Promoting the Brazil – China business cooperation with full energy and confidence
Mar 21, 2020
Peking University, March 21, 2020: As the largest emerging-market country in the eastern and western hemispheres, respectively, China and Brazil share broad common interests, said President Xi Jinping during his official meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia, Brazil, in November 2019 during the BRICS Summit.
José Ricardo, BiMBA 2009 Part-time Class
The business relationship between China and Brazil has grown rapidly in recent years. As the recent China International Import Expo (CIIE ) concluded, the transaction volume of Brazilian businesses grew 3.6 times compared with that at the first CIIE one year ago.
The prosperous development of the business relations between Brazil and China is the result of the endless efforts contributed by the people of both countries. It is very proud to say that one of the alumni of the BiMBA Business School of the National School of Development at Peking University has played a leading and active role. His name is Dr. José Ricardo dos Santos Luz Junior, the CEO of the international branch of LIDE (Group of Corporate Leaders) in China – “LIDE China” and institutional managing partner of Braga Nascimento e Zilio Law Firm, who graduated from BiMBA with an MBA degree in 2011.
LIDE China was founded in 2013. Its main target group is the government leaders and authorities that directly influence the GDPs of Brazil and China. LIDE China plays a role to foster partnerships and strengthen the relations between both countries. Since its start, LIDE China has connected numbers of Chinese-Brazilian entrepreneurs, which made it become an utmost platform for higher integration of the entrepreneurs. LIDE China helps to create better conditions for the Chinese investment in Brazil, which encourages business transactions to happen between China and Brazil. LIDE China promotes an effective integration between Chinese and Brazilian companies; creates networking opportunities for new businesses between both countries; keeps intense bilateral cooperation that aids the mutual trade and investment as well as the necessary trade agreements to closer the economic relations.
Mr. He Jun, the Commercial Counselor of Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in São Paulo spoke very high of LIDE China -- “It brings together Sino-Brazilian entrepreneurs, serves as a paramount platform for fostering trade and bilateral investment cooperation between China and Brazil since its establishment in 2013. With the rapid acceleration of bilateral trade in recent years, LIDE China shall have much more opportunities to explore in order to promote greater integration of the Sino-Brazilian entrepreneurs and to contribute to building closer economic relations between the two countries.”
Ricardo, as the CEO of LIDE China, has been the key person fostering all the fascinating contributions made by LIDE China. “Usually, I go to China three to five times per year and I often stay there for at least three months,” said Ricardo.
During the interview, he was leading a LIDE business trip delegation visiting China. Members of the delegation include the Hon. Vice Governor of State of São Paulo, Mr. Rodrigo Garcia, and the Hon. State of São Paulo Secretary of Infrastructure and Environment, Mr. Marcos Penido. They were having official meetings with Chinese local governments, business organizations and paid visits to Chinese companies like Huawei, Megvii (Face++), China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd, United Imaging Healthcare, Fosun, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Alibaba Group, Lian Lian Pay, Dahua, among relevant and leading innovative Chinese companies.
Ricardo’s story with China dates back to 2007. Educated and professionally trained as a lawyer, he studied law at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo-PUC/SP and studied business law at the FGV/SP University. Four years after graduation, he moved to China in 2007 as the Chief Representative of a Brazilian law firm in Beijing, focusing in the areas of Corporate, Commercial, International and Labor law, through analysis and implementation of direct foreign investment.
During the 5 years of working and living in China, he researched and observed a lot about China. With the aim of having a deeper understanding of the Chinese business world and building broader relationship with Chinese business people, in 2009, he started to study part-time MBA at the BiMBA Business School of the National School of Development at Peking University.
When talking about his choice of studying at MBA at BiMBA Business School, Ricardo said “China is growing very fast, and it is extremely important for you to develop your skills with the Chinese entrepreneurs. If you want to have a better understanding of the Chinese business culture, I am confident that BiMBA is the best business school for you.”
Looking back to the study time at BiMBA, Ricardo felt it was both challenging and rewarding. BiMBA MBA gathered together the world-leading professors from both the National School of Development of Peking University and its partner school -- Vlerick Business School, one of the best business schools in Europe. It offered comprehensive and systematic business courses, as well as opportunities to do projects in some of the best companies and to connect with successful entrepreneurs and investors. Although being busy with his work, Ricardo tried his best to make full use of the study time and graduated with a “great distinction” degree.
Besides learning from the professors, Ricardo also got a lot from his fellow classmates. He admitted that it was a bit hard for him to study at the weekends for two years, as his workload as the Chief Representative of the law firm was quite heavy. But he found that his classmates, who were also studying and working at the same time, were really tough to study. From them, he learned to work hard, study hard, and of course also play hard. “I made several good friends at BiMBA and we often meet when I come to China.” He said with a warm smile on his face.
Eight years after graduating from BiMBA, he still believes that he has benefitted greatly from his BiMBA experience. “I have been doing business with China for 12 years, and I am going back and forth every year. I can tell you that I am very very happy to be one of the alumni of BiMBA. Studying at BiMBA meant a lot for me, and it is a great honor and a great experience to study at BiMBA.”
Graduating from BiMBA in 2011, Ricardo came back to Brazil in 2012. Since then, he has given legal assistance as a Brazilian lawyer to Chinese and Brazilian investors, as well as working as the CEO of LIDE China.
With his rich experience and knowledge about the Chinese business culture and entrepreneurs, he has been able to build a strong relationship between the two governments, business organizations as well as companies of the two countries. One of his main missions is to unite Chinese and Brazilian entrepreneurs, with the help and assistance from the Chinese and Brazilian governments. For example, LIDE China signed MOU with CCPIT, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, because CCPIT has a lot of experience in working with the Chinese companies which are willing to invest abroad.
Ricardo is also a diligent author, who has written a large number of articles and publications in Brazil and China, concerning the Sino-Brazilian relationship and its direct foreign investment, with emphasis on the legal aspect of this bilateral trade. He contributes annually to the World Bank's research in the areas of “labor market regulation” since 2005, "starting a business " since 2014 and "enforcing contracts" from 2017 till now. Starting from 2008, he gives lots of public speeches on the Brazil-China bilateral strategic partnership, and investment and business opportunities in Brazil and abroad. Besides, he works as a researcher for the International Court Studies Group and a researcher for the BRICS group, both at the University of São Paulo - USP, and became a member of the International Relations Committee of the OAB/SP (Brazilian Bar Association, São Paulo Chapter).
Recently he was just nominated as an advisor of CGTN (China Global Television Network) Think Tank.
When comes to the future development of the business relationship between Brazil and China, Ricardo holds a very positive view. He said that the “Belt and Road” initiative has brought profound opportunities and promising benefits for the Latin American countries. The trade volume of Brazil and China in 2018 was of 100 billion USD on its import and export. The foreign direct investment of Chinese companies in Brazil also grew rapidly from 2013 to 2018, as Chinese companies have invested 70 billion USD in Brazil during this period. It is a win-win situation, and there is a lot that LIDE China and he can do to help promoting mutual cooperation, he said confidently.
José Ricardo with Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil
José Ricardo with João Doria, Governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil
At the end of the interview, Ricardo offered a piece of advice to the prospective MBA students of BiMBA, he said, “Do not miss the opportunity of studying at BiMBA. It is a very unique experience for you and I am sure you will have a payback soon.”
Source: BiMBA
