Exclusive Interview with Mais Afrika by Vanessa Africani, Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil Republic of Cameroon (CCBRC).
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Vanessa Africani, the commitment to Africa.
Africa is clearly a continent that has been overrated over the years. Finding people who are willing to dedicate their lives to change this paradigm is not easy, but that is the case with Vanessa Africani, the vice president of the Cameroon Brazil Chamber of Commerce (CCBRC).
In this interview, we talked about the importance that Africa has for the world and the contribution that Brazil can make to the development of the African continent.
We also talk about the important work that the Chamber of Commerce Brazil Republic of Cameroon (CCBRC) has developed not only in Cameroon, but also to bring the two sister continents (Africa and South America) closer together.
We talked about the important relationship and connection that Brazil has with Africa and how all Brazilian know-how can be used to help develop the African continent.
And, as we concluded the conversation, we also learned the origin of our guest's " strange " surname, "Africani".
Watch the video with the entire interview, or if you prefer, read the full transcript here.
The interview
Mais Afrika (MA): Hello Vanessa, it's a pleasure to be here with you. To begin, and so that our followers can get to know you a little better, could you tell us who you are, what roles you hold besides being a collaborator at Mais Afrika, and how you arrived at your current position, or in other words, could you tell us a little about your journey so far?
Vanessa Africani (VA): Hi. Good morning everyone. I'm an advertising professional, I've worked in several areas of communication for many years, I used to own a communication agency, but I had a problem with partners and ended up moving to Bahia.
Then, when I went to Bahia, I was invited to an event because of my father. My father went to implement the Ford factory there, and I ended up meeting the advisor to the Secretary of Culture and Tourism there in Bahia and this advisor started taking me to work for the Government of Bahia and that was how my trajectory began in the area of promotions actually.
I started doing things for the Department of Culture and Tourism, then, first, for the Department of Agriculture, I did all kinds of work, from events, promoting carnival, promoting São João, Culture projects, I built a museum for them, called the Valdeloir Luiz Rego cultural space, which is in Bahia, in Salvador.
Then they liked my work a lot, I started to receive entrepreneurs, to take entrepreneurs to Carnival and entrepreneurs interested in investing in Bahia. Because of my last name, the Secretary of Culture put me to start receiving African missions.
I started to understand a little better about the posture of the State and the bilateral relations between Bahia and African cultures, then they sent me to work for the staff of the Exhibition Park, so I went to work for the staff of Fenagro, which is a great agribusiness fair in Brazil and for other fairs in other sectors that were held there.
Then they also liked my work a lot and put me to an event, to help an event that the Ministry of Agriculture was doing together with the Government of the State of Bahia that was called “1st International Congress of the Boi de Capim”.
This project was to organize the entire meat production sector and implement an agrarian policy for the National Squad, the type of grass, the size of carcass that they were going to use in the creation of Nelore this was in 2002, we started in 2002 , the event took place in 2005, for Brazil to become a major meat exporter.
So this was an event held jointly by ACNB, ABAC and ABIEC, who are Brazilian beef breeders and exporters, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Secretariat of Agriculture… in parallel, this event had a Congress with all the secretaries of agriculture, after that , the Government of Bahia, with whom I worked, lost the election.
I went back to São Paulo, I started, I made a partnership with a company, I was hired to work with the project of international fairs so I started doing several events abroad. I did MIPIM, Mapic and I did fairs in the United States and Panama.
I also did it here in Mercosur where I got to know the chambers of commerce, working with some chambers and then I was hired for some international events.
I also did America's Food, SAHIC, SASOIC, I did ARDA for the American Resorts Development Association, in the United States, I did several... I did the Global City, there were several events, to attract investments or take Brazilian companies to these events of attracting investment in the world.
Then we started to be hired by countries to start holding events for them, so we did Panama Investe, Paraguay Investe and we received missions, missions from CAIPA which is the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies and others.
Then I did a mission for Cameroun, that's when I met my president in 2012. Then my contract ended, I was hired again later by Panama that the indication came from my ambassador from Cameroun to the Ambassador of Panama, in time they hired me to go back to work for them and someone in the Brazilian government that I don't know who it was.
I also went back to doing events for the Tourism Market, I did the Brazil Hospitality Investment Forum and then I stopped for a while because I had a baby and I stayed away for a while.
I went to the United States, I wanted to start a business company, something about promotions, there, but I ended up returning to Brazil with the pandemic and when I came back, I met my president again when I went to a meeting at the Commercial Association of SP and I also met Miguel who is a president of Mercosur and the Americas, I work today in both chambers, helping both chambers in the promotion and they really wanted to.
