Winter 2008 Issue > Going Around Latin America: An Interview with Go Mitani
Going Around Latin America: An Interview with Go Mitani, Crown Costa Rica Country Manager
Go Mitani is the country manager of Crown Costa Rica. Go has held positions with Crown in Brazil and Mexico, lived in Chile for many years, and currently heads up Crown’s facility in Costa Rica. We asked Go to talk about his personal experiences and his perspective on the business environment in Latin America.
My First Taste of the Relocation Industry
I was born in Sao Paulo, from Japanese parents who immigrated to Brazil in the 1970s. At the age of five, my family immigrated to Chile, seeking new business opportunities. My parents started up a travel agency and I joined the family business at the age of 17. After working a year, I went to college in Boca Raton, Florida, in the U.S. After attending college, I went back to work in a different family business in Chile, a new developing real estate company.
While working as a realtor, construction consultant and sales representative, many customers started to ask for moving services. That is when I got my first taste of the relocation industry and started learning about the moving business. This introduction to the industry inspired me to create a partnership with an international moving company in Chile. In 2000, Crown opened operations in Chile and became one of our providers. During this time, Crown gave me relocation projects to perform, so I learned even more about the relocation industry…and I guess they were happy with my performance. They offered me a position in Mexico.
Go Goes to Mexico
In 2002, I was offered the position of Branch Manager of Crown’s Mexico City operation, where I dedicated two and a half years to developing new business and restructuring the operation to achieve better performance. I had two motivating reasons for accepting this position. The first was that I wanted to be part of a big corporation like Crown and gain a more global perspective. The second reason was that I fell in love with my current wife, who I met in Chile. She too was offered a job in Mexico, so my heart did the rest.
My greatest challenges during those years were restructuring the operation and working with people who did not speak my native language. Mexico is a hot spot. In many ways, it is considered an extension of the United States. The country will always play an important role in the Latin American relocation industry.
In 2004, I was offered a position in Rio de Janeiro.
Christ the Redeemer in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Back to Brazil
Once I arrived in Rio de Janeiro, I found that language and cultural differences were not a problem…I felt like I was at home. The expatriate market and the moving environment in Brazil are intense. Brazil is among the giant economies that are emerging on the global scene. Always with the vision of expanding Crown’s presence, I saw a very high potential for Crown in South America. Most of the market was not explored. In 2007, under the new administration of Brian Valentine, CEO of Crown Americas, I was nominated to open a strategic operation in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Facing Challenges in Costa Rica
In Costa Rica, for the first time, I was tasked with setting up the operation, literally from the ground up. The entire process from the preliminary research to the execution needed to be done in a very short period of time. It was quite a challenge as I was dealing with my own personal transition at the same time.
From a professional point of view, I was expecting to easily find a very qualified labor force at a low cost. Prior studies showed a high level of education and that most college-educated professionals had a proficient English level. Because we have major companies like Intel, Procter & Gamble, Ernst & Young, etc., in Costa Rica, I learned that most of the “good ones” were already taken. It took me almost five times longer to secure the staff than I thought it would take.
Serving San Jose
Costa Rica is a small country, home to about 4.5 million people, with the main industries being tourism and technology development. While not considered a top destination for moving services, it is one of the most preferred locations for foreign investors. The level of foreigners is so high that most people working in the service industry speak English. Like Brazil and Mexico, many large corporations have their regional headquarters located in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Our San Jose operation often serves as the controlling office and acts as a central coordinating location for relocations throughout the region.
We see North America everywhere: retired people, corporate executives, tourists, etc. Our core business in Costa Rica is household goods, mainly inbound shipments from the U.S. and Europe, as well as Global Mobility Services for large corporations.
The main traffic lanes are other destinations within Latin America. The traffic lanes in Costa Rica are very active so this new operation will help fill this gap, allowing us explore a market we have never had the chance to see before…it’s truly new.
Going Forward
Costa Rica is the one country in Central America with a very high level of education and the locals are accustomed to living and working with foreigners. Regardless of race, status or age, people here in general are very friendly. Adapting to this new location was the smoothest of all my relocations and now I have added one more member to my family... my wife just delivered our first baby, a bouncing boy we’ve named Atsushi!
Looking ahead, I see a gap that Crown Costa Rica can fill in the records management industry. I do not believe the local records management providers, our competitors, provide the same level of quality service as Crown does. With our strategic location and company-wide expertise, I expect that we will also provide FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment) services to the many number of hospitality companies that are expanding their business in the region. We eventually hope to expand even further into the real estate and furniture lease industries.
High quality service will continue to be our main priority so at the initial stage, we will be cautious, but we intend to make a huge leap in the near future, build our business aggressively and gain a significant share of the market in these key business segments. We are currently a small operation but very proud of what we have achieved thus far, and we just can’t wait for the day where we are in line with some of the larger operations in the Crown network.
Go and his newborn son Atsushi, |
Go and his lovely wife |