Bridging Cultures: Latin America’s Sustainability and Geopolitical Landscape Explored

Welcome to the Nearshore Cafe podcast, home to the most interesting stories and people doing business in Latin America.

Welcome everyone, to another episode of the Nearshore Cafe podcast. I'm Brian Sampson, your host on this podcast, we bring to life people doing business in Latin America. Before we get into our show today, and I'm very excited about this one, I want to give a thanks to our sponsors. Sponsor, that's Nearshore Direct. Go Nearshore direct dot com. It's a great way to find talent all across Latin America for growing US Companies. Danny Tricarico is our guest today. Danny, I am so honored to have you on the show.

Thank you, Brian. And thank you for all your team for having this great instant for this conversation. Right. And congratulations on your podcast. Thank you very much for the invitation.

Thank you. Thank you. Danny, you're an interesting guy in many different ways, but I think where you've lived is very, very interesting for me. You're an Argentine currently in Chile. Right. So maybe let's first just plant for the audience, where exactly are you today? And like, what is it like where you are?

Yeah. So I'm an Argentinian. My grandfather was Italian from the south, immigrating to Argentina as much as many people. And I'm currently living since 2021 in Santiago de Chile, which is my second home country. So you can see both flags on my back because I am Argentinian, but I have a daughter, Francesca, who is a year and a half and she's Chilean. So both parts of my heart have these colors.

So as to say I love it. You're bringing two countries together. I love it.

You can say that.

Yeah. You are the man creating a peaceful existence between these two countries, these two neighbors.

Yeah.

So first, just like, what. What is it like living in Santiago? What does it look like? I know the audience maybe has seen pictures of mountains, but not a whole lot else, you know. Tell us about Santiago.

You know, Santiago is a very. It's a very nice city. Well, it has the mountains and two hours from here, it's the beach, you know, Vinh del Mar and Valparaiso and all of these places. So Chile is like a very connected country between the mountains and between the shore. So you can do that trip within a day. And that is one of the main reasons. The interconnectivity here in the metropolitan area is fairly quick and the infrastructure is really good. So Santiago has plus 7 million people. Most of them live in the metropolitan region. And Chile, it's not that large of country, has like 18 million or 20 million people. So come, come or get. You know, it's a very interesting country.

Yeah, tell us. Yeah, tell us a little more about, you know, your perception of it. Especially it's not your home country, but maybe your adopted country. What has that been like for you?

So, I mean, immigrating in Latin America, you may feel it's like more or less the same, but it's very, very different. That is one of the main reasons immigrating and doing business in Latin America is not a seamless, straightforward experience. Right. Because Brazil, for example, has a different language. I have also family in Brazil, so I went in some Sao Paulo and, you know, immigrating from Argentina to Chile, even though we have only a couple of mountains in the middle, the Andes mountains, very interesting and very, you know, beautiful place. Beautiful, beautiful mountains. It's a very different culture between doing business, between working, living. The rooted culture in Chile is more formal, it's more structured, and it has to do with its history. Chile has been having. And in the area I am working, I've been working lots of years now, which is entrepreneurship and innovation, a sustained public policy making and public policy stability, you know, between startup Chile, the CORFO and the corporate, I mean, the government. And it has been positioned itself between the OSCD countries and, you know, Latin Argentina. Even though we are in Latin America, we are very different. We are like more, you know, how can I say this? Like, more vivid in the moment, more passionate. That could be a very good word, more passionate. And we deal with things as we deal in our country with volatility. We tend to see that innovate in extreme measures, extreme times. And this volatility is not only economic, but social and political. So it's very different. And Argentina has much influence regarding Italians and Spaniards that came after the war or between the war coming and incorporating those values that taste, that food, that kind of values of working and that, may I say, is like one of the main differentiators of Argentina, my home country.

Yeah, yeah. I can validate that. I think when I've spoken to Argentines, when I've lived in Argentina, it's a vibrant place, a passionate place. Like you said, it's a loud place.

Right.

You can hear, you can taste, you can see, you know, especially if you go to a football game, you go to, you go see Boca or something, you know, it is.

Yeah.

Wow. And then. And my, my personal experience in Chile was it was much more subdued, you know, like a little more quiet, you know, go about your business. And do you, do you see that with With Chile as well, just like a little more quieter.

