Vaisala - member of the Finnish-Latin American Business Association
Which kind of commercial activity the company you represent has in the Latin American markets – in which country/countries?
Vaisala provides weather, air quality and industrial observation systems to all Latin American countries. Our main customers include both governmental and private sector entities and businesses such as meteorological services, aviation and airport authorities, power companies and other industrial segments.
Which kind of advice would you like to give for a Finnish company planning to enter Latin American markets?
Latin America maybe geographically far away but it really is quite easy to do business there. Vaisala started doing business in Latina America already year 1939 when it was a small startup! Same success factors apply to Latin America as in Europe for instance. You will need an active good sales force (either your own or representative) and a good product. For smaller companies finding and establishing a representative network is definitely the easiest way to promote your products and keep customers satisfied with easy accessibility.
Please, tell us your success story in one of the Latin American countries?
Vaisala has been present in Latin America for 80 years and we have enjoyed during the years continued success in the bigger South American countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Chile. However, we have also discovered that sometimes the bigger deals are easier to win in the small dynamic Caribbean countries. Typically, decision making there is faster (especially in public sector / government) and there is less competition.
How do you see the position of Latin American countries in your activities during the 5 coming years?
Vaisala keeps growing in Latin America. Besides operating through an efficient representative network, we have established new offices in Rio de Janeiro (year 2012), Mexico City (year 2017) and I would not be surprised to see more offices in the next 5 years. We have also seen during the decades that there are unfortunately crises of all kinds and bad recessions from time to time in the Latin American countries. For us it continues to be important to be active all through the region in order to smooth the strong cycles in individual countries.
Your moto to do business in Latin American countries?
Be yourself! European’s and Finns are well respected in Latin America and you can succeed by being the reliable, trustworthy “Gringo” with a weird Spanish accent. Combine that with a local point of contact for your customer and you win.
Company in a nutshell: Vaisala is a Finnish company that develops, manufactures and markets products and services for environmental and industrial measurement
Name: Vaisala
Products: Weather, environment and industrial measurement systems and services
Home place: Vantaa, Finland
Personnel: 1600
Turnover: 332 Million Euros (2017)
About Mr Kajava;
Name: Aleksis Kajava
Title: Regional Director, Latin America and Caribbean
Something you would like to tell about yourself: I have been working for Vaisala for 18 years and out of those 12 with Latin American business, living also 3 years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.