Global California Conference 2013

The Americas – A Plethora of Business Opportunity for U.S. Companies

Download PDF with all the panelists and the hyperlinks to their presentations >> 

The 10th annual Global California conference took place this past December in Silicon Valley at nestGSV, one of the largest 'accelerators' in the world. This year's theme was focused on the Latin American marketplace and the bilateral trade and investment opportunities that exist now for businesses of all sizes. 

 Roundtable Session:

Top L-R: Martin Lawler, Lawler & Lawler; Pedro Castaneda, Provia International; Robert Saikali, City National Bank; David Josephson, Ex-Im Bank; Carla Itzkowich, International Contact;

Bottom L-R: Sergio Retamal, Global4PL Supply Chain Management; Deep SenGupta, FedEx Trade Networks Services; Keith Ensminger, Kramer Translations; Robina Peanh, Meridian Finance Group; Harry-Todd Astrov, Astrov P.C.; Joe Davis, PIERS

Public and private sector representatives from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru plus an array of trade promotion service professionals addressed the conference attendees on the 'do's and don'ts' and challenges of trading and investing in the 'The Americas'.

Additionally, a special 'take-action' roundtable was conducted in the afternoon session of the conference where attendees were able to interact and meet leading trade promotion service providers in the trade finance, legal, marketing, compliance, education, advocacy and logistics business sectors to then take immediate action for successful trade and investment in the Latin American marketplace.

This event was smart phone enabled with support from Superevents.com, a cutting edge solution to make a conference experience much more effective for collaboration between participants and presenters in the pre-conference stage, during the event itself and after its conclusion.

Additionally, all the 24 presentations were audio enabled by Penxy.com. They contain a large amount of valuable data regarding the Latin American marketplace. You can see and listen to the presentations at no charge HERE.

The buzz from the conference participants after this full day event reinforced the theory that the Latin American marketplace is 'hot' and that California companies have prime opportunities in all industry sectors for bilateral trade and investment. 

Panel 1

L-R: Fernando Franco, ProMexico; Carolina Castelazo-Miranda, HOM Foods; Francisco Rojas, Bees2Biz; Santiago Ospina, ProExport Colombia.

"Please accept my congratulations for organizing and conducting the 10th Global California Conference. It is by far one of the best conferences I have attended in recent times. The discussions about doing business in Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Mexico were enlightening and I was glad to hear the governments of those countries are facilitating a two-way trade process. The amount of U.S. public agencies helping small and minority owned business enter the import/export marketplace is impressive and when you add private organizations like TradePort/MBITA, World Trade Associations, USTDA, and CITD, and many others, the bottom line is a win win result." - Jack Ybarra, President & CEO, Transmetrics (MBITA member).

Panel 2

L-R: Richard Soyombo, Bay Area Center for International Trade Development (CITD); Victor Florian, Rocca International USA; Juliano Alves Pinto, Consulate-General of Brazil, San Francisco; Eloy Retamal, EUR Consulting & Development; Stephen Scheibe, Allabroad.org.

"The GlobalCalifornia conference was successful due to the planning and delivery provided by everyone that is part of your organization. The last session was even most remarkable as you had a panel of 13 individuals presenting their respective services all related to international trade. I look forward to working closer with TradePort/MBITA and attending future sessions." 

- Jesus Fernandez, Principal, Fernandez Barragan & Associates

"I appreciate your invitation to the event and the super job done in its organization and execution.  The whole virtual conference part certainly added value" - Stephen Scheibe, President, Allabroad.org

"What a successful conference you organized and thoughtfully programmed. The panel discussion was greatly informative for most of attendees and Alex Nascimento's keynote presentation was very useful for those who seek trade opportunities in Latin America. Thank you again for the invitation and looking forward to your next endeavors." 

- Suji Kim, Founder, Bridge International Global Marketing

"I appreciate both the invitation and the great work coordinating this meeting. Great event." - Sergio Retamal, President & CEO, Global4PL Supply Chain Management

"Thanks for such a great event. It is always great to see familiar faces and do business with those you have built relationships." 

- C.J. Jocson, Soleeva Energy, Inc

Please contact the MBITA/TradePort office for further info and details on this conference. You can also hear and view all of the presentations for this conference HERE on TradePort.org. 

Presented by 

Panel Sponsors 

Cooperating Sponsors 

Download PDF with all the panelists and the hyperlinks to their presentations >>