Palava Global - New 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? 

- We have various clients interested in the Latin American market, especially SaaS businesses with no need for a physical supply chain, and at the moment we are delivering customer projects in market research and targeted digital marketing activities, in Spanish of course.

In addition, we are currently negotiating various business partnerships in the region, mainly Mexico, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. We have been scouting for partnering organizations, through which we can help Finnish SMEs to reach and deploy business opportunities in Latin America. We are open to new partners.

We have also gotten some interest from Latin American clients wanting to establish themselves in Finland, who have come to us asking for our services.

Which kind of advice would you like to give for a Finnish company planning to enter Latin American markets?

- Always require a payment first. This is standard procedure, and trust should never be extended to important monetary transaction.

Invest some time and be present with your business partners at least in the beginning of the business relationship. In Latin America, things are bound to look very easy and positive in the beginning, but to actually get results, you will have to be personally involved with the people, so that they feel personally obliged to deliver. Also, extensive follow up is extremely important, so that your partners feel you are invested in them. 

Find people or a partner who can serve as a reference to important people. Latin Americans give their attention to friends and whoever their friend says are friends.

Learn Spanish/Portuguese or have partner with language skills and resources.

Please, tell us your success story in one of the Latin American countries?

A SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) company came to us with the desire to internationalize in general, and in the market research stage we suggested they start with the Spanish-speaking world through search engine optimization in Spanish, and social selling (distributing content through relevant groups and channels on the web and social media). We negotiated a collaboration post with a Colombian industry blog, that had 6000 monthly readers and that was an exceptional match for the company's services. The blog post was a huge success: the company had close to 200 subscriptions from Colombia to its demo portal in one night. With these subscriptions, the company had access to the contact information of the subscribers but did not possess the Spanish skills to contact them, in which we also helped them in order to find the actual potential clients. Now the company is negotiating for distribution rights in Colombia and surrounding regions, as well as with large banks and insurance companies, that were also among the subscribers, potentially requiring hundreds of licenses for their service.

How do you see the position of Latin American countries in your activities during the 5 coming years?

- We see the position of Latin American countries in our business activities as very crucial. Latin America holds a lot of important opportunities to Finnish companies in the areas of Finnish expertise, and goods and services that the Finns take for granted could immensely serve the region's infrastructure and societies as a whole. When it comes to Latin America, our mission is to inform Finnish actors more about these opportunities and show the way to take advantage of them, with our help.

Your moto to do business in Latin American countries?

- Always build a personal relationship with your counterparts as soon as possible.

Would you recommend the membership of the Business Associations or the Association you are the member of and why?

I would highly recommend membership to anyone interested in the vast opportunities Latin America offers, because the events that are organized by the association cover a wide range of topics and gather people who are experienced in this field in the same place. You also have the opportunity to meet people who are well connected and to acquire business information on the market in ways that would not be possible in other ways.

Company in a nutshell

- Providing companies with everything they need for their international business activities

Name

Palava Global

Products

- Professional internationalization services
Home place

- Helsinki
Personnel

- 3

Turnover

- 500 000€

Name

- Anna Korkalainen

Title

- Director, International Marketing Services

Something you would like to tell about yourself

- I have been living and travelling in the Latin American countries since 2013, and I have always been fascinated by how many services and innovations that we take for granted in Finland are not present in Latin America, despite of the wide adoption of technology and digital devices. At the same time, few Finns have yet to even visit the region, and with only the negative news reaching our media, it is no wonder the lack of information about simply how life is in Latin America is deterring Finnish people and businesses from even considering opening business activities there. I would personally and professionally love to see the Finnish-Latin American relations become more of a norm in our society.