Confectioner Higor Eduardo Martins, 24, has gone from being an exchange student to an entrepreneur in Dublin, where he runs his business, Its2eat. But whoever sees his pastries and savoury factory prosper in Ireland, and fall in with the locals, doesn’t know the great story of overcoming that exists behind this Brazilian.
The former exchange student started working at age 12, in a bakery, and at age 14 he already had an adult’s salary. I took a computer course on Saturdays, studied in the morning and then went to work.
European dream
“It was a friend who told me about Ireland. I told my parents about my goal. They told me they couldn’t help me. I just told him that I didn’t need money.”, Higor revealed how he found out about the opportunity to study and work abroad.
The baker had already made many dreams in his life, and that would not be the one he would let go of. “From now on I would change our history. I had my documents done, my suitcase and thanks to the help of the people I worked with in Brazil who made my arrangements, I bought my euros and boarded”.
Sweet Emerald
Higor landed on the Emerald Isle, as Ireland is commonly called, in 2017, without knowing any English. At his start in Dublin, he baked coxinha at home and sold it at school to supplement his income “I arrived without English. I made coxinha at home and sold it at school. Then I started working for Brazilians, as I didn’t speak English. I always said that one day I would open a factory in Ireland,” says Higor.
Over time, he gained confidence and that year he opened his factory, which sells sweets, confectionery and bread. “Once a friend I consider very much here looked me in the eye and said: So, when are you going to set up your business? For me, it was something beyond my reach.”
Today, his business has become a reference in the Irish city, and now that humble boy has become an entrepreneur, and he is already planning to bring his parents and younger brother to live with him in Europe.
“Today we are a factory and soon we are going to open our coffee shop. We want to grow much more because in this life there is no limit. You want to grow, help whoever you can and show that the only thing you need is to be alive and healthy. The rest we got up and ran after. I’m very proud to be Brazilian, proud to go through everything I’ve been through. I always say that people don’t put limits on their dreams. Do everything possible for yourself. We need to take the first step, be persevering and have determination”, emphasizes the owner of Its2eat.
