The CEO of Tienda Inglesa, Juan Manuel Parada, does not hesitate to affirm that Uruguayans are increasingly interested in knowing the origin of what they consume. The recently appointed commercial manager of the store, Nicolás Mackinnon, agrees and adds that “customers want to know who is behind that product. Small companies put their life into their products and if you don’t tell about it, you don’t stand out, you don’t appreciate it”.
Based on this premise and a deep brand commitment to positively impact its strategic allies –which in this case are its smaller suppliers– The Entrepreneurs English Store program was launched.
english store
The English store manager, Juan Manuel Parada
Entrepreneurs who are part of the project will have a specialist from the English Store team who will be available for each area involved. Also, micro-entrepreneurs will obtain a distinguished space on the shelves of Tienda Inglesa and in its mailing, as well as the possibility of telling their story and that of their products within the framework of the chain’s advertising campaign and on its social networks.
To be part of the program in its first stage, suppliers of national capitals that already work with Tienda Inglesa, that are micro-enterprises and that add value in the productive chain are taken (intermediaries are not taken, for example).
“In the future we want to incorporate new entrepreneurs who are not necessarily providers of Tienda Inglesa,” said the commercial manager in dialogue with Café & Negocios. In the plans of the supermarket chain is that this second stage begins within the next six months and it intends to involve more than 500 entrepreneurs.
“The evolution of this is always with companies that produce in Uruguay. National production is an emblem for Tienda Inglesa and we believe that the focus must be there”, indicated Parada and assured that it is very difficult for SMEs to access large surfaces. “The idea is to lower those barriers so that they can reach the shelves and highlight them,” said Mackinnon.
In this sense, the general director of Tienda Inglesa highlighted that in addition to offering them diffusion, they are offered an intangible value such as the transformation of the negotiation between Tienda Inglesa and these suppliers into something simpler, with more certainty for the microentrepreneur and more agile. . “It is to give a seal of quality to each of these entrepreneurs with all these highlights and also that they focus more on developing better quality products and not so much on being on administrative issues to generate this sales channel,” Parada stressed.
english store
The commercial manager of Tienda Inglesa, Nicolás Mackinnon
Teamwork
To seal its commitment to leverage local production, Tienda Inglesa signed an agreement with the Uruguayan Chamber of Industries. The president of the business union, Alfredo Antía, was the counterpart and assured that the proposal is a window of opportunity for the development of entrepreneurs. “We can only applaud this initiative,” said Antía.
Along the same lines, he recalled that producing in Uruguay is more expensive than doing it abroad and he emphasized addressing the businessmen: “To produce in Uruguay you have to have courage, there are 130 brave people here.” The celebration of the agreement culminated with an agape and the applause of recognition of the entrepreneurs present.
