Black Country Reinvestment Society (BCRS) played host to an international visitor recently. Senor Adauto Ferreira Lemos, of Espirito Santo, Brazil, visited the UK on a group study exchange with the Rotary Club of Great Britain.

Paul Kalinauckas, chief executive of BCRS, escorted Senor Lemos on a full day’s tour of Wolverhampton businesses including Wolverhampton Manufacturing Advisory Service West Midlands (MASWM) and medical products innovators Medical Devices Technology International (MTDi).

In addition to hearing about how BCRS supports local enterprise by offering loans to businesses that have been refused bank finance, Senor Lemos was taken on a tour of Wolverhampton Science Park which included the new Business Solutions Centre. Snr Lemos, a business consultant, university professor and lecturer, then met with Professor Ian Oakes, pro vice chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, Research and Enterprise and Director of Strategic Developments, to discuss possible synergies between their respective educational establishments.

Senor Lemos said: “I had always heard that British people were cold, but I have been treated with so much warmth and kindness on my visit to Wolverhampton. It is a beautiful area and I’m very impressed with the businesses I’ve seen”.

Paul Kalinauckas said; “We’re delighted to welcome our international visitor. Senor Lemos is very interested the co-operative model we have developed around small business lending, and how the same could be used in Brazil. It’s been a very good opportunity, not only to explain how our small finance loan company works, but also for him to meet our client, MDTi, as it is developing a multi million pound organisation as a result of our loan.” MDTi is a finalist in the Best Knowledge Transfer category of the National ICT Excellence Awards 2010.

“Senor Lemos also met with some of the best business support services available, including MASWM and Wolverhampton Business Solutions Centre, and he is very interested in how this kind of support creates wealth and prosperity”, Paul Kalinauckas concluded. “Because BCRS has international aspirations, we would like to explore the potential with others around the world that have problems with their small enterprises not being able to access finance from banks.”

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