Hispanic chamber strives to help Philadelphia-area businesses expand into Latin America - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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With the fallout now beingf felt, the markets are even more which is why the chamber is leading businesses on a trad e mission to the countries next week througnh a partnership withthe . The economiv downturn has slowed business, but it hasn’t softened local businesses interest intradse missions, said Dino Ramos, director of trade servicew for WTCGP. Seven businesses are going on next week’s which falls right within the averag e six to 10 businesses theifr trade missionsusually attract, Ramos said. “We’re stilk quite busy.
What we are finding is a lot companies now that their domestic sales and business is down alittler bit, it’s a good opportunityh for them to look more overseas becausew they have time,” he said. “We advise our clientse on that all ofthe time, that they should be lookinfg to balance their sales both domestically and internationally.” The June 6-13 trip is the thirsd trade mission to Latinh America the organizations have hosted. Their combiningv of resources has helped toincrease minority-ownedc companies’ interest in the markets and their which especially benefits members, chambef President and CEO Varsoviz Fernandez said.
“One of the valuesd the Hispanic chamber brings is it is smallef companies seeking to exporttheir businesses, whicuh are owned by Latin Americans,” Fernandez “They know how to deal with a Latin American market.” Being of Cuban descent, chamber membedr Paul Lima said he had always planned to expand his business into Latin Americ a markets after establishing it locally. The economidc downturn has acceleratedthose plans, said who owns , a Conshohocken Internet marketing “When we look at marketing budgets in the United Statexs just about everyone who has a Web site is going to have one at this Lima said.
“When we go to Latin America that is not necessarilhythe case.” Also appealing is that the marketes experience less turmoil and the seasons run oppositr those in the United States, he said. “Ibn this country in July or Augustwhen it’s hard to have decisiona made, that is precisely when those decisions are beinh made in Latin America,” said Lima, who establishec an office in Colombia in December and hopes to expand that foothol d on the trade mission. Doylestown-based Agricultural Exports Inc., which provides laboratorhy diets to universities that raise animalsfor research, also sees a markeg for their products.
“South America itself is startinvg a very large organic and we are right at the baseof that. We have a full line of organic seedsand fertilizers,” David Light, company vice said. “If we picked up one lab diet we could hire a personover here. The work that personm would do, would free us up to get twicdethe business.” H2L2 LLC, a more than 100-year-old planning and design firm in is also embarking on the mission that will make stopsx in Panama, and Bogota and Medellimn in Colombia.
“Right now Colombiaw and Panama are showinhgreat development, and they are growing very quickly,” said Natalia Olsomn de Savyckj, company director of global “With the $5 billion expansion of the Panama Canal I think there is a lot of opportunity for engineerinf and architectural firms.” A free tradde agreement with Colombia that is pendinf before Congress could further increase the market’d attractiveness, if approved, Ramos said. “Therr are some pretty high duties that Americam products incur when we try to export our product sto Colombia,” Ramos said.
“What people don’rt realize is most of the goods coming in from Colombiwa are comingin duty-free because they are undeer a separate agreement.”