Members of the Brazilian American community in Utah gathered recently at the state Capitol to announce the revival of the Brazilian American Chamber of Commerce of Utah. Gov. Spencer Cox, U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, chamber leaders and members of Utah’s Brazilian community attended the event.
“We want Utah to be a place where everyone feels welcome, where everyone feels like they have an opportunity to succeed. That is the American dream,” Cox said during the Salt Lake City event. “Whether you come from Brazil, whether you come from Mexico, whether you’ve been here for six or seven generations, it doesn’t matter. We don’t care. We want to make sure that you have the opportunity to follow your dreams.”
“Our community has a strong entrepreneurial spirit. They are dreamers,” said Erivan Santos, originally from Brazil and executive vice president of the chamber. “The goal is to support and lead our community to be entrepreneurs.”
There are about 30,000 Brazilians and Brazilian Americans in Utah, according to Carolina Herrin, a member of the chamber’s board of directors. She said that makes them the fourth-largest racial or ethnic community in the state, behind Mexicans, Salvadorans and Peruvians.
The chamber has teamed with the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, World Trade Center Utah and other business entities as part of its revival efforts. Herrin said many Brazilians operate businesses and her and the chamber’s aim is to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit among them in Utah.
Utah exported $203.2 million in goods in 2023 to Brazil, the state’s 13th-largest export market, according to the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. Cox said he sees potential for increasing that number.