This March we were graciously invited to visit São Paulo in Brazil to see for ourselves the evolution of the VCAT pontoon manufacturer. VCAT owners Benedito Prado Neto (Master Viewer) and Valéria De Fusco Pereira (CEO) are two of the most genuine and kindest people you'll ever meet, along with their business partner Marcos Ferreira (Industrial Viewer) who together made sure our South America trip was as productive as it was truly memorable.
After completely starting from scratch as a brand-new pontoon manufacturing business to the point where they had to make some of the machines and equipment they needed themselves just to get started, it's hard not to be rooting for their success. Nothing about their amazing journey has been easy, which helps make their story such a good one.
When Neto and Valéria first started thinking about getting into the boat manufacturing business in their home country, pontoon boats were as foreign as a bottle of Mountain Dew to the majority of the population of Brazil. Yet nearly 15 years later, VCAT appears to have single-handedly introduced high-end luxury pontoons to the people of Brazil.
Their passion for the pontoon industry is mirrored by the nearly a hundred employees who make up the workforce with a determination to build the best pontoon boats possible. As we toured the massive 90,000-square-foot facility we were constantly greeted by friendly faces who were working hard to ensure each boat lived up to the high expectations the owners have set for their employees.
Read more about VCAT's journey in our digital June issue of PDB.
