The Inside Guide: Exploring Kiwi Success in Brazil is a five-part David Schurmann documentary which tracks the journeys of six New Zealanders who have created business and academic success in Brazil - with Marco Kerkmeester * Craig Bell * Kim Moore * John McNamara & Tom Dwyer * Felicity Taylor.
Marco Kerkmeester – Co-founder of Santo Grão Coffee (Brazil)
Marco Kerkmeester is a graduate of the University of Waikato in Science (BSc), Chemistry and Information Systems, and holds a Master of business Administration (MBA) diploma from the University of Auckland.
He was a director at IBM from 1990 to 2001 and in 2002 moved to São Paulo where he founded Santo Grão, a boutique coffee shop franchise.
The company employs more than 200 people across seven stores and serves 3000 customers daily. Santo Grão Coffee is offered in over 300 cafes, restaurants and supermarkets throughout Brazil and continues to grow. Marco currently lives in Auckland.
Craig Bell – Co-founder of Leitíssimo
Craig Bell is a graduate of Waikato University in Chemistry (B.Sc.), Canterbury University in Chemical and Process Engineering (B.E (Hons) (Chem. & Proc.) and holds a post-graduate diploma from Massey University in Dairy Science and Technology (Dip. Dair. Sci. & Tech.). He also completed the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
From 1987 to 2003, Craig worked for the New Zealand Dairy Board (now Fonterra) where he led a group responsible for the research, development, and production of advanced whey products. During this time, he was transferred to Mexico as Technical Manager – Latin America, leading the development of new products and then to Brazil to assume the position of General Manager of NZMP (Brasil), managing the company’s dairy interests in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay.
In 2003 he left Fonterra to invest in and help establish Leitíssimo, a pasture-based dairy farm producing premium UHT milk in West Bahia. Leitíssimo has more than 8,000 cows, produces 13 million litres of milk, employs 130 people and generates revenues of nearly R$50m (NZ$13 million) a year.
In 2012, he established two more businesses, Delicari, a specialty retail business focused on premium dairy products produced with Leitíssimo milk, and Astrea, a service rendering business in Paraná, where he is currently chairman of the board.
Kim Moore – Founder of Georgie Skye
Kim Moore has been living in Brazil for 7 years. She moved to Belo Horizonte with Brazilian husband Helio, a civil engineer and their first child Penelope.
Kim had a career in the New Zealand fashion industry and always dreamt of having her own business. After settling in in the family’s new home, her minded turned to business. “It was hard in the beginning, very hard. I remember in those days in the back of my mind I was thinking - how am I going to get my business started? How am I going to do it when I don't even know how to get to the bakery?"
Establishing her own label, Georgie Skye in Brazil has been something of an eye-opener. Dealing with cultural differences in dressing and in ways of doing business - even the fabrics available and climate considerations have changed her way of making clothes.
“You have to try, fail, change and adapt constantly, take calculated risks and test out your products carefully. There are so many opportunities here, for things New Zealand can offer."
John McNamara and Tom Dwyer – The Academics
John McNamara: Professor of Biology at the University of São Paulo
John McNamara is a graduate of Science from the University of Canterbury, holds a Master of Science degree also from Canterbury and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biological Oceanography from the University of São Paulo. He came to Brazil in 1977, a time when plane was not even an option from New Zealand to this part of the world. He took a boat from New Zealand to Panama and travelled through the Andes all the way to Brazil. The “adventure” ended up with a PhD at the University of São Paulo, among Latin America’s best universities, where John has remained becoming a professor and researcher of Brazil’s biological resources (Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology).
Tom Dwyer: Professor of Sociology at the University of Campinas (São Paulo)
Tom Dwyer is a graduate of Social Sciences from the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), holds a BAHons from VUW, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Sociology from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (France) and has done post-doctoral research at the University of Canterbury and Cornell University. His most recent publications include, as general editor of Handbook of the Sociology of Youth in BRICS countries, World Scientific, Singapore, (2018), he organised a special issue of the journal Hermès (CNRS, Paris) on BRICS a forgotten space in 2017. In 2016 he was chief Brazilian editor of the pioneering Young university students in a world in transformation: a Sino-Brazilian Study in Chinese (Social Sciences Academic Press) and in Portuguese (IPEA). He has published widely on error, sociology of work, information technology use and sociology. He particularly likes an article entitled: "A South-South Dialogue: A Sociological Reflection on Relations between New Zealand and Brazil'. Journal of New Zealand Studies. NS 11, 191-211, 2011. He is a full professor of Sociology at Unicamp, where he coordinates the Brazil-China Study Group, within the framework of the BRICS Network University (sponsored by the Ministries of Education of the BRICS countries) he coordinates a Brazilian 'BRICS Studies' project. Past president of the Brazilian Sociological Society (2005-2009) and a former director of the International Sociological Association (2010-2014).
Felicity Taylor – Education, Tourism and Conservation Pioneer
Felicity first arrived in Brazil in 1974 as a Rotary Exchange student, and eventually she returned to live. She led several initiatives developing the New Zealand brand in Latin America and was a pioneer in promoting New Zealand’s tourism and education sectors to the Brazilian market.
In 2001 Felicity purchased Itsuni, a 75-hectare property which bounds the National Park of Serra Cipo, in Minas Gerais. There she works in conjunction with a number of conservation agencies, including The Nature Conservancy, the Danille Mitterand Trust, AMA Lapinha, Instituto Chico Mendes, to restore the Transition and Atlantic rainforest on her property to its natural state. The work has now expanded to research of rare bird species, environmental education to local communities, native tree planting and welcoming visitors from all over the world.
These documentaries have been produced in partnership with the Latin America Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence (Latin America CAPE) and Schurmann Filmes.