Yeah. So it's, it's a very nice place to come, for example, in my, in my experience, personal experience, to, to come raise a family. Right. Because with my wife. Wife, we were looking to have an experience in other country and we, we were talking. One of the two options was Mexico and the other one was Chile, which are very different one from another. Very different. And you know, as I, I studied here in, in the university, I did my master's here, so I, I kind of knew a couple of people and also have my, one of my startups here. So the order, the place, the rooted infrastructure, cultural and political and you know, the everyday doing things is much more processed, is much more, you know, mirroring some Things from the U.S. from the east coast mostly, like Maryland and all of those states. And that, that, that could be a, a way to, to translate it into the US Point of view.

Yeah.

I don't know if you agree with that.

Yeah, yeah, no, that's, that, that's a, that's an interesting point. Danny. I would love to talk about food for a second.

Yeah.

So let's talk about food and maybe, maybe I'll even put you on the spot. You'll say which country is better. So when it comes to beef, do you prefer Argentina or Chile mostly.

And uniquely Argentinian. Yeah, of course. Of course. Argentinian beef. Yeah. Number one.

Yeah, I think, I think it's probably number one in the world. Per capita. Yeah, Per capita fish.

Yeah. In that way, I may go with. With Chile has, you know, tons of, of. Of seafood, which is the delightful. Yeah, delightful mostly in the, in the, in the shores, in, in, you know, in, in Vinha del Mar or, or, or, or Puerto Mont. In the south.

Yeah. How about. I know you're drinking tea today, but maybe I'll ask coffee, the better, better.

Coffee I can, you know, it's, it's very, it's different. Difficult. I, I'm, I'm. I am going to go with Colombian or Peruvian. Let's take the better from. I mean the, the, the best part from, from Latin America, you know. So you may see my, my toast, my coffee toaster. Here I am like, you know, very, very. I went deep into that and, and I can say my, my. My best guess is it's not only Colombian, but Peruvian.

Yeah.

From the South.

Yeah. I like your style, Danny. You're, you're, you're. You're a uniter, not a divider. You bring, you bring Latam together. I like it.

Yeah. Why Not. Why not?

I like it. And as we're talking about bringing together, we. We mentioned this in the pre show, but tell us a little more about the flag behind you.

Yeah, so you know, you can see both flags. It's not very tidy, so please bear with me with this. But you can see my Argentinian flag, which is. And the other one is the Chilenian flag. So in September is the Fiesta Patres here. It's like a national holiday, very important here in Chile. And all of, I mean, in all of the streets you can see the way the flags waving. So. Yeah. And each time I go to a podcast or talk with someone, I wanted to have this background because it represents me. It gives me ownership also of the drive and the passion and the will I have in my work in order to unite, in order to have one Latin America, which is, I mean, thriving Latin America. And maybe we can talk about that later in the show.

Yeah, absolutely.

That is one of my, you know, my mottos, my passion, my purpose.

Absolutely. Yeah, we definitely. We'll get to that in just a moment. And then how about wine? Which wine do you prefer?

Oh, I'm going to go. So in Argentina, they're going to kill me with this, but I am going to go with the Chilean wine.

Wow, that's a big, big statement. Okay.

Very big statement. And I mean, Malbec, it's awesome. But I, I highly recommend the Carmener, which is a French wine which was like, sort of lost and they found like in, in one of the vineyards here, here. And ever since it came, like the, you know, the, the unique product of. Representation of, of Chilean wine, Chileanian culture. So I'm going to go with Carmener. Yeah, all the way.

You are not the first one to say that and you may not be the last. So I like it.

Okay.

And. And the last, the last question I'll ask you because I, I find it just really unique the way they have hot dogs in Chile. Completos. Yeah, I've had one before. Oh my gosh. But much better to hear it from you. How would you describe it?

So it's kind of experience, right? Yeah. So here you can find Completos and a lot of street food pool in. In much in every corner. But it's like big. It's big, it's wild. And it's mostly, you know, influenced by the Germans. No, Chile had as we had Italian migration mostly. Right. And Chile had mostly most of German migration. So you can, you can see that, like the big, you know, hot dog or. I don't know what's the name, specific name, but you can eat in Germany. You can eat here, but with this Latin American flavor, right. It's, it's, it's not that spicy, like, you know, Mexico, but it has like a vibrant, vibrant flavor. You can regret it or not, but you have to try it.

Yeah. What are, what are some common things you might, you might, might find as toppings in between?

Most in Chile, you say, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. Well, I've tried it like a couple of times. Not that much. Right. But here they have like this, like, kind of little sauces. I don't recall the name, sorry. But they have like, kind of little sauces and they put so much, so much, you know, or mayonnaise or ketchup up. So much of that it's unnecessary. But. Well, that, that's, that's the way it is. I don't know if that was your experience, but.

