David Portes

David de Medonça Portes

David is a Brazilian entrepreneur born in the state of Espirito Santo, on 1957. His history is much a like all other Brazilians who grew up in the country part of Brazil. From a poor family and living far from school, David attended only until 7th grade and spent most of his time working in a sugarcane farm with his family. After getting married David decided to change his life and moved to Rio de Janeiro to pursue his dreams: a family, a home, dignity and happiness.

David worked for a brief period of time in a vinyl LP factory, and after its bankruptcy, he saw himself homeless, with a pregnant wife and no money at all. When his wife needed pain medicines, David history started to change. The doorman from a nearby building, sensitized by David history, lent him R$12,00 so he could afford to buy medicine for his wife. Instead of buying the medicine, David went to a candy factory and spent all his money on candies and sold them quickly on the streets, doubling his initial money. He then bought his wife`s medicine, and went to the same factory again, and kept selling candies and doubling his initial amount; increasing his variety also improved his sales.

After 1 year on the new job, he had the insight that he would need to invest on what he called “street market”. On that time, only malls and big stores did promotions and deals. With the increasing number of candy stands he saw the opportunity to be different and break the mould. He started doing deals so people would be attracted to buy from his candy stand; he also “created” the drive thru system, where he would sell candies to the drivers direct in their cars stopped on the red sign. With no access to the internet and with the help of a friend he created an email where he would receive the order, and his friend would give him the order with the help of a little rope from the nearest building. From monthly deals and even hiring models to attract the attention from the consumers he started to become famous with his innovative marketing ideas.

His success was so big, that he draw attention from the president of the “Instituto de Marketing Industrial” (Industrial Marketing Institute) who invited him to do a speech for 180 entrepreneurs. Nowadays, David is invited to do speeches to all around the globe charging from U$8,000 to U$ 12,000, and even for big companies such as Petrobras, Shell, Samsung and Motorola.

In 2010, David started his new entrepreneur phase, linked to promotional marketing. From his experience as a street vendor, he chooses to invest in a new marketing proposal which consists to draw attention of the consumers from a non-conventional way. After several interviews, David made it clear that his intentions is to spread his sales philosophy to the publicity`s world.

David values are:

Smile – The smile means the same thing on every idiom. It helps to open doors, as well wallets, and the best of all, smile is free and helps to improve the life of everyone.

The Client – He needs to be treated with respect and kindness, because without him there is no sale and no money. He is always right and always has the reason.

Boldness – Who arrives first drink clear water, and who arrives later will have only the rest. If you want something in your live you need to run and be the first.

Humble