Atlanta gets tech jobs boost from Brazil

Two-way trade between Brazil and Georgia topped $2.1 billion in 2014. Georgia’s exports to Brazil grew by 64 percent in the past five years, making it the state’s sixth-largest export market.

Georgia is home to about 40 Brazilian firms that employ roughly 5,000. They include Eucatex, Gerdau, JBS, Keystone Foods and Stefanini.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Georgia’s business development presence in Sao Paulo.

SAO PAULO - Brazilian information technology firm Stefanini is expanding its Atlanta office by adding 400 jobs, and its executives hope to collaborate with Georgia Tech to add another research office to the growing cluster around the school’s Midtown campus.

Stefanini is a technology powerhouse in Brazil, and state officials here on a trade mission said the expansion boosts the effort to make Georgia a center of IT innovation. Technology firms typically offer the kinds of high-paying gigs that set economic developers drooling, though Stefanini’s salaries were not immediately available.

“We are the place to be for IT,” Gov. Nathan Deal said Wednesday in an interview. “We are fast becoming a hub for IT, and these are exactly the kinds of high-paying jobs that we’re looking for.”

There are more than 16,000 tech companies in Georgia, according to state figures, and Atlanta hosts one of the nation's largest IT employment clusters. A Center of Innovation for Information Technology aims to help firms develop and commercialize new products.

Some 4,400 technology jobs have been announced in Georgia over the last year, and the IT market has grown by 15 percent in the last year, according to the Technology Association of Georgia.

Stefanini, which confirmed its expansion at a forum later Wednesday, was a top target of a weeklong trade delegation whose members traveled from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo this week. The goal is to establish Georgia as a gateway for a greater share of Latin American business while strengthening ties with Brazil, the world's seventh-largest economy.

Brazil has a small imprint on Georgia’s jobs market, with about 40 Brazilian facilities in Georgia that employ about 8,500 people. But trade between the two regions has surged in the past five years thanks in part to Brazil’s appetite for building materials and medical equipment. Brazil is now Georgia’s sixth-largest import market.

The South American giant's economy is sputtering and plagued by corruption and labor strife ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio. State officials, though, hope the visit could pay dividends as antsy Brazilian investors look for new international opportunities.

“Their economy is in a downturn mode, but this is an opportune time to be here,” said Deal. “And those that have the opportunity to invest are getting the message that Georgia can certainly be helpful to them.”

Stefanini primarily supplies outsourced IT support services to clients including Coca-Cola and IBM. It opened its first U.S. office in 2011 and expanded to Atlanta three years later. As it bought out smaller rivals based in Texas and Virginia, it grew to about 800 employees at its Atlantic Station office. It has thousands of employees in the U.S. now as its business shifts oversees.

“Our foundation has always been in Atlanta, and we’re using it to create a new history in the United States,” said Ailtom Nascinmento, a vice president of the Brazilian firm.

The company has big plans for its Georgia expansion. Nascinmento said in an interview that he plans to meet with Georgia Tech officials in hopes of establishing a research and design center near the school’s Midtown campus. A number of major firms, including AT&T and NCR, have built similar facilities are plan to do so.

“We are always thinking about innovation,” he said. “And we want to marry our plans with Georgia Tech.”

State officials are eager to help.

“Being pro-business is what we’re about,” said Chris Carr, the state economic development commissioner. “And IT companies know they’re going to have a partner in us.”