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Alexandre Hadade

Arizona

“I saw an opportunity to make the process of graphic production cheaper, faster and more efficient.”

Country

Brazil

Industry

Prof. Services

Employees

240

Year selected

2007

partners

Marcus Hadade, Guilherme Bruno

Website

Arizona

Company Snapshot

Arizona is a one-of-a-kind technology company that provides a toolbox of technological solutions which streamline the graphics production process to make it cheaper, faster and more efficient. Its sector-leading expertise in marketing content optimization is quickly taking over the Brazilian market and has won business from major clients including Coca-Cola, Natura, Santander and Carrefour.
Arizona’s entrepreneurs – Alexandre, Marcus, and Guilherme – have transformed a small graphics department into a one-of-a-kind “technology company with know-how in graphic services.” The entrepreneurs are now poised for tremendous growth and aim to make Arizona the largest and most innovative company in its sector.
Alexandre was studying finance in Australia in 1998 when he decided to return to Brazil to work in the financial services industry. While preparing to undergo the highly selective recruitment processes of the Brazilian banking sector, he worked in the small graphics department of his family business (electric and electronic appliance industry), a company with a team of six and no computer. He began to study the graphics market and soon noticed that the graphics industry in Brazil was concentrated in the hands of a few companies that had interest in dealing only with large graphics orders. Spotting an opportunity, Alexandre decided to give up his career in finance and start a graphics firm. He convinced his brother Marcus who worked in the commercial area of the family company, to help him transform the small graphics department into an independent business.
At the beginning, the strategy was simple: focus on a market that nobody was serving by offering high-quality services for small graphics orders. In 1999, Arizona was created and soon stood out for its unique value proposition. However, the entrepreneurs were not satisfied with their work as the color of the final print was never the same as the proof. They wanted to find a way of guaranteeing that the print color was always exactly the same as the proof color, adding predictability to the process. In 2000, they created a department that would be in charge of the antecedent stage – treating and preparing the images that would then be printed by Arizona. They were so successful in perfecting color that in 2004, the entrepreneurs decided to perfect the technological tools used to provide their services. They transformed the small internal department into an independent business unit, Premedia, which concentrates on this earlier phase, providing color management services not only to Arizona, but also other graphics firms spanning multiple platforms. Marcus and Alexandre invited Guilherme to join the partnership. Guilherme supplied the initial management software used by Arizona Graphics. Today he is the company’s resident expert on technology and the graphics market. Responsible for the development of the technological tools of the company, he has become a fundamental part of Arizona’s success.

Today, Arizona boasts a “tool box” made up of several highly-scalable tools, which, in combination, provide clients with a customized solution that makes the whole graphic production process cheaper, faster and more efficient. The results attained have been so positive that Arizona’s revenue from the Premedia unit’s external customers has increased every year. Arizona has and continues to effectively transform opportunity into entrepreneurship.

Endeavor and Arizona

The Entrepreneurs have benefited from Global services such as the eMBA and G-Lab programs, Immersion Tour, and Mentor Capital Program. They also participated in local PEG and MEG programs. Meanwhile, local mentors assisted in setting up a shareholder agreement and professionalizing the structure, and set up an advisory board with several VentureCorps members. On the branding front, Endeavor has also facilitated mentoring sessions with local ad agencies.

The Entrepreneurs demonstrate commitment to Endeavor by participating in the entrepreneur selection process, and speaking at universities such as Columbia and Harvard.