WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Latin Metech Leaders podcast, a conversation with Metech leaders who have succeeded or plan to succeed in Latin America.
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Welcome to the Laptop Me Leaders podcast.
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Today our guest is Mona Veda.
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Uh, she is one of the creators and founders of the startup called Bio Linker in Brazil, which in 2019 was awarded as one of the top 500 best biotechnology startups in the world.
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So I'm very pleased, Mona, to have you here is, uh, is an honor to to, to speak to you today and to, uh, find out, uh, from you what experiences you've had in Brazil, what best practices you can tell our listeners and, and, and, uh, for newer companies outside at Brazil in the US or Europe.
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Uh, Brazil is kind of a mystery.
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It's a huge market.
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It's a sexy country, uh, but, uh, it is difficult to navigate.
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It has this reputation of, it's a very protective country.
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Uh, you have to spend a lot of, uh, time, the bureaucracy of Brazil and all that.
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So I wanted to talk about all that today.
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So,, let's get started.
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One, how are you doing today?
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Thank you for vacation.
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Um, I'm very happy to be here to tell for all about how he's doing here in Brazil, how he is due business in Brazil.
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Uh, it's, it's going, it's, it's like a very big adventure to be here, but, uh, it's my country, so I know a lot of things about here.
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It's, it's amazing too.
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Yeah, Yeah.
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I'm sure, I'm sure you have a lot of accumulators experience, uh, that you wanna share today, and I appreciate that.
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Thank you again.
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All right, Mona, so let's get started.
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Uh, talking about your journey.
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How is it that you got to where you are today?
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How is it that you got to start by linker?
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What's the story behind all that?
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All right.
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Hi.
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Uh, I am, uh, cutting kit, like I am scientist.
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So I starting my journey to be, uh, an academy.
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Um, learning a lot.
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I, I did, um, medical ary for graduation.
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After that.
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I did master and biotechnology and, uh, uh, PhD and biochemistry nanotechnology.
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It was a double degree between Brazil and Slovenia.
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So I, I went to Slovenia and then everything changed in my mind.
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Uh, since the beginning.
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I love to do translational science.
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Like I want to do, do applied science to change the words.
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I think every scientist love this idea, but someone's like more the, But I really appreciate to do some applied science.
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And in Brazil, uh, the scientist professional, it's very, to be a professional scientist, it's close place.
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There aren't a lot of position in industry.
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It's always in university, the position to be scientists, and then you need to be professor too.
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And then I love, I love both things, but, um, when I went to Venia, I married as Venia guy, and then my life changed a bit, and it, it was the point that I, learning about companies, uh, companies, ideas and startup accelerations process.
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And I always have a lot of ideas.
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And I, but, and that time, uh, biolink burning, like I, I starting to make the process to to, to accelerate and get money for bio linking.
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And we got, um, um, like, um, oh my gosh, I lost the word.
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So, uh, we got, we got, um, investment for buyer.
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Uh, they want to invest one, one$100,000 on the idea of Biolink.
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And for me, this was like, um, uh, open the door.
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It was a new word, even doesn't know how to do PT and how to talk business.
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I was a pure scientist for lab, uh, doing, uh, in focus how to do things, not, um, how to solve problems or it's, it a different way to solve problems.
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But when we, you are scientists, you, you, we are Fox, um, a process and, um, how to improve process and how to discover new details.
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And it was exactly that point that Biolink start.
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And, but unfortunately we didn't went to this investment in Ireland.
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And then I apply in Brazil to get money and by back to Brazil, and I come in with my family and we start the company here in San Paulo.
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So we got a of investment here because we are very, we are only the only company in Latin America doing this.
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So what we do, uh, we work to accelerate the protein process.
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So we have a self repro expression systems.
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It's honor for the company.
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We develop a cell line, is that improve the process for protein expressions, protein folding, uh, with toxic proteins.
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We have a very, very fast at moment for Latin America, uh, production of protein.
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So we, we did solutions since the dna, a tier proteins, we, we designed the dna, designed the process to solve the proteins, uh, and increase the weed of expressions and facilitate to purification process.
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In the end.
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That's very important because this, it's a responsible for 70, uh, percent of, uh, fail in production of proteins.
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It's not a easy way, it's not, there aren't easy way to make proteins.
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Proteins very fitted.
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Every pro different protein.
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You have a different protocol.
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It's hard need specialized people.
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So we are planning to automat this process in the future.
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That's why we, we got, uh, this word in Paris, and we still working on this now.
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So the company is now a Brazilian company.
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You guys produce these, uh, proteins, right?
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That's the end product for the local market.
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Where are you also exporting to other countries?
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Yeah, we starting sport now as I for other companies, but it is in, in beginning process to export.
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Is it a market for that or outside Brazil?
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Oh, yes.
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Really?
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Okay.
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It's a huge market for only for service for proteins.
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Like we, we, we do it now, it's$63 billion the market.
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Wow.
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.
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But each protein can have your only market.
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Wow.
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Like, like one, we, we did antibodies, uh, expressions, for example, for one company, this antibody synthetic only have your own market like three billions for this or even more, 70 millions.
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Uh, like that for self protein expression.
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The market is smallers.
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They are a new technology.
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Uh, I, uh, it's 260 million the market right now.
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But it's growing and we, we want to be one, like, it's very nice.
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It's, it's amazing technology.
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Like they are very fast to make protein, but it's still not, um, scale process because of the, um, the, it's still expensive and we need to improve some points here.
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It's like a year project, yet we are working now for the future, but this technology, we enable a lot of things in the future, probably.
