The trend is increasing as trump continues to insult Mexico.
A Golden opportunity for Chinese startups to “go Latin” may have arrived.
Things were look good between China and Latin America, with trade multiplying 22 times in comparison with 2000, in contrast to Latin America, trade with the United States, which has only doubled in the same period of time, according to angel Melguizo, senior economist development Centre Organization for economic cooperation and development, an intergovernmental economic organization.
In 2015, China promised $ 500 billion in trade and in direct investment in Latin America within ten years, 250 billion dollars, and the infrastructure is one of the key areas of cooperation.
But the participation of China in Latin America is not only infrastructure.
As the competition among Chinese startups is growing fiercer domestic market, many firms seek new opportunities abroad. Latin America stands out in the global market as it wakes up for startups and is expected to be a battleground for the global technology giants in the coming years.
Distant lands
China Transsion holdings, a manufacturer of mobile phones, which dominates the African market, expanded to Latin America with the launch of its new phone in March 2017. In January of this year, ride-sharing in China giant Didi Chuxing to buy steers 99 leading ride-hailing in Brazil of the company. In February, Mobike, one of the largest sharing platforms China bike, was launched in Chile.
Small startups have also begun to enter the market of Latin America. Some may never set foot in a distant country, but, nevertheless, has developed a popular application from its offices in China.
Others, such as noticias Aguila, a news aggregator developed by Shenzhen Inveno technology, managed to create its representative office in Mexico attracts more than 20 million users and more than 10 million followers on Facebook in less than two years, becoming the largest mobile media platform in Latin America.
The company started as a news aggregator in China to its CEO, tan Xin, a former employee of the company tencent began to worry about the growing competition in the domestic market.
“Competition in the market for news aggregators in China is extremely intense. Besides us, there are a lot of big players. There are huge blue oceans there, why we restrict ourselves in this red ocean?” Told the China entrepreneur magazine tan in 2017.
In the business world, “blue ocean” refers to the market space, untainted competition, while the red ocean refers to the low, “bloody” existing market.
Taking advantage of his experience in the Chinese market, Inveno launched noticias in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia, and has become one of the most successful examples of Chinese startups in Latin America.
Smiling at you
Hao Jie, entrepreneur and partner of “Magma”, one of the leading high-tech tools in Latin America, describes Latin America as “virgin land” for startups, largely unnoticed by the international capitals of a few years ago.
He expects more Chinese startups to join the Latin trend in the coming years. To help in the launch of Chinese entrepreneurs in Latin America, partners Magma recently launched a Chinese-Latin American accelerator based in Shanghai.
At the same time, many Latin American startups are looking for opportunities for China. They include ClearingPoint, Shanghai-based fin-tech start-up based in Latinos, offers international payment solutions between Asia and Latin America.
China has a competitive environment for startups, but Gabriel Miron, an entrepreneur from Guatemala who founded ClearingPoint two years ago, believes his startup has a special niche in the market, as trade between China and Latin America is growing and a large amount of money is expected to flow between them.
Myron escorted transfers between Mexico and the United States for many years, until he decided to turn to China after training, large amounts of money transfer between China and Mexico every day. At an early stage, ClearingPoint is currently applying for financial licenses.
Arriving in Shanghai two years ago, Myron was one of the first batches of Latin American entrepreneurs in China.
“There are a lot of Latinos doing business in China. But in the case of technology and innovation, this small group study best practices and know-how in China. This is a trend now, it’s small, but it can grow in the future,” said Myron “global times”.
“Latin America is characterized by having us as the only technical and innovative supplier. But now China has so much technology and innovation in Latin America, a growing stream of innovations and technologies from China, that’s really interesting,” he said.
Myron was impressed by the speed of Chinese business and fin-tech industry. “The speed of technology development and innovation that China and startups in the fin-tech is an amazing and exponentially better than anything in Latin America and the United States. The speed of innovation and progress is far more advanced than in any other place,” said Myron.
“The Chinese mentality of doing business is something really amazing and it helps us to Mature and improve our business skills. The task becomes a force,” he said in the global times.
The trend occurs at a time when the President of the United States Donald trump already forgot about the existence of Latin America and repeatedly insulting Mexico, leading to an unfavorable view of Mexicans.
Hao says that many Latin American entrepreneurs are increasingly disenchanted American investors. He quotes CEO Latin American company, as they say, “I feel that silicon Valley disappears. Investors from Silicon valley are more interested in the proportion of racial and ethnic minorities in our company than we actually do in business.”
As a result, when Latin American companies now see the Chinese face, they are willing to cooperate. “If you have a yellow face, you will find the whole world smiles with you”, said Hao.
Saturated market in the U.S. is another reason why some Latin American countries are turning to China and Chinese financing. “As a foreigner not living in US nor China, it’s easier to get funding in China than in the US, as there are a lot of foreign companies trying to enter the U.S. market,” said Miron.
Respecting values
Investments in Latin America, however, was not always smooth for China. A Chinese state-owned companies that began to invest in Latin America over two decades ago, made a bad business investment in the region in the past due to the lack of knowledge about local culture and political risks.
ShougangHierro Peru, a unit of China’s shougang group, one of China’s largest steel companies, for example, frequent local strikes and protests against the company.
Said Hao for Chinese entrepreneurs, it is important to observe the basic values of each country. “Many people think of adaptation to local culture is the biggest concern when you enter a new market, but more important than culture is respect for universal values such as honesty and reciprocity”, he said.
Familiarity with the culture of Latin America is also important, given that there are 20 countries of the region, each with different political and social environment.
“Cultural differences should not be seen as a barrier, but the steps to success,” said Hao.
This story was first published in the global times.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
