eAQUI

Latin eVentures comes to Brazil

São Paulo - Latin eVentures, a private company addressing the electronic commerce sector in Latin America, launched its business-to-business solution in Brazil yesterday in São Paulo with computer products. With that start, the company is initiating its activities in the country and is beginning a long-term plan to establish different electronic ventures in Latin America. According to the founder and president of the company, Cenmar Fuertes, Brazil is the first country because of the size of its market. "It is expected that in 1999 the Brazilian information technology market will reach over 17 billion U.S. dollars in sales," says Fuertes.

The goal of Latin eVentures, founded in June of this year and with headquarters in the United States, is to create an E-commerce service gateway for large and medium-sized companies. The first service, announced yesterday, is the eAQUIB2B. It promises to offer the corporate market a large selection of products tied to computers with competitive prices and quick delivery.

Competing with strategies like that of Dell Computer, Sony Music, Ford and other companies that are launching their own sites for direct sale of their products, Latin eVentures is betting on acting as an intermediary between manufacturer and consumer. "The present process of search and buy is so complicated by red tape that our solution of search and buy based on the Web will transform the buying habits of corporateexecutives in Latin America," affirmed Cenmar Fuertes.

The hardware and software stock will be made up of known brands like Apple, 3Com, Compaq, IBM, Novell, Microsoft and others. "We are using the resources of Ingram Micro, our strategic partner, since it has 8,000 retailers in Brazil," said the president of the Brazilian subsidiary, Marco Antonio Rossi. According to the founder of Latin eVentures, Cenmar Fuertes, in spite of being a Latin American company and having Ingram Micro as chief supplier, it is not the only one. "We have suppliers in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Before announcing its operation on the market, Latin eVentures arrived with a test version, currently in use by five companies: Antarctica, Santista, Nestlé, Ecovias and GR. All of them have a personalized Interface and can buy monitors, CPUs and other components, in real time, knowing the prices of the different manufacturers, cumulative purchase amounts and purchase order number.

Latin eVentures intends to have over 10,000 computer items in its databank. As for investment and turnover expectations, the executives do not disclose amounts, but do report that within four months it will have over 125 employees - now there are 25 - and will be operating in Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The company's next step may be a consumer version.

Renata Deos