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That's amazing.
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It's, I love it.
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.
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No, I can tell you.
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Love it.
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Yeah.
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So is it, is it just you, you have a co-founder?
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Uh, what's the structure of the
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Company?
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Yes, of course.
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Uh, we do not do anything along.
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Uh, I'm this girl like that.
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I, I love people.
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I, I, I'm leader.
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Like, I love to convince people and I have a amazing people around me.
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It's like, um, uh, always say that I am not saying without you and you nothing without me like that.
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Um, right now we are three partners, uh, founders.
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Okay.
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But we got, um, uh, investor recently December.
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So he, he coming to, to the partners process.
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But we are 11 people, 11 amazing people working every day to make protein for Brazil, of Brazil.
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Okay.
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So let's talk about Brazil.
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Let's talk about the industry.
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Let's talk about the regulatory challenges, all that.
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What's what's the process within?
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And visa.
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And Visa is famous for being difficult, right?
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And, and, and, uh, bureaucratic and, uh, everything takes forever.
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And, uh, corrupt sometimes, right?
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There's corruption.
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That's, that's what people hear in the United States.
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In Europe.
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It's political.
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Political, exactly.
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It's very political.
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So let's talk about that.
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What, what are your thoughts on Visa?
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Okay, um, uh, it's like after Covid 19, they're starting to be more transparent and also, uh, the open, uh, channels to communication with.
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So it start to be more clear to me how they work and not.
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So, uh, it's like there are a lot of gossip about nvi.
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So, but I don't like gossip.
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So I, I starting to dig, dig in to discovery better.
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How does really work?
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Because, uh, it's, it's like, oh, you're worrying about everything that say a visa or regulatory process.
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Even that I, I didn't have a education for that.
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So it's like that I'm learning every day.
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But, um, it's like you said before, um, I hear a lot of history about Invi.
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Right now we are with new plant that is bigger for regulatory process.
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And then I start to talk in this tenure with the visa, they ends me, well, they do all instructions.
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Um, for, for at moment.
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My relationship is going well, and I really advise to everyone that come here trying to use these chains to communication directly with these, uh, if it's possible.
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Of course, it's I Portuguese, so you need to translate.
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And, um, but they answer very fast in two days.
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Right now, I guess it's because of Covid 19, after Covid 19, uh, they starting to make more fast process and more clear process too.
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And I am very happy because it's like, um, there are a way to discover better, uh, not be, it's not, it's like, it's like you don't have a, a lot of informations and the website, but
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Yeah, exactly.
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Doubt.
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Notice that.
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Yeah.
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Any doubt you go in the channel and writing
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Oh, and they, you really
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Answer you.
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Exactly.
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Yeah.
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I found that very weird.
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I, I spent about an hour, hour and a half or so looking for something for medical device regulations and, and for the cata, the, the, uh, yes.
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Yeah.
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Uh, and I couldn't find much information, is I, I found more information in English than in Portuguese.
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Oh, right.
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I mean, in other, from other sources.
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From other sources, not from a visa.
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So anyway, but your product is regulated by Avi.
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So you've had to have, um, you have to go, you've gone through the regulatory approval process of your manufacturing.
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How does it work?
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Right now, we are regulated for CT and E bill, that bio, bio safety.
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Um, they, they call, uh, National Center of Bio Safety Security in Brazil that they regulate all, uh, ogm, our organism genetic can modified that we work on.
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So we have a, this number and everything, um, and conform it with them.
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And any other product we do, they, they know, uh, for nvi, we starting to have some products now to start to be regulated for nvi.
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That's in the field of KY process because after covid 19, we, the company was, um, um, cat up for, to work into, to do, um, covid 19 testing.
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Um, so for this kind of product, we need Avis registrations.
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Okay, I see.
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So
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Yeah, that's why I started to talk with Avi.
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See, trying
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To see.
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Yeah, yeah,
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Yeah.
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But it's in process.
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So I, I, I would say that for now, my experiences is going well, they answer me back.
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For example, I didn't know.
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And then there are any information about how many tests you need to do to validate your test and a visa, for example.
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So I wrote, then they answer me with the number and the process, and it was very clear for me.
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And then it was more easy than people talk to me before.
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So I really advised, just talked with them directly.
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Okay.
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Okay.
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In Brazil, Yeah, in Brazil before.
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So that's trying to talk.
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Exactly.
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And also in Brazil is st problem.
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Uh, when you don't have this, uh, regulation, very clear, uh, the problem is even the people that work inside that sometimes doesn't know how, and then they give you information wrong.
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Oh one, people say, yes, you can do.
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Other people say, no, you cannot
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Contradictory information inside the agency
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Inside of this.
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This is complicated for, for, for ranger.
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I, I have for
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A foreigner.
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It's crazy.
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They say, No, it's not possible.
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Wow.
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Interesting.
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Huh.
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All right.
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So, uh, I guess there are plenty of regulatory consultants in Brazil.
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If a company wants to do business in Brazil, they should probably hire the services of a consult to deal with that visa.
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Yeah, exactly.
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All very easy.
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So, yes.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So let's talk about doing business in Brazil, uh, in general, starting a company, having employees.
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How is it, I mean, is it difficult?
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Is it, is it bureaucratic?
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Uh, what do you think about it?
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Yeah, for open a company here is very fast.
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The process, like, I think as, uh, it's still a problem.
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The, the fees, uh, accountability process.
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Yeah.
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Accounting
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Account, account counter process is crazy.
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Really.