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To strengthen our presence in Latin America, we opened our first office in the region in January 2012. Based in Santiago, Chile, the office serves markets from Mexico to the southern tip of Chile. And after six months in operation, business is booming.

Steady economic growth and a stable political situation weighed heavily in Chile’s favour when we decided to establish a presence in Latin America. For Ole Munch, our Managing Director, Chile was an obvious choice. “We chose Chile as it offers a stable business environment and because it has become an increasingly important market for us. Being close to our customers is an important element of our strategy, and our growing customer base in the region made this a natural first step to take,” says Ole Munch.

The second step was finding the right person for the job – a fluent Spanish speaker with sound business skills. Enter Christian Barceló Juul. After a year based at our Danish headquarters learning the business, Christian, along with his Chilean wife and their two children, moved to Santiago in mid-December 2011.

Language and networking skills a must

The office opened for business on 1 January 2012. During the past six months Christian has been busy developing the Chilean business, securing a deal with a major distributor in Mexico, strengthening ties in Argentina and Peru, and completing a sale in Ecuador. In fact, business is going so well that it won’t be long before Christian has a few colleagues.

“We have a lot of interesting projects going on. It took a month or two to get established and build up a good network, but it helps that I speak the local language and have a genuine interest in the country and the customs,” explains Christian.

From sales to full service

Though he’s almost 13,000 kilometres from Denmark, Christian is in daily contact with our head office. “I’m in close contact with management, marketing and the technical team, so I have great support.” says Christian. And it’s this support that is crucial for building the business. Ole Munch explains, “Our aim is to develop a full service operation complete with spare parts and technical support. We want to help our customers optimise uptime on their machines, and offering local service will make it easy for our customers to get the most out of their investment.”

When asked about the major similarities and differences between the Danish and Latin American markets, Christian replies, “Every market is different, so it’s a matter of studying each one. The Chilean market is similar to Denmark, in that the government contracts private companies to lay and mark the roads. In Mexico, big construction companies are responsible for the entire road building process. In Peru, the government is fully responsible. So Chile was a good place to start.”

A bright future

The next six months promise to be just as busy. Christian has a number of sales meetings in Mexico, and he will continue developing a network of customers and distributors throughout the Latin American region. Christian adds, “This is a very interesting period for us. There’s a lot going on and a lot of interest in what Borum has to offer – and that’s what we’re here for – to meet our customers’ needs.”

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