Instituto Conexiones now provides Cross-Cultural Relations Services to U.S. American visionaries carrying out projects in Latin America - special focus on Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Bolivia.
If you are part of a U.S. team carrying out a business idea (or philanthropic vision) in Latin America, you need more than just a cursory knowledge of the dynamics of intercultural relations between yourself and the local Latin American people you work with, serve, sell to, or have an impact on in some way.
We believe that in order for you to succeed - to have true longevity in your vision - you need someone on your team who has local contacts, who has a deep level of understanding between your culture and the culture of the place where you are doing your business (or carrying out your social enterprise or philanthropic project) and who can engage the local people to subscribe to your project to help you achieve your goals.
Our years of combined research and experience and our multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary approach provide us with a unique perspective on best practices related to helping foreigners enter the Latin American world in a truly sustainable way.
Our unique approach includes helping your vision self-reflect on its social and ecological sustainability and coming up with a triple bottom line approach to your venture. Business executives worldwide now know that being socially and ecologically responsible does not have to come at the expense of doing good financially. Actually, businesses and social enterprises that invest in social and ecological responsibility will do better over the long term than their non-responsible counterparts. The costs related to conflict mitigation, public relations band aids, increased security, climate change, sabotage repair, etc. are extremely high. Doing the right thing is good business sense and is the foundation through which you will have success, local support, and staying power, especially in Latin America.
This relates to nonprofit, international cooperation and public sector projects too - having good intentions does not automatically translate into having a positive impact, gaining local support, or having a good public relations reputation. Nonprofits also need to understand how their actions are being perceived and the impact they are having because this lack of knowledge could be working against their cause. For example, rain forest conservation groups that buy out local poor farmers may be contributing to larger environmental problems in the long term, as well as a myriad of social problems (see "Looking at the Bigger Picture When Saving the Rain forest," 2006)
Instituto Conexiones is here to educate and coach you on topics you will need to know about as you navigate the different social dynamics you will encounter, especially if you are a U.S. American entrepreneur or philanthropist who is having an impact on, is needing to interact with, or is reaching out to Latin American stakeholders (and if you think a stakeholder is a type of cutlery- it is time to contact us!!)
To help you along as you educate yourself more about these important topics, we encourage you to read the following blogs/publications:
