Our woman In… Ribeirão Preto – Guestpost by Jaqueline Wilkins

When Almeida Júnior painted O Caipira Picando Fumo in 1893, a work that so well portrayed the ordinary man in the interior of São Paulo, he did not imagine that 122 years later the caipira would be enjoying high-quality operas, producing urban culture in its various forms, travelling abroad and enjoying international cuisine, driving Land Rovers, producing cutting-edge technology in medical and dental areas, or leading one of the most important university hospitals in South America. All of this without losing the down-to-earth taste for the chewing of tobacco, the homemade cachaça, the good stories, and the original music. Or even without losing that accent that now and then forgets the plural, or remembers English by the exaggerated sound of the R. The Cairpira remains, above all, a dedicated worker that’s attentive to excellence in everything he does, and a believer of coexistence. The ribeirão-pretano, a person born or raised in Ribeirão Preto, as is my case, is this modern caipira that Almeida Júnior perhaps could never have imagined in his time.

316 km from the capital São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto holds the title of Brazilian Capital of Agribusiness given its significant production and development of productive and technological chains of: sugar cane – the first region in Brazil and fourth largest in world production -, coffee and oranges. The middle region of Ribeirão Preto is made up of about 70 municipalities and nearly four million people. Ribeirão is home to more than forty institutions of higher education, technical and technological, among them the USP and its magnificent university city that even gave the head office, in São Paulo, its current dean. It is estimated that more than 100 thousand of the nearly 700 thousand inhabitants of the city are here for educational reasons. The excellences in technological development of medical and dental equipment has around 60 companies in the sector exporting to over 150 countries with an average annual turnover of R$ 300 million.

In 2013, with the network expansion of the British Honorary Consuls in Brazil, I was honored to be invited to represent the United Kingdom in Ribeirão Preto with the initial focus on agribusiness, education and technology.

So how do I breakdown, categorize and translate the city that raised me? Here we see trucks with its giant wheels and farm brands explore the wide and urbanized local avenues – and that still divide the space with horse and carts; a place where English brands such as: Mini Cooper, Forever 21 and Burberry are just as successful as the traditional ice cream store of Geraldo da Avenida Saudade.

Arriving in Ribeirão is always a pleasure. The highways of the highest level, that connect us through the interior of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso do Sul, impress visitors and facilitate the logistics of industries and companies with headquarters in the region. Our airport connects us with São Paulo in 50 minutes, Brasilia or Rio in 90 minutes, and Recife in 180 minutes.

They say that the ribeirão-pretano is parochial to promote and defend their city … But how can we not be having one of the largest HDIs of the country, one of the largest opera theatres of Brazil with its own choir and orchestra as well as diverse theatre and music groups, and a beautiful urban and rural landscape? Considering the rankings, the titles and the large numbers; we already were the Coffee Capital at the turn of the twentieth century by pole position of world production; as well as the Capital of Beer because of our Brewery Penguin, which maintains its tradition by craft breweries, such as Colorado. We were also the Capital of sugar and alcohol from 1960; especially during the National Alcohol Program that encouraged the use of anhydrous ethanol as a gasoline additive. They also say that we were the Brazilian California because of the high numbers marked in thermometers and bank accounts! Today, thanks to the revenue generated by agribusiness, Ribeirão developed trade and the provision of services; approximately 80% of registered workers in the municipality work in these sectors.

We excel in our large scale events, too. The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism appointed Ribeirão as one of the top 10 tourist destinations in the country, especially for events and business. Agrishow is a good example as it’s the main agricultural fair in Latin America, which in 2015 had a turnover of US $ 17.2 million only in international business. Also considering, our Book Fair, one of the largest in the Americas, attracted 450,000 visitors in 2014.

For the near future, we also see opportunities in the areas of sustainability, seeing as Ribeirão is the area of restore for the Guarani Aquifer, the second largest underground reservoir of freshwater in the world; it also focuses on experienced supply chain in obtaining clean energy through ethanol. All this in addition to the academic excellence of our universities and technological pole, and the dynamics of the private sector, make the city an excellent forum for the discussion of issues and global concerns.

With this in mind, by means of active Commercial and Industrial Association of Ribeirão, in 2014 we created the Board of Honorary Consuls, gathering the local Honorary Consuls of Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Whose main objective is to promote the discussion of international opportunities and vocations of the city, and assist initiatives of two-ways with a view to increase internationalization of the region.

In his anthem, the Caipira of Ribeirão sings out loud that we are proud of Sao Paulo and Brazil, insisting that: if in thee, beloved land we have everything, yet we seek to give you more!

Jaqueline Wilkins is the daughter of a British father and a Brazilian mother. Honorary British Consul in Ribeirão Preto since June 2013, as well as Director for Brazil and Latin America for the British University, King’s College London.

Email: jaquewilkins@gmail.com