes we manage to correct the problem without having to change all the parts as usual. do here,” he says.

Rogério says changing parts is easier for the mechanic, but that it’s not always necessary and makes the service more expensive.

“Sometimes we have a part of the suspension that if I change a bush on the lower suspension arm it solves the problem, but here they want to change the whole arm,” he explains, adding that this makes customers loyal to Brazilian mechanics when they know.

The ability to improvise is also one of the reasons why, when hiring, Rogério prefers to choose professionals of the same nationality:

“Many professionals don’t like to break out of that ‘I have to do faster to earn more’ box. For those of us who work based on what we learned there in Brazil, we will always choose to hire Brazilian because they already work with the same standard,” he says.

Mechanical labour, according to Rogério, is competitive and hard to find in the UK, where his workshop schedule has no room for any customers for the next few weeks.

According to a study by the Institute of The Moto Industry, the UK economy could face a shortfall of 2.6 million workers in this sector by 2030.

The shortage of professionals combined with the efficiency of the Brazilian route form a positive scenario for Brazilian mechanics abroad.

“If I go to Japan without speaking a single word of Japanese, I can find a good job and earn an amount that will guarantee me a good living, it’s a workforce that is always in demand,” he says.

– This text was published in https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-64144717

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Camila

Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.