Southpartner - Your partner for new business ventures in South America
Southpartner is a local partner for foreign tech companies wanting to set up new business ventures in South America.
With a senior multi-lingual team of European and Latin American nationalities, Southpartner may act as your local partner on many levels, including New Business Ventures & Start-ups, Local Operations, JVs, M&As, Entry Strategies, Business Development, Channel Management, Management for hire, Legal Support, and distribution or commercial representation.
Areas of expertise include ICT, IoT, AI, Big Data, AgTech, Forestry, and General Industry.
Besides its headquarters in São Paulo, the business engine of South America, Southpartner has offices in Rio de Janeiro, Atlanta and Stockholm, and sales representatives in Europe and North America.
Mission
Our mission is to be the best local partner for foreign tech companies wanting to successfully set up and manage new business ventures in South America.
Key Facts
- Established in 2001 and headquartered in São Paulo, with regional offices in Rio de Janeiro, Atlanta and Stockholm
- Proven track record as local partner for foreign companies wanting to successfully set up and manage new ventures in South America
- Senior multi-lingual team of European and Latin American nationals, each with operational experience and expertise within its respective sector
- In-house lawyers to facilitate any start-up process in a one stop shop concept
- Expertise within ICT, IoT, AI, Big Data, AgTech, Forestry, and General Industry.
Founding Partner & CEO
Founding Partner & CEO of Southpartner, Svante Hjorth has over 22 years of professional experience of management, strategy, sales and business development within the global ICT industry, and in particular of foreign technology companies setting up operations and managing new ventures in Latin America.
Svante is also Founding Partner & CEO of Arycom, one of the leading operators and providers of mobile satellite communications solutions and capacity in South America, and President of Springboard Ventures, a holding company for new ventures in Latin America.
Before taking on the leadership of Southpartner, Svante was Vice President of Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT:L) in the Americas, initiating the company’s operations in Latin America and growing its business and sales channel in the Americas. Prior to Inmarsat, he worked at companies like Telenor Satellite Services (Brazil), the Swedish Trade Council (Brazil), and TietoEnator (Sweden), amongst others.
Svante is also Director of the board at the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce - Georgia, USA, and Advisory Council board member of the Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in São Paulo, Brazil.
Svante has a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Linkoping Institute of Technology in Sweden, and speaks Swedish, Norwegian / Danish, English, German, Portuguese and Spanish.
Founding Partner & Managing Director
Co-founding Partner and Managing Director of Southpartner, Olivia Arantes has over 25 years of experience of corporate law, and in representing foreign companies in the legal establishment and growth processes in Brazil. Olivia, a Senior Attorney-at-Law and member of the Brazilian Bar Association OAB/SP since 1984, is responsible for all legal affairs at the company.
Prior to Southpartner, Olivia was an associate and head of the law firm Arantes Consultoria Jurídica, representing various national and international companies in Brazil.
Besides Southpartner, Olivia is Partner of Arycom, one of the leading operators and providers of mobile satellite communications solutions and capacity in South America.
Olivia has a Bachelor’s degree at the University of São Paulo, with a specialization in Tributary Law (Brasilia) and telecommunications law (São Paulo) and speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and English.
Executive Director
Ciro Chudo, Executive Director, has over 25 years of experience in sales, business development, strategy and finance, having served multinational companies in the telecommunications industry.
Before assuming the position as Executive Director at Southpartner, Ciro worked for the group as Commercial Director of Arycom. Prior to this, Ciro was Sales Manager at Nera Latin America, and held several management positions at companies such as NEC, Itautec, Alcatel, and Lucent.
Ciro has a Master of Science degree in Electronic Engineering and Business Administration from the School of Engineering Maua, São Paulo, with specialization in telecommunications and speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish.