It was the first week of February, 2020, when Sapiens Global team received a demand from our partners in China, seeking for help on finding masks and other devices for hospitals. At that time, the Chinese industry was closed temporarily, in order to better understand and contains the virus spreading. It was a localised situation in China, with some spots in South Korea and in Japan. The world didn’t expected what was coming a few weeks later.
Our team in Brazil contacted local factories and distributers and we could help our partners in China, Singapore and Japan to import protection masks. Weeks later, Europe was in the middle of the Corona Virus situation and very soon it was decreed as a pandemia by the World Health Organization. Soon our efforts were back to China, sourcing for protective devices to send to Portugal and then, to Brazil. The market was uncontrolled: prices rising overnight, devices disappearing from distributors.
Government officials from Brazil and Portugal asked for help but it was not so much for us to do. Digging deeply in China, we came across new factories and exporters, creating new channels for Brazilian, Portuguese, Singaporean, Japanese and many others to find suppliers for their necessity.
Our team is now with 70% of its capacity dedicated to help buyers and sellers, using all our strength and experience in Business Matchmaking, playing in the fields of logistics, financial and mainly as a trade facilitator to accelerate the process to move the essencial merchandise across continents, helping to avoid abusive trade behaviour and malpractice in business.
Thanks to our business partners around the world and to our dedicated team, we are joining efforts to surpass this situation very soon.
The pictures show the first cargo from Brazil to China, a total of 16,500 masks and the arrival of 165,000 masks in Singapore. 
Sapiens Global and COVID-19