Yeah, yeah, mine was covered in mayonnaise and.

Yeah.

Green toppings and.

Yeah, yeah. Greenish.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, for me it was, you know, I found it fascinating because back to our earlier points, maybe comparing Argentina and Chile, Chile being maybe a little more conservative, a little more quiet with everything but their completos. Their completos is where they let it all out.

They go wild on their compos and on the care, which is like, you know, they go drinking and on the fiesta. Pat. Yes. That's like specific places, the specific time. You know, they, they, they, they go wild. But at the end of the day, on, on every, every Monday, it's like, you know, structured, quiet, as you say, and specific way to do things, processes and all of that. We don't have the Latin that in Argentina. Argentina is every day a different country, every day a different, you know, topic. And that, that's. Yeah, that's much of the things we need also to change in my country. Yeah, it's, it's not, It's a very difficult place to do things, you know, to, to travel, to, to come in with the dollars to, you know, invest.

Well, I think that's a great segue into what you're doing today. So we'll, we'll go into your, your background on how you got here a little bit later, but I would love to just hear more about Impact Latam. What is it? What is your goal? How did you start it? Tell us more.

Well, Impact Latam is my, my startup, my company. A small company for now, but we are currently growing. And at the end of the day, what my main purpose was to create space in order to accelerate sustainability and impact driven businesses in Latin America and the world, mostly in Latin America. So if you want I can give a little bit of context here please. So we are currently living in a climate crisis. It's not a climate change, it's a climate crisis from my point of view. And it's undeniable that this is having social and environmental impacts all over the place. And Latin America with this +600 million people is one of the places that this climate crisis is impacting the worst. And I am referring to the social part with the social divide between wealthy and poor, between bankerized and unbankerized people, between you know, education, health, Social Security and, and so on and so forth and in, on the other side, on the environmental side, we are currently have to adapt and we are lagging behind in that in all of these parts. So businesses, startups, SMEs, small, medium and big companies, they most want to transition to this new economy, to this sustainable transition, sustainable development transition, but they don't know how. So there it's my role or the impact Latams enters in the game and tries to, you know, we have programs, we have services, consulting and we provide all of this to different scale companies in order for them to accelerate this transition. Not on the, you know, you have to do this narrative but on the business driven from impact narrative which is translated as if you translate, if you accelerate to sustainability, you may have new consumers, you may have new businesses. It's a new door opener for each and every part of the business and it's not a nice to have, it's a must. And that is why I call it a sustainable competitive advantage, you know, so more or less that is like what we do in, in, in impact Latam we work from Chile to Latin America, we serve Latin America and we have our first customer in Miami in the US So any, any, any person that is currently listening to your show and wants to engage with this, please give me a call. We want to expand this, we want to expand our knowledge. Yeah, we work like with big companies such as Nestle and small tech enabled startups between, in, in logistics and in other sectors.

Yeah, thank you. I'm curious your take. So what I hear, you know, probably the most regarding climate change in Latin America is the impact of cutting down the rainforest.

Yeah, right.

Yeah. And you know, how does your organization view that? Is that something you're thinking about a lot? Are there other things that we should be looking at?

So it's a multi vector problem Right. It's not one specific thing but it's, it's cutting down trees, it's melting, the bourbon frost. And you know, so we are mostly taking a look at after the social part because of the, the climate has also this, you know, this, this impact because it, it's one of the, the, the worst parts in Latin America. You know the, the, the, and the, the poor class, the rich class has a 22x in income versus the poor class. So it's, so it's a very social divide, it's a very big gap. So we have to, you know, correct that. And also regarding compensation bonds or regenerating forests, not only in the Amazonia but in the south, we have very, you know, acres of trees and the mountains and water. So here for example in Chile and also in Mendoza in Argentina and in the south of Peru, water is a very big deal because of, you know, the, the, the raising temperatures and the, and the climate crisis we are living in the, these places tend to go to extremes. Yeah, so, so I, I, I had a chat with, with one, one person today that told me this, this is going to, I mean this is not a crisis. It's, it's the way we have to adaptate. Right. Rather to, to mitigate that. We have to do that but we have to adapt to this evolving, evolving stuff. So yeah, cutting down the, at the end of the day cutting down the rainforest is not only is not giving anyone just anything because it's at the end of day if it is just economic upside, it's very short term, it's very short seen because the land, I mean you have to reuse it, you have to regenerate it and all of that in order to reuse it again.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. The economic upside, you know, I think the US was in a unique period for its industrial revolution where no one was really talking about climate change and the US was able to, you know, had its period of domination and then now when they're way ahead then they can say wait, wait, you guys all need to be climate focused and tone down your economic engine. And then of course you have adversarial relationships with China and India and big polluting countries. How is that maybe perceived in Latin America? This, the short term economic benefits and the trade offs with the environment. How is that debate going on today?

Well, it's a very interesting question. So it's a geopolitical question. Right. So in this, so I rehearsed this answer because I just came from the UK from The Warwick Business School and I did a sustainable management specific program in which we talked about the energetic energy transition and all of that. So China is currently leading that between the EVs and lithium and buying companies in Latin America, it's currently a leader in that. Also part of India and the US is lagging behind in all of this. But it's, I mean with the resources the US have and the narrative and the, you know, the infrastructure, it will surely can take a big leap forward. But it has to be decisive in order to do that. Latin America, each country tends to see, you know, which narrative or which specific polarization so as to say they tend to go with. For example, in Central America, China has very big influence in infrastructure projects also in Argentina, but in Chile here it's mostly us, UK vision or Canada. It depends on each country and each relationship. Yeah, but, yeah, so from, from a couple of years onwards I, I saw like China entering specific infrastructure, for example lithium, for example, energy and, and the US also in the, in the tech sector. But it's not like that's that decisive the role. Right. It's not taking into account. Okay, we are going to do that. So Latin America is like, you know, wait and see and let's see which one, which power or superpower can bring us to this new bridge. And also Europe in like two months ago signed a treaty with Latin, with Americo Sur and some countries in Latin America in order to create like a pathway for, you know, goods and services. So maybe there's a third option, not only US and China, but Europe as well. For, for Latin America to, to go forward with this transition. And in the, in the, in the, in Europe it's like mandatory, it's regulated. Yeah. You have to go green. And in the US we are currently living sadly, a backlash in esg, environmental, social and governance because I don't know why it came to be politicized and polarized. So if you raise the flag of climate, you may be, I don't know, Democrat. And if you raise the flag of industry, oil and gas, you are a Republican. So yeah, at the end of the day, in that divide, we are, we are dealing with our own egos, our own stuff and not seeing the rainforest that is currently melting.

Yeah.

It's currently being cutting down. Taking into account your analogy.

Yeah, that's really interesting. I also wanted to ask, you know, cattle and methane certainly has an impact on the environment. Sometimes there's movements in the US for a meatless Monday and that's about as far as it Goes, I don't think there's any more vegetarians in the US today than there were 10 years ago. Maybe you disagree, but for a country like Argentina where meat is a foundation asado and everything that goes with it, is that, is that a topic for debate? Like we need to cut back on our cattle, cut back on our meat to, to save ourselves.

Yeah. So the transition part, and the transition word for this is a flexitarian. Right. And not only, I mean it's like vegan or meat based, but you know, switching. And if you switch from meat to, for example, chicken, it's the CO2, it reduces like 6x. Oh wow. Just switching from meat, I mean cows to a chicken. And then if you do just a little slightly in order for, you know, salad or not only salad, but you know, these big companies, Unlimited foods, the nut company in the, in the U.S. have a very difficult problem, which is revenues, which is so sustainable business model. They came to, to the, to the IPO and they came to the market saying, hey, we will be the future because people want to be eating less food, so they will be eating the same burger. But it's not the, you know, it's not the burger. Burger.

Yeah.

And that didn't happen. Yeah. I mean the revenues didn't go as high. And then Wall street is disappointed with unlimited foods and all of these companies, not only. So it's, you know, this transition, it's not that much ahead and it's not that much accelerated. That is why I use this word of accelerating the transition, because we need to do it on a very, very narrow window of minus seven years. Just seven years, you know, to less than two presidencies in the U.S. yeah. So yeah, that is, that is, that is the, the current state.

Yeah. If anyone wants to find out more about Impact Latam, where should they go?

Of course. So you can, you can check out our website at Impact Latam Co. Impact Latam Co. Sadly, it's not in English yet, so you so apologize for that. But you can check that out. And also our social mediampactlatam and also our podcast which is called Conversation e Corimpacto, which is mostly in Spanish because we serve this market and we want to democratize all of this content and benefits of this transition. You see that I am talking on the brighter side, not on the mandatory side, which is other narrative that I don't want to engage with. You have to do this. People don't have to do anything. People should see the benefit of this because it's good, because it's healthy. And also because it's business. Green means business.

