“Haciendo las Américas” (Making it in the Americas) is the title of the round table I’m organising this year at the Salón Mi Empresa, Spain’s leading event for SMEs and entrepreneurs.
Above all, the Salón is an event where you can learn from the best. There are no gurus: there are entrepreneurs, business owners and executives who will tell you about their best practices, but also about their mistakes, so that you can avoid them.
We’ll be in the Internationalisation Room.
After the last 7 years of crisis, in which we have all reinvented ourselves, many companies have been saved from going under because they had already gone international, and their profit and loss account has come out in the black.
Next Wednesday, 17 February, in the Internationalisation Room, those of you who come along, or watch it afterwards on Agoranews, will hear first-hand 3 stories of internationalisation in the Americas from three Spanish companies.
Let me introduce the three caravels.
The Pinta: El Ganso, a Spanish fashion company founded in 2004 by Alvaro and Clemente Cebrián. They started out selling trainers, then placed their first garments in multi-brand shops, and in 2006 they opened their first shop in Madrid’s Salamanca district. Find out a bit more in this article from EFE Emprende
Their international adventure began in 2011 with the opening of shops in Paris, Lisbon and Santiago de Chile – Chile serving more as a full-price outlet to clear European stock and as a test market for Latin America.
Later they took on a tougher market: London. Today they have more than 100 shops and a target of 30 new openings a year. At this round table we’ll be joined by Carlos Romero, their head of expansion.
The Niña: Territorio Creativo, a marketing consultancy and agency also led by siblings, Juan Luis, Fernando and Mari Cruz Polo. I’ve been a huge fan of theirs ever since they started out back in 2005. In 2009 they hit rock bottom, as they explain in their latest book Lidertarios, which led them to rethink their business model and establish a unique company culture, their #orgulloteceriano.
They have gone from 5 to 100 employees in the last 5 years, and their internationalisation began in Colombia, where they have been for 3 years, with a partner in Peru and now taking on Mexico. Here I’ll have a good friend with me, Gonzalo Martín, managing partner, who has worked hard to open and consolidate the Bogotá office.
The Santa María: OTOGAMI, a genuine tech startup in an emerging sector, online games: a super video game price comparison site to save you a few euros or dollars. One of its 3 co-founders and its best-known face, David Bonilla, will tell us, without mincing his words, about the startup scene.
It has raised funding from private investors and public funding to grow. It is also the newest to internationalisation and is trying to carve out a place in the American market, which is no easy task.
As I said, a brilliant event that’s not to be missed. I hope you don’t miss this round table and the many others of great interest. Plan your agenda carefully so you don’t miss anything, and bring plenty of business cards.
See you at the Salón Mi Empresa.
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