Inflor LLC’s software helps companies manage forests and grow trees, but its focus this year includes growing its workforce in Orlando.
The 22-year-old company’s U.S. headquarters is in Orlando, but its roots are in Brazil. In fact, Inflor claims it possesses 80% of the market share in the country. Next, Inflor will scale its Orlando operations this year after the Covid-19 pandemic delayed those growth plans, CEO Antonio Tatagiba told Orlando Inno.
Inflor’s digital products are used by forest management firms around the globe to manage their production chains, simulate scenarios, calculate costs and more. Inflor software is used to manage more than 29 million acres of forest across four continents.
However, the North American market is a big focus for Inflor in 2022. As a result, the company is ramping up hiring for operations, client support and sales positions in Orlando, Tatagiba said. Meanwhile, the software development team will remain based in Brazil.
Tatagiba declined to share how many people Inflor expects to hire in Orlando this year. However, he said the company employs between 5-10 people in Orlando. The Covid-19 pandemic delayed the company’s growth plans in the U.S., and Inflor’s Orlando office remains closed, Tatagiba added.
Regardless, an innovative, high-tech company creating new jobs in Orlando is promising. The average local tech industry wage of $89,000 is much higher than metro Orlando's overall average annual wage of $48,530, according to CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Inflor’s decision to locate its U.S. operations in Orlando stems from the availability of flights to and from local airports, Tatagiba said. Inflor leadership plans to fly employees back and forth between Brazil and the U.S. for training, so the availability of direct flights is crucial. “We chose Orlando because it's quite easy to be there.”
Due to consumer demand for products originating from the forestry and logging industry, the industry’s value is growing. The global forestry and logging sector was valued at $534 billion in 2020, which is expected to increase to $727 billion by 2025, according to a 2021 report by The Business Research Co.
Inflor isn’t the only software firm popular in Brazil that aims to grow its Orlando operations. Project management software firm Prosperi, which helps keep electricity flowing and water clean across Brazil, is expanding its Orlando workforce, CEO Leonardo Nogueria previously told Orlando Inno. The abundance of destinations reachable from Orlando airports and the high number of nearby universities convinced Prosperi to make Orlando the hub of its U.S. operations, Nogueria said.
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