Latino small business supports local economy by producing domestically in the USA.

The new vision involves exporting versus importing

I have been driven to International Business my entire life. 

From the time I left my home state of New Jersey to study International Finance and Marketing at the University of Miami, to expanding my family’s business with exclusive distributorships in South America from Asia I have sought to source products and services abroad.    

Photo above: Martial Arts History Museum pre-build out with the Thai Consulate General – Damrong Kraikruan, Thai Trade Executive Director – Chantira J. Vivatrat, and Martial Arts History Museum Director – Michael Matsuda.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

My desire to go international was evident very early on when I attended the Canton Product Fair in China in 1994 by myself.  The canton Fair is the largest product fair in China with over 60,000 booths. I returned home with suitcases of product catalogs and looked for opportunities throughout the whole product spectrum.

As my career evolved, I sought employment at the regional headquarters for several large, multi-national companies and later pursued my MBA in International Business from ranked, Florida International University.  I took every opportunity to travel and accepted any challenge we were experiencing abroad.

Port of Qingdao is one of the top 10 Ports in the world and currently ships to 700 ports in over 180 countries and regions

As of late, my main import has been a sports rub, known in the industry as Thai Oil.  It is a revered Asian muscle rub formula that is used in martial arts to warm up athletes’ bodies, massage their muscles and aid in training and recovery. Its benefits are attributed to the longevity of these athletes, claimed by some as the most conditioned athletes in the world. I have been importing and marketing Thai oil for nearly ten years.

I fell in love with Thai Oil and saw the potential it had in all sports. I heard praises of its benefits from professional athletes all over, and learned it was even effective enough to be used on thoroughbred horses.

Thai Oil is beloved by its core, niche market of Muay Thai practitioners (Thailand’s National Sport), but it had very little branding and almost no marketing support. The name of the largest brand was unknown to most non-Thai’s until I took the initiative to modify the label and spell out the brand in English.

Anthony Salcedo at Canton Product Fair 

I worked diligently for years to promote the brand and even sponsored my own athletes, traveling throughout North America and back to Thailand to trouble-shoot issues, covering expos and giving out samples.

Although I received minimal to no support from the brand I was marketing and promoting for, I continued this promote believing the manufacturer would eventually see the value in my efforts. 

Then, there were production shut downs in Thailand due too political riots between the “Red “and “Yellow” shirt groups, the massive Bangkok flood in 2011 and the manufacturer’s financial instability, I encountered years with periods of production stoppages.

Next- Stateside, I quickly learned that entire shipments being imported can be held