News

In the 2^nd issue of the FMA Quarterly, we interviewed Cadu Ferreira (FMA’03), one of the most prominent businessmen in the booming Brazilian sports market. Due to limited space, we published only a small edited version of the interview on our newsletter. Here, you can find the full interview.

Carlos Eduardo Caruso Ferreira - or simply Cadu - graduated in 2003 (3rd edition of the FIFA Master) and is currently one of the most prominent businessmen in the booming Brazil’s sports business landscape. The founder of Golden Goal Sports Ventures, one of the most successful sports marketing agencies in the country, recently sold 60% of the company to Chime Communications plc for a reported price of €12 million. On top of that, he was entrusted by the new owners to keep running not only GGSV but the holding of other companies of the group with presence in the country: CSM Brasil. 

Once a die-hard Flamengo fan, now he’s confined to supporting the club only when he’s alone at home, far from the eyes of the general public. “This is one of the very few downsides of working with sports”, he says.

Cadu - now aged 40, married and father of an 18-month old girl – was 30 years old when he enrolled in the FIFA Master programme. By then he already had an MBA degree and a thriving career in Management Consulting, having spent six years at A.T. Kearney. However he felt he needed a change: “working in consulting can be a lot of fun for a while, but it can also be excruciatingly painful if you get assigned to the wrong projects. Football had always been a long-term goal for me, and when I learned about the FIFA Master, it immediately struck me as the right next step to my career”.

Right after graduation he was invited to work with Dr. João Havelange (FIFA’s Honorary President) in a project commissioned by FIFA. “I probably learnt as much during this second year working with Dr. Havelange as I did during the Master”, he says. After that year, Cadu was ready to set up Golden Goal. “Our first business was the development of Milan Junior Camps in Brazil, a project I learned about during our visit to AC Milan as part of the Master’s programme”.

FMA Quarterly: Could you tell us briefly what did you do before the FIFA Master and why did you decide to apply for the course?
Cadu Ferreira: I was 30 when I applied for the FIFA Master. I had an MBA degree and a nice career in Management Consulting. Thething is that working in consulting can be quite challenging and a lot of fun for a while, but it can also be excruciatingly painful if you get assigned to the wrong projects. After a sequence of interesting assignments where I got to develop the national pricing strategy for Carrefour in Brazil, or create the business plan for a new company in the acquiring industry for Visa, I foundmyself working for 6 months at an assembly line of Ford in the northeast ofBrazil.  I remember this one day when I was surrounded by a team of engineers and we were looking at a disassembled car trying to find the most efficient path for the cable harnesses within the car structure in order to save 0,5% on the final cost of the car. Right there, at a moment of extreme boredom, a light came to me and I asked myself: What the heck am I doing here? I’m not an engineer, I couldn’t care less about Brazilian cars and I immediately realized it was time for a change. I was working for A.T.Kearney for almost 6 years by then, and my career had always revolved around 3-year cycles, so moving on seemed like the right thing to do.  I had some savings, so I thought to myself: why not trying something completely different? Working with Football had always been a long-term goal for me. So I started analyzing the market, talking tosome people, and I soon learned about the FIFA Master. The programme immediately struck me as the right next step to my career and the perfect entry strategy for what seemed to be a very closed industry.

FMAQ: How did your career develop since you did the Master?
CF: The FIFA Master was the very first step to a brand new career in sports to me. From a professional perspective it was absolutely key. Besides being an incredible opportunity for developing a relevant network within the global sports industry, it completely changed the way I thought about the business of sports and it prepared me for the challenges ahead. From a personal point of view I had the opportunity to meet some fantastic people, most of them are, still today, some of my best friends. It was also a good time to take a break from what had been a very intense career. I don’t think I ever played so much football in my life as we did during that time.

FMAQ: Was the FIFA Master fundamental for the development of your career?
CF: The FIFA Master was a life-changing experience and definitely fundamental to the development of my careers in sports. Right after graduation I was offered to return to Brazil and work with Dr. João Havelange in a project commissioned by FIFA. Despite whatever opinions people may have about him, it is undeniable the contributions Dr. Havelange made to the development of Football around the world. I probably learnt as much during this second year working with him as I did during the Master. After one year, my contract with FIFA was over and I was ready to set up Golden Goal. Our first business was the development of Milan Junior Camps in Brazil, a project I learned about during our visit to AC Milan as part of the Master’s programme. 

