Growing up in Porto Alegre during the 90’s, in the south of Brazil, I was thousands of kilometers from an English speaking country (with the exception of the Maldives). Nevertheless, I had English classes throughout school. As many middle-class kids my age continue to do today, I also had an additional English class in a language school.
We must wonder why so many parents, like mine (thankfully), were preoccupied with me learning this foreign specific language. Indeed, my parents were so concerned with me and my brother’s ability to effortlessly speak the language, that we lived as a family, one year abroad, in Maryland/ USA. Even though I had taken all those classes, I was not fluent in any sense, which was a very intimidating experience when I first went to the school there, at the age of 9. After a couple of months, I was speaking just like any American kid.
This experience was spectacular for me in many ways. Being born in a developing country, it was eye opening. I understood that there was something completely different about how the US and Brazil functioned. Learning English showed me a whole different world, and with the spread of the internet, I immediately benefited, being able to browse internationally, differently to my non-speaking English friends.
Later, after I had graduated college, the internet was already huge and Youtube was connecting the world in a new form. This access shaped my political thinking, influences, books that I read, everything. Don’t get me wrong, I still consumed a lot of content through my native language (Portuguese) but it was not the same as English. Just the massive number of people producing content on the internet in both languages is a staggering difference (60% vs 0,9% according to W3techs, a web service company).
Today, my consulting firm is looking at the world that changed so much due to the pandemic and asking: why don’t we sell to markets that pay in dollars or euros, instead of the crummy Brazilian real?
As the COVID-19 crisis hit, governments around the world practiced a very expansionist monetary policy, adding $19.5 trillion to Global Debt, according to Bloomberg. This has devalued all currencies around the world, which means that the holder of the currency is losing purchasing power with it. And the worst is your economy, the worse you will feel the debasement.
That is why positioning my company to sell to the world is the best thing I can do, so to earn in the best currency that I can get paid in (I do accept bitcoin), while having my living expenses being charged in Brazilian Real. As an example, the current exchange between the currencies of Brazil and the US is 5 reais to $1 dollar.
For this plan to happen, I must have my English skills well polished, but also, I have to the display the credentials. For these reasons, I am a student at Hayek Global College in its Global MBA. If you can speak fluently the language and are interested in the subject, I invite you to contact me to learn more about it at paulo@proteusassociados.com.br.
Earn a Hayek Global MBA. Own the World.
Leave a comment