So, Danny, a question that I ask all of our guests, especially those from Latin America, where English is usually not the first language. Do you have a favorite English word?

So there are two words. Drive. It's like. I mean, it's power. And the other one is, hell, yeah.

I like it. I love. I love the optimism. I love the optimism for you. How about this? Aside from food, if you were to, you know, recommend a purchase, say, in Latin America for under $50 U.S. you know, maybe something you've bought for yourself recently or something you would recommend someone best purchase under $50.

So this microphone is less than $50.

Wow, that's a great deal.

And it's one of the best things I bought ever because it gives me, you know, an upgraded. Yeah, but for real. And I'm. I mean, with this, I do my podcast. I generate webinars. Just less than 50 bucks. You can have this. This. I'm going to say the brand and this on any. Any microphone you want, but it gives you, like, more a vibrant sound, a vibrant reach in the age of the humanitization of these interactions that we need. Right.

And then pizza is a very contentious argument here on this show, especially Argentine pizza.

Yeah.

Can you defend Argentine pizza with this insane amount of cheese?

The big.

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you have the big and the one. One. It's called pizza la piedra, which is, like, slight, but. Yeah, the molde pizza. Molde, it's called. It's a beautiful way of having yourself a very good time and then go back to. And then go to sleep at 3pm because of the cheese and the carbs, you know. Oh, my God.

It was too much. It was too much.

It is too much. And if you mix it with beer, you know, that is explosive.

Yes, yes, absolutely.

So when you come to Chile or. Or whenever we meet, we should have one.

Absolutely. I can't. I can't wait. I would love that. And then, Danny, a big part of this show is if I were to go to Latin America and do business, you know, advice. Right. So let's. Because you're. You're a man with two countries, I think you'll have two different answers. And I really like this. This opportunity. Okay, if someone were to set up business in Argentina for the first time, what would your advice be on how to be successful there?

Well, first, you have to take a little bit of time to understand the patterns of the country in which state the country is. For example, currently we are in the middle of an election process that is, that will be, I mean, electing president on the second round, maybe in like November. So you know, you have to understand that, you have to understand the policies. I mean Argentina is a very interesting market. Plus 50 plus, plus 50 million people. More than that maybe. So it's very interesting. But the, that, it's the, the coin, our coin, the peso, it's depreciated. So if you come with dollars, maybe you can buy acres of, I mean you, you will be rich. Maybe, I don't know. But it's, it's very interesting to see the patterns of the country and what do you want to, what time, how much time do you want to invest and having been the country and what will be your specific output? If you have that in mind, as a general rule, you can engage with Argentina because I see a lot of people that are not, I mean, from Latin America that want to have a hit and run specific business and it doesn't work like that because for example, we don't have free us, you know, I mean it's, it's called the blue dollar, but it's, it's not that, that, that reliable that, you know, that solidity of the coin.

Yeah. And then Danny, how about that same question, but for Chile, you know, what should someone be mindful of or what would you recommend so they can be successful setting up in Chile?

Yeah, so Chile has a different set of rules. I mean it's much more friendly here to start businesses. But you have to also understand the Chileanian culture and be engaged, for example, with Chilenians, with locals that have their root numbers that it's called. In that way you can open accounts and all of that, but it's much more easier from that point of view. And also a different culture, different set of rules. It depends if it's services or products. But there are also cases that, you know, for example, when Walmart came here, it didn't work. They have to, they, at the end, at the end of the story, they bought a local supermarket in order to engage that. It's called leader. So you know, not on, not all of the US brands that work in the US are going to work here on a seamlessly process, seamless process.

Yeah, good, good advice, good advice. Well, we've been honored to have you on the show. Someone who's thinking globally, thinking latam and then able to represent two different countries at once. It's truly been a pleasure. Thank you, Danny, for making time today.

No, thank you Brian, and all of your team and thank you very much for the invitation and congratulations again to you and all of your audience for this great podcast. Hope to see more episodes coming soon.

Absolutely. Well, thank you again for listening. This is the Nearshore Cafe podcast. Special thanks to our sponsor, Nearshore direct. That's go nearshore direct.com great way to find talent all over Latin America for growing U.S. companies. And we will see you soon on another episode of the Nearshore Cafe coming your way. Thanks again.

Thanks for joining us at the Nearshore Cafe podcast. Tune in next week for a new episode featuring another special guest.