FMAQ: You have built a successful entrepreneurship case by setting up a new company and being able to sell it a few years later to a global sports management group. What advice would you give for people willing to follow the entrepreneurship path after the master?
CF: First of all, make sure you are ready for it. Having your own business can be very rewarding but it’s also extremely demanding and risky. If you are not ready to gamble your entire life on it,don’t do it. We faced some very difficult and stressful times in the beginning and I remember there were several nights I would go to bed asking myself why in a million years had I decided to give up on a thriving career in managementconsulting to do this. The path is not always glamorous. Secondly, learn the basics of networking. You won’t succeed in the sports industry if you don’t know how to network. It’s amazing how many people overlook the very basic first rule of networking: you should never approach people to ask for things. Youshould always have something to offer them. One of the first things we did when we opened Golden Goal was to buy a large skybox at Maracanã. Surprisingly enough, we were the only sports management company owning a VIP box at the stadium and we were able to invite very relevant people to watch matches with us at the box. The number of contacts we made with this simple investment is huge. Thirdly, learn how to develop business plans. You have to be able to analyze business opportunities from an objective standpoint. Finally, differentiate yourself by investing in intellectual capital. There is nothing more valuable to the market than someone who truly knows what they’re talking about. Of course, some luck never hurts. The moment Mr. Jacques Rogue announced Rio as the host of the 2016 Olympic Games, only 2 years after Brazil would host the FIFA World Cup, I knew my life would never be the same again.

FMAQ: Why did you decide to sell the control of your company to an international group?
CF: For several reasons, but mostly because the competitive dynamics of the Brazilian Sporting market had changed. Despite of the fact that we were doing well with an annual growth rate of 65% a year over the course of 6 years, looking ahead, to make the most of the opportunities arising with the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, if we didn’t have the backing of a larger, global organization, we would certainly be swallowed by the new big sharks in the market very quickly. We were also fortunate to find a group that was growing very aggressively through acquisitions with the clear ambition of becoming global market leaders. We got along with the leadership of CSM right away and it’s been an incredible experience so far. Having worked my entire career in global organizations, I was already missing the sense of belonging you can get from being part of alarger group and the possibility of exchanging ideas and experiences with alarger number of people. CSM has recently announced the hiring of Lord Seb Coe as our new Global Executive Chairman as of January 2013, so you can have anidea on the caliber of the people that are willing to invest their careers to contribute to the growth of this group.

Today, as senior partner and CEO of CSM Brazil, I’m responsible for the development of the Brazilian business of four of the Group’s companies, including Golden Goal, the original company I co-founded in 2004. So it actually increased my responsibilities.

FMAQ: Competition has certainly increased. What should the FIFA Master do to maintain its position of arguably the topsports business master course in the market?
CF: I believe one very specific key performance indicator for any Masters programme is the percentage of students that find relevant jobs within the Sports Industry after graduation. This is certainly an area where I think CIES should continue investing by working through their privileged network and also among the alumni to find placements for a large percentage of graduating students.

Another key aspect, which can enhance the learning experience, is the quality of the applicants approved to enroll in the course. The better the level of the class, the richer the students’ experience is. This is one of the reasons some of the top MBA programmes around the world are so selective of their candidates. I was lucky because the class of 2003 was a diverse group of extremely talented and smart students, but I know from what people tell me that that hasn’t always been the case with all classes. Obviously the quality of the class also impacts on the chances of a higher percentage of students finding relevant jobs at the end of their courses and it also adds brand equity to the programme.

That’s one of the areas in which I think our alumni could be more useful to the Master. Why not using some of our alumni to do some screening interviews to the applicants?

