The woman who opened the Latin American market to us | The story of the partner Elena Lozada
My name is Elena Lozada. I live in Italy, where I moved from Colombia. Mostly, everyone migrates to the USA from Latin America. But I always dreamed of Italy, when I was three I told my grandfather that I would send him postcards after I moved there.
I was an entrepreneur. I opened my own beauty and health clinic: spa, wellness massage, herbal medicine, physiotherapy. I went to study in Bangkok, Thailand. I mastered the ancient practices of wellness massage. I studied and worked at the same time.
To open a clinic, I took a bank loan. I invented and did everything myself. I was looking for facilities, bought equipment, was a boss and at the same time worked as a therapist. At the same time, it was necessary to pay for my apartment, to pay for my children's education. My 8,000 euros of income was not enough; most of it went to pay off the loan. I loved my job, but I became so nervous that developed stress-induced gastritis.
I lived like this for 12 years. Work didn't make me happy. I'm a bird that needs to fly. And I didn't even go out, because I worked 10-15 hours every day at the clinic.
In 2018, Birdi Gulshan Kumar told me about SOLARGROUP. He called out of the blue, I wasn't looking for any new offers at the time. Now I think if another person had done it, I just wouldn't have answered, nothing would have happened. And I had already known Birdi for 4 years by that time, from another project. I said that after the holiday I would study everything in detail and give my answer.
And I studied. I was fascinated by the company's mission. I became aware of environmental issues - and that was the decisive factor. I contacted Birdi myself and said: I want to open a Latin American market, can I count on your support? He answered "yes" and we started a big journey called "SOLARGROUP". Birdi Gulshan Kumar became my mentor.
I signed the partnership agreement immediately, in 2018. I am a very ambitious person, I initially thought big. As soon as I figured out what kind of project it was, how to work in it, I immediately decided that I wanted to draw the attention of everyone in Latin America to the project "Duyunov's motors", the "Slavyanka" technology and "Sovelmash". I didn't want another person, for example, a European, to do this on my continent, because this is my home. From the very first moment, I thought about it only!
First of all, I called Leumín Díaz, my friend from Venezuela (now he is the leader of my partner structure in Latin America), to talk about the project. We met with Leumín in another business, where everything ended up with nothing. Later, via a video link, I gave him a presentation of SOLARGROUP. I explained everything and asked: Do you accept the challenge? He said: Bring it on! It was Leumín who found Massimiliano (Massimiliano Vivian Rossini is a national partner in Peru). Therefore, everything turned out very well in Latin America.
Every day I learned more, studied, gained experience. At first I made mistakes. For example, I did not take into account that different regions have their own peculiarities of doing business. It is not customary in Italy to talk about numbers, you can't just open your mouth and start piling on facts, even priests criticize for that! In Latin America, it's the other way around. People were waiting for numbers, they wanted to immediately understand what to expect in the future, what they could get. This caused difficulties and awkward situations sometimes. I know all this now, but I didn't at first. And I didn't say anything in Latin America and announced the numbers in Italy. Maybe this information will be useful to those who are starting now: you need to find an individual approach for each country.
Working hard with your team was a good solution. And I saw the results almost instantly - a month later. But significant results appeared when I reached the "Expert" status, and then - "Professional" (I got this status after a year of work). It was important for me to achieve this status, I wanted to have this money. I didn't sleep for almost two years. After all, I live in Europe, I work in Latin America, the time difference is 8 hours, that's hard. But I couldn't stop, because so many people were already in the structure, so many levels. And I decided: well, that's it, let's go all the way.
This is a great team effort. I put my heart into it, as I love it, I do it so that everyone feels their importance for SOLARGROUP. Partners and customers should be treated with respect. Everyone should feel that they are the best. I try to behave like an older sister, because I understand: they have a family, there is a mother, there are daughters whom they help, but I am an older sister who is always ready to help them. I know that people are usually prepared, but they have no experience. And then I say: your knowledge + my experience = very cool! I have some kind of talent to unlock people's potential. Very often people themselves do not know that they have the potential or ability to do something. I help to uncover it. From my experience, there are two types of people. The first one sees you as a leader, wants to gain a foothold and reach the end with you, because you help them. The second one expects support from you, but this support turns into friendship. It is great to work with these people, because it is immediately clear how to approach them. When you look into their eyes, you see what's inside. And you learn to be humble and kind. If people feel this towards them, they believe in you and go with you wherever you want.
I was at a conference in Hamburg, Germany, where I met Pavel Shadskiy. There was a stand with motors, and I was able to touch Duyunov's electric motors. I held the motors in my arms like a child. And I said: God, I'm finally being offered something that actually exists! And not some kind of smoke that is sold everywhere. At that moment, I felt that we were all great friends in the company. And I decided to go further, to deal exclusively with SOLARGROUP. My income has already reached the amount of 2000 USD. Pavel personally approached me after his speech, asked me what my opinion about the company was, and asked about Latin America. I really liked his personal interest in Latin America. That was my moment! I had no doubt that this technology would be perfect for everyone in this country.
The conference was decisive in many ways. Shadskiy's personal interest in me helped a lot. Naturally, most of the participants were men. But for some reason Birdi recommended me. Someone was against it, because I am a woman, women do not have leadership qualities. A woman doesn't fit into the company. But Birdi didn't listen. He said: Elena, let them talk, and you and I will continue to work. And it turned out great! I love supporting women and have created a group called "Female Millionaire Entrepreneurs". I work with them, help them develop in different types of business.
It is a great honor for me to be the first woman to open the SOLARGROUP market in 20 Latin American countries. I hope to become the first person with a million partners in the company. I found a huge family here, wonderful and forward-thinking people.
I am inspired by Alisa Kuznetsova's ideas. They make one want to contact the leaders directly. I really like promo offers, it's an additional incentive to work.
To support my partners and help them grow their own team, I created "Common Latin American Ideas", webinars where partners share their experience. This way I get to know them better, understand their goals. It is necessary for such a large structure as mine to work, so that everyone's work does not differ much from how I work personally with people. I keep repeating to everyone that we are a big family, we need each other's support. You can't let anyone feel that someone is higher or better. I say this to the team: imagine that we have seeds in our hands. We plant them in the soil and water them. The seed sprouts, becomes bigger and bigger. And then there will be fruit. We will reap them. There is a potential fruit in every seed, so we need to take care of everyone. And we need to remind our people that there are a lot of scammers on the Internet: they promise something, but these are just empty words. You should stay away from such people. You have to be very careful! This is family care, it's in such little things.
I am grateful to the Universe for my health and the opportunities it offers me. I thank my mentors, SOLARGROUP, "Sovelmash", "Slavyanka" c For what they are, for such a wonderful project.
I thank my team of champions from Latin America, Angola, Mozambique and Italy. My thanks to all my leaders and partners! I love and admire you. Thank you.