Any new entrepreneurial venture or tech start-up knows that the quality of their financial analysts - their accountants and their CFOs - can make or break their business.
Getting the hiring mix right is vital for companies, regardless of the development stage of their business. Many time-poor creative entrepreneurs aren’t necessarily experts in finance, bookkeeping, or even venture capital - this is why it's so important to find talented finance and corporate analysts to help with these critical business functions.
<div class="special-pull-left text-color-blue text-size-smaller text-weight-normal">In this article, we look at three case studies of successful hires of remote financial experts and affiliates from Latin American countries.</div>
Many enlightened North American startups are looking to Latin America to find the best finance talent to bolster their businesses. Finding the right financial wizards to help your firm meet regulatory requirements (including tax compliance), manage your books, or raise equity to grow your business will help you more effectively compete in rapidly-changing markets.
Case Study 1
Dry Line Partners LLC
Private equity analyst from Argentina
Our first case study concerns Dry Line Partners LLC who engaged Near to help them find a private equity analyst from Argentina. Dry Line Partners is a small (relatively new) private equity firm based in San Antonio, Texas. Their business strategy focuses on B2B recurring revenue technology industries. The three partners at DLP have a great track record on M&A and public and private investment.
By way of background, Dry Line recently celebrated the successful acquisition by Jungle Disk (one of its affiliated businesses), of three growing SaaS companies operating in the cybersecurity field, for an undisclosed amount. Dry Line worked with its other affiliate company Porthcawl Holdings LLC to complete this deal. Porthcawl Partner, Bret Piatt, is also a Partner and co-founder of Dry Line as well as being CEO of Jungle Disk. Both Dry Line and Porthcawl focus on investing in technology businesses.
Dry Line Co-Founder and Partner, Michael Girdley said that this deal will make Jungle Disk “the second-biggest private technology company in San Antonio”. Jungle Disk now serves over 25,000 customers globally with data centers in both the United States and Europe - all working to protect their customers’ data and privacy.
Success like this doesn’t come easily for smaller startups and entrepreneurs. Dry Line could see that they needed to grow their firm with high quality finance and entrepreneurial talent. So they used Near to find the best candidate to add to their team.
Dry Line’s job posting on Near attracted a talented private equity analyst from Argentina - Piero Manzone - who is now the newest addition to their team. Piero attended the Universidad de Buenos Aires where he was awarded a Magister of Finance (graduating in 2020) and he worked for Capital Market Investment Advisory in Argentina for five years. This talented candidate also had a stint at Banco de Inversion y Comercio Exterior (BICE) for three years as a Senior Finance Officer and Senior Analyst. Before that, he worked for Deloitte in Argentina.
With Near you can expect to receive a pretty seamless, user-friendly hiring experience which is ideal for time-poor entrepreneurs seeking to grow their startups quickly.
Case Study 2
Finalis
Research Analyst from Argentina
Another tech investment banking platform based in San Francisco, Finalis, used Near to find a Research Analyst. Finalis is a white-labeled broker-dealer platform who advises on mergers and acquisitions and provides support to businesses with tech-enabled compliance support and research and analytics.
Finalis wanted to grow their research team quickly and they posted job ads on LinkedIn but found they were not attracting high quality applications for their Research Analyst job. They decided to give Near a try. Within a month of posting their job ad on Near, they had received over 43 applications with five candidates selected for initial screening. Only a month after advertising, they found and hired the best candidate for their team - a former Assistant Professor of Statistics from Argentina who had worked as a private equity research analyst at CRISIL.
Case Study 3
Dura Software
Corp Dev Associate from Brazil
The hyperniche B2B software company, Dura Software, is both a c-corp accumulator and operates a small software business with a permanent hold model. During their expansion phase, Dura decided they needed a skilled Corp Dev Associate to add to their team. They approached Near, after failing to attract suitable candidates using traditional hiring funnels, such as LinkedIn.
Dura was keen to get someone from Mexico initially and they wanted an accountant who also had sales operations experience with an analytical mindset. After talking with Near, Dura management decided to expand their candidate search to all of Latin America. By the time that Dura posted their Corp Dev job ad on Near, they attracted over 50 qualified applicants. Within two weeks of the job posting, Dura engaged an awesome candidate from Brazil.
