[lang_en]
Interview &Translation / Alice Dong
1. Welcome to Xindanwei.com, Please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and you worked for Unilever，can you tell me about the experiences you had in working on brands like Knorr, Hellmann’s and Best Foods?
Hello Xindanwei! My name is Eduardo Sojo and I’m a mexican entrepreneur. For Unilever I worked in the marketing department specialised in wholesale and traditional distribution channel. The traditional channel in Mexico is very important. Much the same as in China there are a lot of small convenience stores that are family owned. My job was to come up with different marketing campaigns to help the wholesalers sell to the family owned convenience stores and ideas to help the convenience stores sell more product. We ended up creating a big network of little family owned stores. At the end we were able to track and improve their sales performance, improve the product placement, learn about their problems and how to help them solve their issues. Just after a few months the sellers started to engage much more with the brand and sales improved.
Working at a big company like Unilever helped me prepare for all of my future experiences.
2. What were the circumstances that lead you to coming to Shanghai?
I first arrived in Shanghai to get a Business Certificate from Fudan University. Before coming I heard a lot about China and its growth. But it wasn’t until I got here that I understood what everyone was talking about. I love the drive that everyone has to create new ideas and businesses. Without a doubt the “China Dream” has become something that everyone thinks about. After returning home and working as an international business consultant I decided to venture into a new adventure and create my own company.
3. Can you tell me about Link Global Solutions, the company you are the founder for and can you explain a little about it, what it is, and who it is for？
Link Global Solution’s (Also known as LGSTrading) main objective is to help the Mexican and Latin American entrepreneurs to develop their products, projects and aid them to make safe and profitable investments in Asia. In Latin America there is a lot of misconceptions about China. We work every day to try to change the view that entrepreneurs have about China and help them take advantage of the endless possibilities that exist in this country.We help companies decrease the risks that exists when doing business with a partner that you don’t know. We do this by helping them step by step in the development of their projects in China.
4. Of course a follow up to the previous question is，what prompted the idea for your company and what excited you to make you undertake it? Could you tell us what are your future steps?
My partner and I met the first time I came to China to study at Fudan University. We both left eager to start something together and to take advantage of the experience that we had. When we arrived in Mexico after a year of living in China, we saw all the misconception that existed in our home country about China. We were able to see that the main reason entrepreneurs view China as a threat and not as an opportunity was because of the misinformation and myths that existed about China. During our year long stay in Shanghai we also notice how a lot of Chinese people didn’t even know where Mexico was on a map. So we decided to work together to solve this problem.
In the future we want to build a more interactive platform and create new and innovative tools to help increase the business relationships between different parts of the world.
We are always looking for new and exciting ways to build bridges between Latin America and Asia.
5.You’ve also been part of the team that help your University win the National Export Award for Institution，Can you tell me a bit about the event, your experiences with it?
The National Export Award for Institution is given to private or public institutions that help entrepreneurs to develop their exports. Furthermore, they award the quantity of companies that emerged from them and are worried about helping our country to increase their exports. The award was divided into phases, and we were selected to present in the last phase because of our project and the growth we had within the business incubator of our University.
Our participation was to present our company and our export plans and projects. We were interviewed by the committee of the Foreign Secretary who evaluated all the projects and the relevance of our company. At that time, three cases were presented due to the importance of those products for Mexico: Machaca (dry meat), Tequila and Mezcal (All of these products are traditional mexican products)
After the final phase, we were recognized by ITESM Santa Fe (Our University) as one of the key projects presented in the final phase and thanking us for all our effort. They also published in their website our participation, which was important for them to obtain the Export Award given by the former Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.
6. Thanks again for providing Xindanwei.com this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?
I would just like to thank Xindanwei. It truly is one of the most innovative companies in China.
