Communication Is Important When Doing Business in Latin America

Estonian entrepreneurs already working in Latin America spoke about their experience during the Latin America Forum on 20 September. In their opinion, it is important to actively communicate with locals and be patient about time in order to achieve success in Latin America.

Viktor Sära, head of family company Brillare OÜ imports coca beans from Venezuela. „There is no specific recipe for success in Latin America. The most important is active communication, and if necessary, speaking about three different topics at once,” said Sära. Working in the food sector, he considers quality of raw materials to be of the highest importance.

Quality is what Annar Alas, CEO of Coffee People is also looking for from Latin America. „The quality of coffee beans is very important for our company. With my quality requirements I have encouraged local farms and farmers to contribute more to quality and sustainability, which in turn facilitates development of the Colombian farms,“ says Alas.

Tiit Vapper has been active on the Mexican market for years already. His company is developing the IT sector. „Mexico is similar to the USA, which consists of states. Therefore it would be reasonable to start your business from one state and move on to other states,“ recommended Vapper.

Markus Vajanne is a Finnish entrepreneur who has been involved with Latin America for already 20 years. „In terms of business, Latin America is similar to other developing countries, but it has even more opportunities. The cultural and language similarity that can be found there on a very large territory is one of the greatest advantages for doing business in that region,“ he said. He also thinks that speaking Spanish or Portuguese is of utmost importance.

The Latin American Forum was organised within the framework of the Development Cooperation Project. The project is financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the development and humanitarian assistance funds.