When I first told my friends that I wanna stay in Brazil over Xmas, one immediatly replied: “Go hang gliding!” Ehm, well.. for those of you who don’t know what hang gliding is (I didn’t either at that time), it’s basically jumping off a mountain 😉 Sounds great, right 😉 So despite my fear of heights, I […]

After traveling in a safe group for the last couple of days, I’m on my own again.. My plan is to fly back to Rio, to deposit my luggage and then to explore the region between Rio and Belo Horizonte. It’s supposed to be an amazing region with beautiful landscape, old villages, friendly people and good […]

Today is our last official day of the trip. We’re meeting with four important people and will finish the day with an amazing “End of the World” party 😉 So let’s start.. *** Groupo Pão de Açúcar Grupo Pão de Açúcar (literally “Sugar loaf group” as you probably can see from their logo) is one of the […]

Today we had one of the best meetings on this trip! Azul Airlines! Azul Airlines was founded in 2008 by Brazilian-born David Neeleman, the former CEO of Jet Blue. Within four years they became the biggest low-cost airline in Brazil with ~15% market share. Furthermore, they also have the highest load factor (how full their airplanes […]

Today we discussed two completely different company types: Family businesses vs. start-ups or traditional sectors vs. internet. Most of the big companies in Brazil either belong to the government or very important families. One of the biggest companies *** Camargo Corrêa – – The first meeting was with one of the biggest private conglomerates in Brazil: Camargo […]

Today was a big day! With met two of the most interesting business people in Brazil, Paulo Guedes and Eike Batista, before heading to Sao Paolo to visit the other great city in Brazil. *** Paulo Guedes Paulo Guedes is a very fascinating businessman! He founded an investment bank, sold it to UBS, turned around a business […]

On our first official business day in Rio, we visited two completely different companies: BNDES, the state-owned development bank, and Peixe Urbano, the Brazilian Groupon. Welcome to the government.. During the 90’s, a lot of Brazilian companies got privatized. However, the government secretly still owns the power. One of the most important levers for the government is […]

On Sunday we explored Rio in more detail: we visited one of the favelas, the Christ statue and a samba school 🙂 *** The other side of Rio: the favelas.. The basic safety rule in Rio is “don’t go up any hill!” Everywhere else the rich build their mansions on the hillside with the most beautiful views. […]

I’m finally back in a country which values the one and only really sport on earth: soccer! As any real European, I love the Euro and World Cup! Although Switzerland was never particularly successful, luckily our neighbors around us can easily fill the gap. Nothing is better than a final between Germany or Italy. Or watching […]

The first day in Rio was already incredible!! However, as expected, my luggage wasn’t as lucky.. It made it to Rio, but then it was lost inside (!!) the hotel. They took it to another room but didn’t remember where.. argh.. it took them several hours to find it again 🙁 And of course, I didn’t […]

Hello from Rio 🙂 I finally arrived in this beautiful city. But getting here was more difficult than expected 😉 After arriving at the SFO airport, we realize that our flight is delayed. And soon it became clear that the plane will probably not fly at all this day. Luckily, thanks to my travel mates, we […]

As every visitor I have certain expectations about Brazil. So when I think about Brazil, a couple of pictures come to my mind:

So what is the real Brazil like? What are their dreams and aspirations? How does their life look like? What does is mean to do business in Brazil?

Let’s find out 🙂

Hello to my third travel blog 🙂 I’m currently traveling in Brazil to learn more about its economy and culture. Why Brazil.. As part of my graduation requirement at Stanford, I have to fulfil a Global Experience Requirement (GER). Usually, people do this by participating in a Global Study Trip where you travel to a foreign country […]

Hallo zusammen :)! Die schlechte Internetverbindung – zusammen mit den traumhaften Stränden und dem leckeren Essen – haben ihren Tribut gezollt.. 😉 Bin leider in den letzten Tagen überhaupt nicht zum Eintrag schreiben kommen. Entsprechend folgen die letzten Einträge mit etwas Verspätung.. Also, zurück in den Norden von Mosambik 🙂 Zuerst gings ja wie gesagt von […]

Hallo aus Lichinga 🙂 Nach sechs holprigen Stunden Chapa Fahrt sind wir endlich in der Provinzhauptstadt angekommen 🙂 Leider ist das die letzte Station mit Internet, bevor wir für vier, fünf Tage an den Lago Niassa aufbrechen. Deshalb hier nochmals ein paar Fotos von der Zugfahrt (weitere Fotos findet ihr auf Facebook): Die Zugfahrt war wirklich […]

Hallo aus Cuamba, einer kleinen Provinzstadt im Nordwesten von Mosambik 🙂 Heute sind wir mit dem Zug 12h von Nampula hierher gefahren. Und ich muss sagen, die Reise hat sich absolut gelohnt 🙂 Das war etwas vom coolsten und spannendsten, was ich je gemacht habe! Der Zug ist maximal mit 60/70km gefahren und hat in […]

Hallo aus Nampula, der grössten Stadt im Norden von Mosambik 🙂 Ursprünglich wollten wir von Nampula direkt mit dem Zug nach Cuamba weiterfahren. Allerdings hat sich dann rausgestellt, dass es nur 2. und 3. Klasse gibt und die 2. nur jeden zweiten Tag fährt. Da die dritte Klasse anscheinend super voll wird und die Fahrt immerhin […]

Nachdem wir nun bereits einige Tage hier auf der Ilha de Mocambique sind, habe ich endlich die Gelegenheit, meinen ersten richtigen Blogeintrag aus Mosambik zu schreiben. Die Internetverbindungen sind hier super schlecht und meistens gibts weit und breit keinen Computer. Ich werde auf dieser Reise darum eher weniger zum schreiben kommen – aber ich gebe mein […]

Hallo aus Mosambik :)! Sind seit ein paar Tagen im Land und haben uns gleich auf die Ilha de Mocambique aufgemacht. Auf der Insel ist es einfach traumhaft :)!! Aber zuerst nochmals zum Kruger Nationalpark. Schliesslich bin ich Euch ja noch Fotos schuldig.. Der Nationalpark war von allen drei, die wir besucht haben, der beste :)! […]