If anyone has any questions about the Latin American market or wants to know more about Link Global Solution I would be glad to help you.[/lang_en]
[lang_cn]采访和翻译／ Alice Dong
1. 欢迎来到xindanwei.com，请跟我们介绍下你自己，告诉我们你从哪里来？跟我们你曾在联合利华的工作经历以及和Knorr, Hellmann’s and Best Foods这些品牌的合作？
大家好，我叫Eduardo Sojo Santos，我是来自墨西哥的企业家。我曾在联合利华市场部工作，主要负责批发和传统渠道配送。传统渠道在墨西哥占了很大比重。其实情况跟中国是有些相似的，我们也有非常多的小型自营便利店。我的主要工作就是通过组织各种市场活动让批发商能够和这些小商店的店家达成合作，当然我的工作还包括帮助这些自营便利店做销量。我们把这些小型的自营便利店连成网络，跟踪提高他们的销售业绩，改善他们的商品陈列位置，观察了解他们的经营症结，并着手给出解决方案。这样经过几个月的运作，销售商就会逐渐越来越多地参与到我们的品牌与销售中去了。
在联合利华的工作经历确实让我在未来着手自己的一些事情上理顺了一些思路。
2. 是怎样的机遇让你来到上海？
我第一次来上海是因为在复旦大学学商学，当然在来之前我就对中国近年来的发展有所耳闻了，但要知道，终究是眼见为实。我爱极了这里的一种氛围，每个人都在争相迸发新的想法，琢磨可行的商业模式，毋庸置疑的，这就是所谓的“中国梦”。后来我回到墨西哥，做了一段时间的国际商务咨询之后，我便开始决定要做自己的公司了。
3. 可以跟我们谈谈 Link Global Solutions吗？作为创始人，能跟我们说说它是做什么的？主要针对人群又是谁？
Link Global Solutions（也叫 LGSTrading）主要是帮助墨西哥以及拉丁美洲的企业家来开发他们自己的产品项目，同时我们也协助他们在亚洲进行低风险，高回报率的投资。我们试图改变拉丁美洲企业家对中国的刻板成见，让他们适时地把握商机。我们也有我们自己的一套方式来帮助一些企业在与不熟知的合伙人进行合作的时候降低潜在风险。经过我们这一些列的精心部署，拉丁美洲的企业家便可以在中国市场上步步为营。
4. 是什么促使了你开始现在的这个公司并全心投入？能顺便跟我们透露一下你们未来的规划吗？
我和我的合伙人在复旦相识之后，便是一拍即合，都想利用我们自己的经验来做点什么。呆在上海的一年之后，我们再次回到墨西哥，便是更加清晰的看到了拉丁美洲对中国的刻板成见，他们把中国看做是一种竞争威胁而非商业机会。当然，在上海的时候，我们也深刻感受到了中国人对墨西哥的知之甚少。那么既然是这样，我们何不做点什么来促进商场上的往来合作。
在不久的将来我们会建立一个更具互动性的平台，开发一种全新的工具来方便全球不同地域的商业合作。
我们一直都在找寻一种全新的方式来帮助建立拉丁美洲和亚洲之间的互通合作。
5. 你曾作为代表赢得了National Export Award for Institution，能跟我们说说这个比赛以及有关的这段经历吗？
The National Export Award for Institution是专门颁发给那些对帮助企业出口有卓越表现的个人或是团队。他们鼓励的是那些独立性很强，并对帮助国家出口有所贡献的个人团队。这个大赛是分阶段进行的，我们之所以被邀请到最后阶段是因为我们的一个项目以及我们在大学商业孵化器的帮助下所获得的突破性进展。
我们在这次的参与中向大家展示我们公司以及我们的出口项目，还接受了那些外交大臣评定委员会的采访。当时一共有三个项目因为对墨西哥的贡献度而被邀展示，分别是 Machaca, Tequila以及Mezcal (这些都是传统的墨西哥产品)
而大赛的最后关头，我们在ITESM Santa Fe的组织下作为其中一个最关键部分来做呈现，并能有幸得到在线的一些公开推广，也是因为我们帮助我们的所在大学赢得了由墨西哥前总统Felipe Calderón Hinojosa所颁发的出口奖项。
6. 再次感谢你接受xindanwei.com的采访，还有一些别的要跟我们的读者说的吗？
我真心喜欢新单位这个地方，它着实是中国最顶尖的创新企业之一。
如果在座的各位对拉丁美洲市场有什么问题或者是有兴趣知道更多关于Link Global Solution，我都很乐意和大家交流。[/lang_cn]