These case studies show just how simple it can be for American firms and startups to source talented candidates across Latin America. Near will do most of the vetting process on your behalf and their team of experts are on hand to answer any questions you may have during the hiring process.
Know your candidate
Before developing your job posting, you need to understand your candidate’s educational and work qualifications. There are many excellent MBA programs offered across a range of Latin American Universities. FindMBA identified the following ten schools to be among the best in Latin America:
- EGADE Business School Santa Fe, Tecnológico de Monterrey - Mexico City - which has been operating since 1995 and it was voted the second-best MBA program in Latin America by América Economía (annual tuition fees are USD$20,000 - considerably cheaper than any US equivalent) but likely to deliver a high quality education nonetheless.
- IPADE Business School - also located in Mexico City and it’s alumni includes Mexican media baron, Emilio Azcarraga and telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim (CEO of Telmex, América Móvil, and Grupo Carso).
- INCAE Business School, Campus Alajuela, Costa Rica and it has been dubbed “Harvard of the South” and it offers a two-year MBA program (in Costa Rica) and a more intensive 15-month program from Nicaragua.
- Universidad Austral - IAE Business School, Buenos Aires. This school’s 11-month MBA program costs a total of US$38,000 and offers one of the best alumni networks with some of its graduates now located across 25 countries.
- Universidad de Chile, Santiago - is one of the oldest business schools in Latin America and has been operating for 150 years. This school has educated Chilean presidents and other prominent politicians and industry leaders. The school offers a 12-month MBA program which costs around US$25,000.
- ESAN Escuela de Administración de Negocios para Graduados Lima, Peru - a private university which is an accredited school. It’s MBA program is a joint venture with Stanford’s Graduate School of Business 1963 and it has shown good results with its graduates obtaining employment on average within three months following graduation.
- CENTRUM Católica, Business School, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru - it was awarded triple accreditation by AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB (key business school accreditation bodies in Latin America).
- Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, Santiago, Chile - offering various MBA programs for both local as well as international students. It offers a Multinational MBA program partnering with other educational institutions in Barcelona, Silicon Valley and Mexico City. América Economía ranks it as the best business school in Latin America.
- FIA Business School, São Paulo, Brazil - is also ranked highly by América Economía and also accredited by AMBA. Their MBA program is taught in English.
- Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-EAESP), São Paulo, Brazil - which focuses on excellence in research as well as offering MBA programs. It has strong partnerships with educational institutions and industry around the world.
Of course, attendance at schools different from those listed above, need not be grounds to exclude an otherwise excellent candidate. The list above is used to demonstrate the quality of MBA education available in different parts of Latin America. When hiring, consider the nuances around subject areas and skill sets to find that person who is the right fit for your business.
Skills transferability
If you are after a banking analyst or expert, you can find Latin American candidates who have years of experience working in any number of multinational banking corporations. You may also want to find potential talent from Latin American millennials who have experience working in any one of the world’s Big 4 Accounting firms such as Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young (EY), and Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG).
The work experience that your potential candidates possess should be the equivalent of whatever you can expect to find from North American candidates working in similar business environments. You can easily find experts in corporate finance, auditing, software, B2B and SaaS experts from any number of Latin American countries who can work remotely for your businesses.
Salaries
The 2021 Mexico Salary Guide can give you an idea of what you would expect to pay for a finance expert from that country. The graph below shows what types of salaries finance professionals in Mexico can expect to earn (expressed in US dollars).
For more information about salary ranges across Latin American countries consider looking at data from the Inter-American Development Bank.
Find your best finance experts at Near
Near is your one-stop shop to help you attract the best finance experts across Latin America. Our curated easy to use job platform will help you find the best pre-vetted candidates from all over Latin America for full-time remote roles. You should think of a successful hire as an investment in your company’s longer term success.
Our team can help you navigate the hiring process seamlessly. If you haven’t successfully hired your candidate within 60 days of your job post, we promise to refund 100% of your job posting fee.