They had asked me for a long time, but I said that I wasn't from Foreign Trade and I wasn't from the sector, so I didn't see much how I could collaborate and then they told me, no, but you're a business woman, you you can make a promotion, come help us...
Then, I ended up accepting to work in both chambers to be able to do this part of business development, so at Cameroun today I am vice president. I have huge support from Cameroun, from the Cameroun Embassy, since the first time I worked for them in 2012, on the mission I received.
I created a bond of friendship, really with the investment promotion agency of Cameroun and I have a lot of support from them and so, that's how I came back to work with Cameroun and I've been playing this role for two years and almost two years and a half now.
And on the Mercosur side, I also develop business, these are partnerships, now we have just closed a partnership with people from Peru, we are also partnering with a chamber of women entrepreneurs in Latin America and that is how we develop the missions and businesses, the investors end up arriving and we start doing the projects.
MA: Could you explain in more detail what the Brazil-Republic of Cameroon Chamber of Commerce is? What do they do, who are their members, and ultimately give us some examples of their successes, or some significant dates to date?
VA: The CCBRC has existed since 2009, but in fact my president arrived in Brazil in 2002.
It exists to increase trade and bilateral relations between the two countries, Cameroun and Brazil. When my president arrived, he ended up working with Mr. Adalberto Camargo, who was a mentor to him, was the first black Brazilian to become a Federal Deputy and who paved the way for trade between Brazil and Africa.
So your Thomas, my president's name is Thomas Tcheuffa, stayed with them for a while, working with Adalberto until he founded the chamber in 2009 and since then there's been this struggle.
He was alone, I joined in 2012 to carry out the mission, but then he continued to develop the chamber's projects, receiving Cameroonians, we are receiving a lot of Missions here in Cameroon, etc., to be able to develop this business, these relationships, because in the truth is not trade, it is bilateral relations, the development of know-how, taking technology...
He took several projects, the biofactory to Cameroun, in short, many projects that we have been working on to be able to develop together. So in the last year, I'll talk a little more about when I joined, in the last year we were doing three missions, a mission with businessmen that took place in October, from this mission they developed several projects.
We are even going to do a soil analysis laboratory at Cameroun, we brought Cameroonians to Brazil, including those people who went on missions later entered the chamber to participate in the chamber with us, the vice president of a large company, the largest seed company in Brazil, Agristar, he went with us to Cameroun.
He is developing a project with us there, for seed production, etc., we are doing some soil analysis laboratories, he also brought it to Brazil, we made a partnership with the school of Binguela, the agronomic school of Binguela and we brought recent graduates to Brazil to learn seed management and production techniques.
There are two people here and we, next year, will bring more people to learn here, so these are the results of the first mission. From the second mission, we were invited by JEICOM, JEICOM is a kind of event, a kind of fair where Cameroonian communities were to develop the potential of their region.
So we went to talk about national agriculture about Brazilian agriculture, what happens in Cameroun and in Africa that I see as a whole, is that until today billions have been spent to do agriculture there, but it is a wrong agriculture, because agriculture in Africa is just like agriculture in Brazil, the same type of soil, the same type of climate.
They have the Savana there, we have the Cerrado here, so there are drier areas that need to be developed and we went to talk about it, about our equipment, our technology, our know-how, we were invited to talk about this, for the application of Brazilian tropical agriculture.
So we went on this mission and then we went on a mission with CIITTA, we partnered in the Chamber with CIITTA, CIITTA is the International Center for Agricultural Technological Transfer, this center was formed by FGV Europe , FGV Europa is the 5th largest Think Tank in the world, it is located here in Brazil in Uberaba, inside the Agronelli Farm,
And so, it is a reference center where all the former Brazilian ministers of agriculture are part, MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture) is part, several entities, the S system, Senai, Sebrae, the entire S system, FAZU, the University of agro de Uberaba, are in it as well as Embrapa, so they all got together, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Itamaraty.
All these entities came together within CIITTA to facilitate this negotiation with Africa and FGV does all the financial structuring, so you see the investors, international banks that could finance the projects. They have very interesting projects. They've been working with Africa for quite some time now.
CIITTA is new, but Cléber Guarany, who is the president, has been working at FGV for 15 years, doing projects in Africa and in other parts of the world, including here in Mercosur, in the United States, and they are very experienced and we made this mission to talk to the Cameroonian authorities.
Talk to the ministers, to the prime minister, because we have three projects there, with the government, to help them become self-sufficient in the rice, corn and fish sectors, which today are the biggest problems in Cameroun's trade balance. They are the most imported products, so they need to become self-sufficient in their production.
MA: As someone well-versed in the African market, can you tell us what the " appetite " is among Brazilian investors and companies for our market?
