I was so proud of Brazil. They deserved the Games to be just truly amazing. Things haven’t been easy for the ordinary people behind the world-reaching crisis headlines.

Watching the opening ceremony, I realised that there’s so much about South America the world doesn’t know.

Hopefully the Games will bring our continent a bit closer to everyone, including those wanting to do business with us.

But how about global trade professionals? What can they learn about exporting to South America (all countries south of Panama) from these unforgettable days?

1. Understand and celebrate South American diversity

The first lesson is just how diverse the continent is. Even Brazil itself is so rich and varied, and this diversity was clearly celebrated at the Opening Ceremony.

If you also paid attention to the different South American delegations when parading, you would have seen this diversity in their faces (which can tell you a lot about ethnicity, for example, and immigration) or their names. Even looking at the sizes of different delegations will tell you a lot. Understanding the diversity within South America is key for doing business with the region.

2. Extreme wealth and poverty are part of most economies

It’s clear, too, that South America is a continent of contrasts, with some of the highest inequality levels in the world. Brazil is a prime example of this, but it’s not alone in the continent.

While there are billionaires in the region, there are also people starving. Rio shows it clearly, with its favelas overlooking the most amazing mansions of Leblon.

This means, for example, that there is potential for products and services for all market segments. Opportunities exist for everything from electronic payment methods that serve the most deprived, to super yachts and beyond.

3. Quick recent growth presents huge opportunity

The idea South America could host the Olympic Games wasn’t something everyone believed in 20 years ago. To watch those amazing (yet highly controversial) sporting venues being constructed and used in our own continent shows the level of growth achieved in the past 10 to 15 years and the confidence that this has brought to the region.

This growth has come with its pains, some of which exporters like you can help solve, in areas such as infrastructure, logistics, security, health, education, financial inclusion, energy, public governance and more.

I personally also hope that these Games have shown the world that South America isn’t really that far away, and that there’s talent here and business to be won.

4. Hard to think about exporting to South America without including Brazil

As a South American myself, as much as I’d like to see this as “our” Games, these were Brazil’s Games. Brazil not only represents most of South America’s GDP, but also dominates the region’s trade with the world.

It’s a difficult country to ignore in your export strategy, whether you go for it or not. Just looking at a map will show you the immensity of a country that, this time, delivered what it promised.

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Bill Macheras, CITP|FIBP, is a Trade Commissioner with DFATD in Toronto, Ontario.

Even after working in international trade for almost fifteen years, Bill’s enthusiasm for his work is equaled only by his networking skills with others in the industry, and his knowledge of the everyday problems that SME’s face when exporting their goods, services and technologies.

Destined to have an international career

When Bill completed his Masters of Public Administration degree from Queen’s University, global trade was not even on his radar. Instead, his plan was to become a government manager in one of the many federal departments.

But he became captivated by the very interesting and challenging work in the international trade and investment portfolio at one of his first positions with the federal government – with Industry Canada’s International Trade Centre (ITC) in Toronto in 2001.

“Then, in 2005, the Prime Minister made some departmental changes, and all the ITC’s across Canada that were with the Department of Industry were brought into the Department of International Trade (now known as the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada).”

It was a roundabout route to an international trade career, through sheer luck and a departmental re-organization.

“My colleagues and I joined the well-regarded and historic Canadian Trade Commissioner Service that year.”

Helping Canadian companies develop their international business

Throughout the course of his career, Bill has helped hundreds of Canadian companies, mainly small and medium-sized companies, to prepare for and obtain more international business.

“It’s really the SME’s that need most of the support, advice and contacts we can provide… and SME’s continue to comprise the vast majority of our clients, both in Canada and abroad.”

After identifying Canadian companies capable of going international, and visiting and researching these companies, Bill is able to qualify them as official Trade Commissioner Service clients.

Once that process is completed, Bill is able to offer them targeted meetings to develop key contacts in their sector or target market, such as buyers, agents and distributors, as well as targeted events like roundtables, conferences and  trade shows.

Bill has spent years meeting new businesspeople and helping them with issues of all types. He’s now built up a network of over 800 contacts he can talk to when helping businesses, covering every area of global trade.

In some cases, the needs of the businesses he talks to are more immediate than others.

“Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of troubleshooting and problem solving with US-Canada border issues. Sometimes companies will get stopped and not have the right documentation and need me to advise them on what to carry over the border the next time so as not to get stopped.  ”

Some companies don’t even know they’re not using the right documents because they’ve crossed the border several times before and never been stopped, so it can come as a surprise.

And lately, Bill has been helping Canadian companies facing “Buy American” requirements in the US.

“On the recent Buy American issue, I help with troubleshooting Canadian companies who have been asked by their US customer if, for example, their steel products conform to BA regulations.  The typical SME has no idea what this requirement means, so we help them figure it out and work it out with their customers”.

He says cases like this are more common with SME’s, who don’t always have the manpower to research everything themselves. With his expertise and contact network, however, Bill is able to save companies hours of time by sending them what they need quickly.

As a result, he says he receives many repeat customers with whom he’s able to build close relationships and a deeper understanding of their business, enabling him to help them more effectively.

Working on an Olympic-sized project

One of Bill’s career highlights came in 2002, when he received a temporary assignment in Athens to research business opportunities related to the upcoming 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.

He spent several months performing research, and published a report detailing some of the ways Canadian companies could take advantage of Olympic-related needs.

“There were opportunities for Canadian construction companies to re-do the velodrome track, medical companies to set up the doping labs for drug tests, and IT companies to install all of the wiring needed to accommodate the TV networks, just to give a few examples.”

One opportunity he discovered led to a particularly successful agreement.

A Canadian company ended up winning a   €2M contract to provide all of the flags for the Olympic Games. They’d already done so for the Calgary Olympics (Winter 1988) and a major event in Dubai, so I didn’t hesitate to write a letter of referral for them to the Athens Organizing Committee.

Three years later, in 2005, Bill also worked at the Canadian embassies in Budapest and Warsaw for six months to complete a similar research project.

“Post-Soviet Union, those were countries struggling with the industrial legacy of the Soviets: contaminated soil and water, air pollution, waste management issues, and so on… so I did research and put together a report for Canadian environmental companies on how they could apply their technologies, products and services to help.”

Putting everything in perspective with FITT training

After over a decade of helping Canadian businesses, Bill decided he wanted to take FITT courses to improve and update his knowledge, and he says it was a great decision.

The FITT courses are excellent. They helped me advise clients better, and I even recommend them to clients now.

“I’d picked up tidbits from people over the years, but the courses gave me a comprehensive view of how trade works. Now I feel like I have a more integrated knowledge of trade that covers all aspects of the field, including legal, financial, logistics and trade management”.

Once he finished the courses, Bill saw becoming a CITP®|FIBP® as the natural next step.

“It’s a sign of continuous learning, and staying as up to date as possible in the field. I was excited to add the designation to my e-mail signature, and to join my group of colleagues who already had the designation. My department emphasizes continuous employee training and professional development, so FITT was a good ‘fit’ for me.”

Whether he’s working with clients who need problems solved or to find new international opportunities, Bill is passionate about continuing to build his community of contacts, and to help Canadian companies excel all around the world.

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