Semco Partners’ joint venture model is the preferred path for multinational corporations to enter the Brazilian marketplace. Semco Partners is the successor to Semco Group, a centrifuge manufacturer founded in the 1950s by Antonio Curt Semler. In the 1980s Antonio’s son, Ricardo Semler, took over the firm,  modernized management practices, and expanded the company’s range by moving heavily into the service sector, including environmental consultancy, facilities management, real estate brokerage, and inventory support.

During this expansion, the company worked with a variety of technology partners and developed a sophisticated joint venture model that combined Semco management practices with the partners’ expertise and product lines.  This fusion of skill sets created the business model that has been so successful in the Brazilian market.

In 2012, Semco Partners transitioned into a partnership structure featuring six directors who have worked together for many years

Semco Partners is an active portfolio manager for a variety of corporations doing business in Brazil. Our mission is to seek out new businesses, oversee existing businesses, and promote synergies among them. There are three ways for global companies to enter the Brazilian market:

1) They can proceed independently by forming a wholly owned subsidiary and hiring a management team to run the business. Corporations choosing this path will have a gap in local market knowledge, lack a strong network of customers, and need guidance in identifying strong local talent. At the same time, those same companies will struggle with corporate controls that suppress the agility and flexibility needed to get a start-up venture off the ground.

2)  They can acquire an existing company, but they will meet integration and cultural transition issues, language barriers, resistance to new processes, old world structures and a high cost of entry… issues that are not easy for huge multinational firms to overcome.

3) Or they can work with a nimble entrepreneurial partner like us. Semco Partners offers an extensive network of contacts, direct access to the target customers, informed risk monitoring, innovative management techniques, a brand recognized by the market, cultural proficiency, and, above all, an incomparable record of success in bringing multinationals to Brazil.

Typically, we maintain between five to seven business units in our portfolio at any given time. Each joint venture is managed independently, with its own structure, teams, and board of directors — the latter comprised of representatives from both Semco Partners and its global business partner. We also will work with established Brazilian companies if there is the opportunity to form an association with a strategic international player that is a leader in their segment.