You might know the corporate world well, but starting and running a business in Canada may require additional skills and strategies. To help you understand what really works when making this transition — from finding customers to growing your business across Canada and beyond — here’s advice from a newcomer-turned-business expert.
Marcelo Andrade, founder of Lucalex Holdings Inc., is an immigrant from Brazil who lives in Toronto and advises overseas businesses on setting up operations in Canada and beyond. His team has worked with more than 40 companies. A man with knowledge across sectors, Marcelo credits his background in engineering with Volvo, in economics with two Canadian universities – University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University, and in banking with RBC and HSBC, for giving him the experience needed to start his own business.
“With my economics and international country risk background, because I was a manager of country risk for Latin America with the Royal Bank, very early on, I learned how to perceive other parts of the world from the standpoint of a Canadian corporation. This view is useful today when you have a business and are trying to sell to Canadians… I spent 10 years lending money. I worked for two banks and was fortunate to learn a lot about the business culture. So I bring that learning and that networking of over 150 businesses that I saw working over 10 years.”
– Marcelo Andrade, founder of Lucalex Holdings Inc.
Why Canada is a smart place to launch your business
Canada offers many advantages for newcomers ready to build a business with international reach:
Easy access to major markets: Canadian companies can sell to the US, Europe, and their home countries with fewer barriers thanks to trade agreements. Take your business international, advises Marcelo. Canada is a welcoming and friendly country. “There are trade agreements between Canada and other countries,” he says.
Strong innovation ecosystem: The country provides excellent access to skilled talent, funding, and research opportunities, “especially for tech and innovative businesses,” shares Marcelo.
A trusted “Made in Canada” brand: Operating from Canada increases your company’s credibility globally, making it easier to win customers at home and abroad. “A lot of our clients, after they open their Canadian office, sell more in their country of origin, because now their companies are perceived as selling something of higher quality. People see being an immigrant in Canada as a badge of honour, a badge of courage. And also, the knowledge ecosystem has a great quality of people, educational standards, abundance of workforce and lower costs, especially compared to Europe and to the United States,” he says.
Also read: Are you a newcomer in Toronto and looking to start your business?
Common challenges newcomers face and how to avoid them
Many immigrant entrepreneurs struggle to tap into Canada’s wide range of free resources — government programs, trade shows, chambers of commerce, and networking platforms like LinkedIn. This often leads to early momentum fading or “ricochet effect” where one might start to make sales, but then eventually things plateau a little bit, and suddenly it feels like the gap is growing. Immigrant business owners (especially those from different cultural backgrounds) may face more specific challenges understanding the business scene here, but there’s relief in knowing what you can do to change the situation:
Customers buy trust, not features.
Unlike some countries where reputation alone drives business, Canadian customers want to know why your product or service is the best solution for their needs — not just hear about how good it is. So focus on building trust.Shifting your business mindset.
In many emerging markets, running the day-to-day business operations is the biggest challenge. In Canada, the harder part is competing for customers.“If you’re coming from Switzerland, Germany or Norway, you’re operating in an environment that is very similar to Canada, but if you’re coming from an emerging country, a society where there is a lot of inequality, the hardest part for you here is to compete, and back home very likely, the hard part was to operate the business. This creates an inverted mentality approach where businesspeople in Canada tend to approach the market by talking about how good we are, versus what we should be doing. You should be talking about understanding their problem and solving it better than anybody else,” says Marcelo.
Also read: How to finance your business in Canada as a newcomer
To further understand how to make your journey as an immigrant business owner easier, you can access the Your Business in Canada program from Lucalex, which has been launched in English and is also available in Spanish and Portuguese.
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