Search the site...

SOL DE MEDIANOCHE
  • JANUARY 2023
  • DECEMBER 2022
  • NOVEMBER 2022
  • OCTOBER 2022
  • SEPTEMBER 2022
  • AUGUST 2022
  • JULY 2022
  • JUNE 2022
  • MAY 2022
  • APRIL 2022
  • MARCH 2022
  • FEBRUARY 2022
  • JANUARY 2022
  • DECEMBER 2021
  • NOVEMBER 2021
  • OCTOBER 2021
  • SEPTEMBER 2021
  • AUGUST 2021
  • JULY 2021
  • JUNE 2021
  • MAY 2021
  • APRIL 2021
  • MARCH 2021
  • FEBRUARY 2021
  • JANUARY 2021
  • DECEMBER 2020
  • NOVEMBER 2020
  • Advertise with us!
  • OCTOBER 2020
  • SEPTEMBER 2020
  • AUGUST 2020
  • JULY 2020
  • JUNE 2020
  • MAY 2020
  • MAR - APR 2020
  • JAN - FEB 2020
  • NOVEMBER 2019
  • SEPTEMBER 2019
  • JULY 2019
  • MAY 2019
  • MARCH 2019
  • FEBRUARY 2019
  • NOVEMBER 2018
  • SEPTEMBER 2018
    • Yes on Salmon
    • Become a citizen
  • JUNE 2018
  • APRIL 2018
  • FEBRUARY 2018
  • DECEMBER 2017
  • SEPTEMBER 2017
  • JULY 2017
  • MAY 2017
  • Spring 2017 - No. 5
  • Winter 2016 - No. 4
  • Fall 2016 - No. 3
  • Summer 2016 - No. 2
  • Spring 2016 - No. 1
  • Contact
  • Intersecciones de Arte Ed Washington, un romántico perdido
  • Art Intersections Ed Washington, our very own hopeless romantic
  • JANUARY 2023
  • DECEMBER 2022
  • NOVEMBER 2022
  • OCTOBER 2022
  • SEPTEMBER 2022
  • AUGUST 2022
  • JULY 2022
  • JUNE 2022
  • MAY 2022
  • APRIL 2022
  • MARCH 2022
  • FEBRUARY 2022
  • JANUARY 2022
  • DECEMBER 2021
  • NOVEMBER 2021
  • OCTOBER 2021
  • SEPTEMBER 2021
  • AUGUST 2021
  • JULY 2021
  • JUNE 2021
  • MAY 2021
  • APRIL 2021
  • MARCH 2021
  • FEBRUARY 2021
  • JANUARY 2021
  • DECEMBER 2020
  • NOVEMBER 2020
  • Advertise with us!
  • OCTOBER 2020
  • SEPTEMBER 2020
  • AUGUST 2020
  • JULY 2020
  • JUNE 2020
  • MAY 2020
  • MAR - APR 2020
  • JAN - FEB 2020
  • NOVEMBER 2019
  • SEPTEMBER 2019
  • JULY 2019
  • MAY 2019
  • MARCH 2019
  • FEBRUARY 2019
  • NOVEMBER 2018
  • SEPTEMBER 2018
    • Yes on Salmon
    • Become a citizen
  • JUNE 2018
  • APRIL 2018
  • FEBRUARY 2018
  • DECEMBER 2017
  • SEPTEMBER 2017
  • JULY 2017
  • MAY 2017
  • Spring 2017 - No. 5
  • Winter 2016 - No. 4
  • Fall 2016 - No. 3
  • Summer 2016 - No. 2
  • Spring 2016 - No. 1
  • Contact
  • Intersecciones de Arte Ed Washington, un romántico perdido
  • Art Intersections Ed Washington, our very own hopeless romantic

A Latino Entrepreneur Imports
Coffee from Colombia to Anchorage

​
​by sdmn

Picture

Christian Montaña is a Latino entrepreneur living in Anchorage. He is determined to introduce coffee from his country, Colombia, to businesses and homes in this city and throughout Alaska. He has created a marketing company in Alaska, Oza Global, and works with the Colombian marketing company Prinsa SAS (Sociedad de Acciones Simplificadas), which is owned by Jorge Montaña, his father, some 8,800 kilometers away.

Jorge Montaña’s Colombian trading company has almost 20 years of experience. Christian’s Alaskan company has only two. “I incorporated it here in March 2020, at the height of the Covid explosion,” he says. “Last year we did a pilot test, bringing a sack of coffee from Colombia. It was a success, and we started exporting more. The next thing was to bring 600 kilos of coffee to Anchorage, which sold fast.”

Christian has been a Hispanic entrepreneur since he arrived in the United States. “This country offers more facilities and help than my country to start a business,” he says. “You just need to know the sector in which you want to move, identify opportunities, make a realistic assessment of the chances of success of your idea, without getting carried away by desires and illusions, and get trained and informed in the institutions that the United States has to advise and help the entrepreneur.”

Christian was assisted and mentored by, among others, the Small Business Administration (SBA) of Alaska. It provided him with the necessary advice. “Latinos in the United States are very entrepreneurial,” he says. “But to Latinos who come here to start a business, I would tell them the following: you have to network, go to networking events, take note of the advice of those who have started before you and be humble, so you learn from their experience. With your business idea clear, with advice, and with effort and a lot of perseverance, you can make your project a reality.”

In his opinion, “Hispanics and Asians are the most entrepreneurial ethnic groups in the United States. I chose to start a business in Anchorage because I like the whole state of Alaska and because the people here have a very strong sense of community; they are people who live in contact with nature and have an admirable culture that you don’t find anywhere else.”

In Christian’s case, the project is to bring coffee from Colombia to Alaska. “We transport it by plane in micro-lots, bringing it to Alaska thanks to all my efforts. It takes us six to eight days to ship the coffee from Colombia to Anchorage. It is more expensive to fly it than to ship it. But the demand in Alaska does not allow us this option,” explains Jorge Montaña from Colombia.
​
Jorge and Christian’s coffee suppliers produce some 17,500 kilos per month. They plan to “take it to the native communities so that they can open their own businesses with our coffee. We will help them do that,” Christian explains.
In addition to the native populations, they want to serve Colombian coffee to the hotel and catering industry and to private consumers. An e-commerce store is in the works.
Picture
Christian Montaña

PROUDLY POWERED BY SOL DE MEDIANOCHE NEWS, LLC.
Sol de Medianoche is a monthly publication of the Latino community in Anchorage, Alaska