Returning from an economic mission to Mexico and Colombia, the Walloon Minister of Economy, Jean-Claude Marcourt, reports on this trip to South America.
From 13 to 20 June, Awex organized an economic mission to Mexico and Colombia in which about forty Walloon companies participated. About 350 B2B meetings were organised and three contracts were signed. The SME Skylane Optics came out the winner of this tour with a distribution agreement estimated to be worth about €10 million over two years. The deal could generate about €10 million in revenues over two years for this SME, which would allow it to increase its turnover by 50%!
Based in Fraire, in the province of Namur, Skylane Optics employs about forty people. The company is active in the telecommunications sector and is focused mainly on export (Europe and now Latin America). It designs and products transmitters and cases for connecting optical fiber. The SME sells its products to the main telecommunications operators: Orange, Free, Numericable-SFR, Vodafone, British Telecom, etc.
Two other Walloon SMEs land a contract
The Awex's economic mission was a success for two other Walloon SMEs. AMB Ecosteryl, a company which processes hospital waste, based in Mons, also landed a promising partnership. The Colombian company Sala, active in waste recycling, is buying a machine worth €700,000 from the Walloon SME. "In the future, the partnership could also lead to five to seven additional machines", explained Olivier Dufrasne, Vice-President of AMB Ecosteryl, which employs about thirty people.
The last piece of good news: the company Socabelec, active in the glass sector, landed a contract with a Colombian manufacturer worth about €200,000.
According to the Walloon Minister of Economy, Jean-Claude Marcourt, Mexico, Colombia and Peru are the three potentially most interesting destinations in Latin America. It is an opportunity for our companies which offer cutting-edge technologies to take advantage of this. Wallonia has many contacts with Startup Mexico, the main start-up business incubator in Mexico City, for exchanges of good practices.