Canada–LATAM Desk
INNOVA Consult in Ottawa runs market entry between Canada and Latin America: for Canadian companies entering Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Brazil, and for Latin American companies coming to Canada. The first stage sets the market priority, maps the rules and writes one workplan; in-country firms are engaged per project.
What you get first
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A market priority
Which country to enter first and why, from demand, competitors, pricing and sales channels.
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A map of that market
The product and service requirements, import and licensing rules, and the people and institutions who decide.
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One workplan
Corporate, legal, tax and compliance questions coordinated with the legal and accounting firms engaged in that country.
A Latin American company coming to Canada gets the same in reverse: market access, incorporation and compliance, and readiness for public tenders on CanadaBuys.
CanExport SMEs can share the cost.
The program funds up to half of the eligible costs of an export project. Export market studies, regulatory analysis, key-contact identification, distributor search and B2B matchmaking can be scoped to fit a CanExport SMEs project. The exporting company applies; INNOVA prepares the quote and workplan and delivers the work once the project is approved.
CanExport projects for Latin American markets CanExport SMEs status and eligibility
Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Brazil first.
- Ottawa INNOVA , home base of the desk
- Mexico Mexico City , priority market
- Guatemala Guatemala City , also in focus
- Dominican Republic Santo Domingo , also in focus
- Colombia Bogotá , priority market
- Peru Lima , priority market
- Brazil Brasília , priority market
For public and development work we follow the Trade Commissioner Service, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, UN procurement and CanadaBuys. On those projects we join as an expert advisor, a subcontractor or a consortium member, depending on who leads and what the program allows.
Since 2012 Maksym has worked with companies in more than 50 countries. For each country we engage local legal and accounting firms, and the proposal names them. About Maksym
Capability statements
For program officers, procurement teams and partners: English, Spanish and a Portuguese one-pager for Brazil.
Questions about market entry
Can a Latin American company use the desk to enter Canada?
Yes. A Latin American company coming to Canada gets the same work in reverse: market access, incorporation and compliance coordination, buyer and distributor development, and readiness for public tenders on CanadaBuys.
How do you join public and development projects?
We follow the Trade Commissioner Service, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, UN procurement and CanadaBuys. On those projects we join as an expert advisor, a subcontractor or a consortium member, depending on who leads and what the program allows.
Who does the legal and accounting work in each country?
Local legal and accounting firms, engaged per project for each country and named in the proposal. We line up the corporate, legal, tax and compliance questions with them, so the company works from one plan.
Name the market and the product.
A company, an institution or a program: one message is enough to start.
Maksym Stepanenko, founder, in business since 2012. Products in public use, one of them in the App Store.