FMAQ: There has been at least one Brazilian student in every edition of the course. Why do you think that is?
CF: If we were to create a matrix combining the size of a country with their love for football, I believe Brazil would be at the far right top corner of that matrix, meaning it is definitely one the countries with the largest number of “hardcore” football fans around the world. We are a country of 200 million people, of which 80% claim to support a local football club. So I would guess that we are one of the largest markets for the FIFA Master. The fact that Brazil is the only nation to have won 5 FIFA World Cups, a fact that not even our friend Jair Bertoni can dispute, also doesn’t hurt. So the FIFA brand is significantly strong in Brazil. I don’t have access to that information, but I would guess we are probably one of the countries with the largest number of applicants, so that’s probably the reason.

FMAQ: Brazil has a very proactive alumni community. You have participated in the organization of a successful FMA Seminar, which produced an important donation to the FMA a few years ago. What are the benefits of an active alumni community?
CF: Part of the answer to that question lies exactly on the fact that we are so many. There have been Brazilians in every edition of the Master   and, therefore, there are many of us - most of which have found relevant jobs in the Sports Industry. In addition, we have a few alumni that strongly embraced the banner of the FIFA Master and are very much engaged in promoting all things related to it. I could name Renata Roth, João Frigerio and also Pedro Trengrouse, who is passionate about the FMA, is involved with the coordination of the Brazilian edition of the FIFA Master and who was the mastermind behind the FMA seminar you mentioned. The benefits of anactive alumni community are several. Our industry relies heavily on networking and we end up being a circle of people who can get together to discuss opportunities and support each other on many levels. But this is definitely not constrained to national alumni communities. Last year our company was hired by the headquarters of P&G to develop a project involving Latin American Olympic athletes in connection with their sponsorship of the London 2012 Games and we powered up our network of FIFA Master alumni in Mexico, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina to deliver the project.  

FMAQ: How do you see the recent development of sports business in Brazil? Is Brazil the new El Dorado for sports? Is the current growth – afflux of international companies sustainable in the long run?
CF: The development of the Sports Business in Brazil is a result of two things. The first is the sustainable economic growth of the country over the last years. There is a strong correlation between the economy of a country and its entertainment industry. During recessive times, one of the first things people will cut down is their expenditure with leisure and entertainment activities. The second is the fact that over the next 4 years we will host the two major global sporting events. I would be careful to say we are the new El Dorado for sports, because Brazil is a very closed country for business. The bureaucracy around getting work visas for foreigners is a significant barrier to be added to a strange language that almost no one elsewhere understands and probably the most complex taxation system in the world. So unlike the El Dorado where anyone could come and have a shot at the gold business, the opportunities in the Brazilian Sporting industry will be there for a much shorter number of players. With regards to the afflux of international sports marketing agencies to Brazil, I believe some of them are here for opportunistic reasons and as soon as the two big events are over they will pack their bags and move elsewhere. However, I have no doubts Brazil will come out of 2016 as a complete different market as far as sport business is concerned and some companies will definitely be here for the long run.

FMAQ: In your opinion, what is the most valuable thing the FMA can offer to its members and what do you think should be its priority (priorities)?
CF: Like any Alumni from top MBA programmes, the FMA should focus on maximizing the utility to its members. It should be an efficient platform for relevant networking among its members, it should create opportunities for members to support each other and it should add value to the members by offering access to relevant information, such as market studies, subscriptions to journals, etc.

So I believe there are several things that could be done to get a stronger engagement from every alumni. I, for one, would love to continue having access to the research passwords we had at DMU. This is commonplace among many topUniversities around the world: alumni keep their accesses to the library and the research tools. I wouldn’t even mind paying a monthly fee for it, which could perhaps be a source of funding for the association.

Short profile:
   Carlos Eduardo Caruso Ferreira, 40, Brazilian.
   Married to Laura and father of Marina (18 months old)
   CEO of CSM Brasil (a Chime Communications plc. company)
Football club: C.R. Flamengo.
Most memorable sporting moment: For the wrong reasons the match between Brazil and Italy in the FWC ’82 when Paolo Rossi made me feel broken hearted for the first time in my life. For the right reasons, in 1991 at the Maracanã stadium, when I was one of 130,000 local witnesses to the testimonial match of Zico, the farewell fixture of the greatest football player of all times.