Representing Arizona in Peru
By Lea Marquez Peterson, President/CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber
A few months ago, our Tucson Hispanic Chamber hosted a delegation of CEOs from green technology companies in Latin America. The delegates arrived from Peru, Chile, Columbia and Mexico via a grant provided by the U.S Department of State. They spent two weeks in Tucson touring “green” facilities, meeting with business leaders and making connections.
This week, I had the pleasure of traveling to Lima, Peru to further our business relations. I was invited by PromPeru (the national economic development agency) to speak at the Rueda de Negocios – an international manufacturing conference hosted in Lima.
I was honored to speak about “Doing business in Arizona” and spoke to the conference attendees about key industries in our State, key benefits to doing business in Arizona and resources. I also had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with over 20 Peruvian companies in cosmetics manufacturing, natural oils and wood manufacturing to discuss their preparedness for exporting and capital requirements.
Prior to attending the conference in Peru, our chamber worked to identify the resources we could provide to Peruvian businesses to further the relationship with our business community. Typically, we work with Mexican businesses, primarily in Sonora who have the advantage of geographic proximity and familiarity with the American markets. Lima, Peru is a city of close to 9 million inhabitants and has diverse resources due to its coastline, highlands and nearby rainforest. I found that most of the manufacturers at the conference distributed product to nearby South American countries and Europe, but few had attempted the United States.
The primary challenge for most businesses I met with while in Peru was access to capital for exporting. PromPeru leaders and I discussed lending programs and the venture capital markets in the United States to determine possibilities in Peru. I was also honored to meet with the Governor of Tacna (the region bordering Chile) to discuss collaboration and to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between our Chamber and Tacna. Our plan is to focus on key industries and the creation of commercial trade missions to Arizona and Peru.
Over the last few years as our Chamber has built our international business network, we’ve received many requests for representation, and now offer an “International Representative Membership”. Foreign businesses interested in trade with the United States receive:
1)Membership Directory listing with a web page in English to promote business in Arizona
2)Email correspondence with businesses in Arizona on their company’s behalf
3)Invitations to participate via Skype on key chamber committees
4)Business matchmaking services
5)Presentation of company’s material at an Expo in Arizona
The benefits were well received by Peruvian companies exploring exporting who wanted to determine the market in the United States. The “International Representative Membership” is available to companies in any part of the world who aspire to export to the United States. Our Tucson Hispanic Chamber continues its work in building global business relationships with Arizona to improve the economic conditions of our region. Learn more at