“Off on another nice holiday?” That’s what I often hear from colleagues and friends whenever another trip to Central America is on the schedule. Not such a strange thought, because both Costa Rica and Guatemala are fan-tas-tic holiday countries. The scenery is indescribably beautiful and the people there are incredibly hospitable. The real Latin American vibe is definitely present here.
And yet you couldn’t really call our business trip to Costa Rica and Guatemala a holiday. It is extremely important for us to travel to these countries regularly, since part of our propagation material comes from here. Our Yucca plants, for example, are produced in Guatemala, and all Dracaena-type plants come from Costa Rica.
Working with regular suppliers
In Costa Rica and Guatemala we work together with a number of regular suppliers, with whom we build long-term relationships. Together our aim is to build towards a sustainable future. In total we have 6 suppliers. During a visit we call on all of these partners at the very least. If we manage it, we also stop by some other suppliers in the context of product development.
During the visits we mainly talk about innovations in the area of cultivation protocols and crop protection. This is because we are continuously striving for the best possible quality. In addition, we discuss long-term programmes. Now you might be thinking: “Surely that could be done by email too?” True, but discussing such matters face to face often works best after all.
Product development is always something I really look forward to. At Forever Plants we are always working to add a new product to our range at fairly regular intervals. And of course this can’t be done without our partners in Central America!
A personal relationship
Besides these so-called serious matters, there is another far more important motivator to travel to Costa Rica and Guatemala regularly: the personal relationship with the suppliers. At Forever Plants we believe in the power of personal relationships, both internally within our organisation and externally with customers and suppliers. In relationships with companies in Latin America this is even much stronger, since it is ingrained in the culture.
There is a big difference in culture, language and time zone between the Netherlands and Central America. This does sometimes create a few challenges in the collaboration. I am convinced that the only way to truly understand each other well is by spending some time together.
Dealing cleverly with cultural differences
Even though we try to devote a great deal of attention to these relationships, there are always things that turn out differently than planned beforehand. For instance, there can sometimes be problems with delivery due to a small planning error, unexpected quality issues, or simply the weather conditions. You can imagine that with production, which takes place entirely outdoors, the weather can have an impact on, for example, the harvesting of plants. In themselves, these kinds of problems are perfectly solvable once they are known. Still, it is a bit of a Latin American thing not to say anything, or not to say it in time, about these sorts of things. Not really handy, we would think. But unfortunately, in these kinds of countries things just work a little differently.
Dealing cleverly with these kinds of cultural differences makes doing business internationally enormously challenging and interesting. And okay, if I’m being completely honest, a trip like this – despite all the hard work – does still give a little bit of that holiday feeling after all, because how wonderfully beautiful it is there!