VA: Brazilian businesspeople are not well-versed in Africa; they know nothing about the African continent. There are few promotional initiatives; Brazil participates in three trade fairs, in Morocco and South Africa, and has missions in Egypt.
But there is really no awareness, there are many countries, people practically do not know the opportunities that exist, you know, in Africa, there are no African actions here, there are few and no Brazilian actions there, so we have been working to show and to publicize that there are millions of opportunities in various sectors.
In agriculture, in oil and gas, in oil, energy, bioenergy, especially in agriculture, in which Brazil can become the biggest contributor and I am sure of that, on the African continent, because it is the same type of soil, the same type of weather, so the techniques that are being used here can be used there.
So we can really transfer this know-how, this technology, in short, there are many opportunities, surplus labor in Africa, the young population. I see many opportunities in the sector, in the Industrial area, exports of manufactured goods, I think that one of the things we did was to go to the Supermarket, we see Brazilian products being sold there.
But nobody knows that it is a Brazilian product that was repackaged in other countries, both in Europe and even in Africa itself, and they are Brazilian products. So we have space for many things, I think for many opportunities, each one with its own peculiarity, so it goes against each one, at the time, each of the personal projects of the owners of multinational companies, etc.
But I think that whatever we can do to be able to publicize and promote it, I think it will be welcome.
MA: What do you think needs to be done to increase investment and trade between Brazil and Cameroon, as well as with the rest of Africa?
VA: Look, I think Africa is a continent with enormous potential. I've spoken with many people, sometimes a lot of people, have approached me to do the work we've been doing, with the LinkedIn projection. I spoke with an economist from Canada, investors from the United States. We have some problems working with Africa, for example, in the CIITTA projects.
We need guarantees on a particular project, so that we can implement and finance it with resources from international banks, European banks and local banks, so today the biggest problem I see in working with Africa is our synergies.
Because, for example, we cannot obtain financing, because they have no way of using the guarantee, so we have already talked about the creation of a reserve fund for Africa, I think there are projects at the UN, the World Bank project , for some sectors.
But as long as it doesn't develop, I think as follows, as long as Africa's agricultural potential isn't developed, where they can create a base to develop their own food, create a base of employment that people working in the fields will also generate income , because they will buy their own food and then they will be able to export the food.
The African population tends to grow, the estimate is that by 2050 it will double and a little more to two billion four hundred million people in the world, it will become the continent with the largest population in the world.
So, opportunities will not be lacking, but if they start to produce their own food, be able to create this income base so that other companies can also take their potential there, industrialize, because you generate, starting in the agricultural range, you will generate industry, you will generate product transformations.
So you will generate more income, you will generate more jobs, more opportunities.
So I think the first part would be this and then the others, the rest will come naturally, technology companies, energy companies and so on, it has immense potential because the largest reserves of unexplored mines are in Africa.
There is a huge amount of arable land that is also there, so there is no shortage of resources, abundant water, in short, there is no shortage of resources, I think that if we start to generate the first step, with that the investors will come, because they will have forms of guarantee for the investments to arrive.
I think the first step is this.
MA: Which sectors do you think have the greatest interest in investment in Africa, and try to explain why?
VA: So, Brazil is like this, we, what I was saying about the agricultural sector, which I think has great potential, I see it as the greatest potential, Brazil has undertaken major projects in the oil and gas sector, both with Vale and Petrobras, and in infrastructure construction, we brought in contractors to carry out projects for some African countries.
Anyway, there are many sectors, in which there are possibilities, what I see is that we need to be increasing this bilateral relationship, to have this exchange with these countries again and once this exists we can create this guarantee so that companies can receive and develop their work, their know-how on the continent.
MA: Vanessa, looking at it from the opposite perspective and considering your vast experience, do you think Africa sees Brazil as a potential investor, or simply, for Africans, does Brazil not even exist?
VA: I don't know the answer. I believe that today, the information that reaches Africa, at least from what I've seen in the missions I've participated in, isn't really the truth about what's happening here.
For example, they don't know that Brazil is one of the biggest food producers in the world, they don't know that we are number 1 in some foods, the information that we devastate the Amazon that we don't preserve our biome, political problems that get there, maybe the information is coming in in a slightly distorted way.
Our Agro has great potential, one of the biggest in the world, that we could be collaborating with them and they have spent billions of dollars until today, implementing an agricultural policy and even an agriculture based in Europe where the climate is cold and not for the temperate climate that doesn't work, so they don't get that distinction from what actually happens here.
You see, our relationship is distant, I would say that our relationship is distant, so we have to work harder, I think this is something that Brazil also has to do, so that they know our potential and the what happens here, our technology to what we can produce in very small areas, absurd amounts of tons of grain, for example, you know?
