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When Andrea Nieto asked her father which new product she ought to sell in the world of golf, all she got in return was a perplexed look from someone who knows the business very well and thought that everything had already been invented, especially in countries that are powerhouses in this sport.
Instead, she got the answer from her son, from a question that all mothers ask. " I' ve played golf since I was a little girl, and I wanted my son to start young as well. One day, I was wondering what clothes he would wear to play, and I realized that I had never seen golf apparel for kids. That was the first sign&rdquo , said Andrea.
Dedicated to raising her son, Andrea was determined to find a business that would allow her to spend time with her family while taking advantage of the knowledge she had acquired as a high-level golf player, plus the five years of experience managing her father' s business: a golf course.
The first step was to research. As she does every year, in 2010 Andrea traveled to Orlando, Florida, to take part in the PGA Merchandise show, but this time she had a different purpose: to identify the competition. " I found that there were only two companies, both American." The businesswoman continued, " At that time, important athletic brands still did not offer junior apparel."
The idea took hold, and upon her return, she began working on bringing her business to life. With assistance from PROCOLOMBIA, she fine-tuned her company' s processes to respond to the demands of foreign clients. " My company' s processes are very strict. I can say that I grew alongside the entity which has always been there to advise me about tariffs, rules of origin and the markets to which I wanted to export my apparel."
By November 2010, Andrea was on a plane on her first business trip together with Proexport. " We began in Costa Rica because it is a smaller market with great potential. My first deal was with a hotel it was our first success before entering Canada and especially the United States, seeing as half of the 80 million people that pay golf around the world are concentrated there."
Duty-free golf apparel
Andrea, who is an economist and historian, confessed that she does not even know how to " thread a needle," but her company is now exporting goods to Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada and the United States. Sales in Mexico, Canada and the US have benefited from the free trade agreements in effect with these countries.
" It was hard when the ATPDEA ended with the United States: I had to pay 30 per cent duty plus transportation. The FTA makes a big difference. I benefit from the agreements and also from PROCOLOMBIA' s business matchmaking forums that I have attended, especially to export to the Canadian market," she said.
In the United States, Golf for Kids' apparel is sold in the most elegant club in Beverly Hills, where the children of celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt play. The brand is also sold in the stores at Donald Trump' s golf course in Puerto Rico.
The prompt response to her customers and the product' s quality and added value are the factors that have put her company on the road to success.
" The fabric we use has solar protection and absorbs humidity better: when the garment gets wet, it wicks away the moisture and dries quickly because of the way it' s made, so kids are less likely to catch a cold. The garments don' t need to be ironed, and they require less time in the dryer, which saves money at home," she says.
For Andrea Nieto, good results are also due to the fact that the dream of exporting is " a race of endurance, and not speed." This, added to the foreign trade training that PROCOLOMBIA provides businesspeople like her, has been a significant factor in her company' s expansion.
" When I started out at the end of 2010, I found my first client. Now, a little more than two years later, I have over 40. In January 2011, I participated in the PGA show for the first time as a businesswoman, and I went with Proexport. It was very exciting, I showed that there was something I could sell. My father and I both got teary-eyed from all the emotion."