And we preserve our territory, we have a reserve part here, it is mandatory by law, anyway, the information has to get there in another way, in a better way, I think even the media could be collaborating to that information reaches the territory.
MA: And now, in the context of partnerships, how do you see this collaboration between Mais Afrika and the Brazil-Republic of Cameroon Chamber of Commerce, and what future do you think we can achieve together?
VA: Well, we're forming this partnership precisely so that we can change this preconceived notion that exists on both sides. I think it is a preconceived notion; today nobody does it right, and there's no way for both sides to communicate.
So we are doing this, these missions, all the work that we have been doing to promote and publicize not only in Cameroun, but everything that comes to me, which are projects that people put up, if you can help me, what what do you think…
I have received many, many Africans looking for me, whether to export products, or to help with projects in different sectors, governments of other countries, who say, these models that you are making in Cameroun, could not be done here in our country. ? We have been doing projects with the government and have also done projects with private entities in Cameroun.
But we all want to do things that can leave a legacy. Whether it's the seed company or the fertilizer company that's helping.
That they understand about soil culture, whether it's the projects with CIITTA that has all this know-how and all the background of the former Brazilian ministers of agriculture, Cleber who has been working for many years, Juliano who is the head of FGV of agriculture.
So you have people who have worked for many years, you know they work seriously to be able to do the right thing to be able to collaborate and really help the African continent.
MA: To finish, is there anything you'd like to add, anything you think might be of interest that I haven't asked about?
VA: I wanted to leave a message here for everyone, that people stop prejudging and get to know the African continent better, and that they always think of Africa as a medium- and long-term partner.
Nothing is instantaneous, because they have difficulties that need to be crossed that we have to think of a way to be able to collaborate so that these barriers are crossed, be it in the guarantee, be it in the creation of new insurance, or in the implementation of a fund, I still don't know what the paths will be.
We think about the measures, in the different ways, I'm also involved with this but I know that there are several people and banks and entities, investors, governments working with this, but that people think about being able to do this too, as a way to help region to grow, you know, to develop, to see that there are opportunities for development there.
People wanting to work and that we can change this situation, it is precarious, in some countries they are very precarious, in terms of food, in terms of living conditions, etc. So that people really think of Africa as having great potential that there is really great potential.
MA: Vanessa, rest assured that everyone is curious to know the origin of your name, Africani. Can you tell us or explain the origin of your name?
VA: When my president, Thomas, met me, when I told him my last name, he said, "What's your name?" I said, "Vanessa Africani." He said, "Africa? Are you kidding me?" I said, "That's not my last name." He said, "Girl, you have a mission with Africa, you have an obligation to Africa," and that stuck in my head, you know, it's like, you have something to do with Africa.
And so my family came from Europe, from Italy, there are only three Africani families in the world. Today, from what I learned recently, my family here in Brazil, which is a single family that came from an Italian, in Italy there are two or three more, I think there are two actually because one of them we found out that he was adopted by an Africani in a convent.
So his origin is not very well known because his parents are already deceased.
And this person, who I talked to through LinkedIn, also an Africani who lives in Italy, he told me a few things. When I was little, at school my history teacher said that she thought it had something to do with tools and my family are industrialists, my grandfather had a tool industry, saws, even here in Brazil.
When I talked with him, with this Italian, he said “Vanessa the origin of the Africani actually came from Egypt”.
We don't know very well the reason for Africani but Africa, the African continent is from Africa, the N is from the North, the I we still don't know what it is, if it is the plural in Italian or if it has any connection with some tribe, some other dialect information, something that existed in the region.
So, actually the Africani's origin is Egyptian, he told me that.
I didn't study in depth, I didn't go after much information, it was last year that I talked to him and he told me that. And then when I told my president, he said, “See, I told you. You had something to do with Africa, because when I met you I knew you had some role, something to do there that had to do with your last name.”
So the origin is really African.
MA: Vanessa, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. I'm sure all our followers now know you much better. As a collaborator, you will obviously continue to participate with me in future interviews, and so you will continue your participation here, but for now, thank you again for being here and until next time.
VA: I am the one who thanks everyone who is listening for this opportunity. It is truly a pleasure for me to be developing this work, which is being recognized in various parts of the world, without judging Africa, and also taking our Brazilian agricultural potential there.
I really wanted to thank everyone who has sent me messages who have been looking for me, asking how they can work with us, investors, all the people who have been looking for us in recent months to praise the work or to ask how they could be involved and etc.
May this all become a way for people to reflect on African countries.
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Picture: © 2022 Francisco Lopes-Santos