Avante Global Trade is challenging the status quo to build a better world
Avante Global Trade was founded on a major guiding principle – to be a force of good in the world. Leveraging the resources and success of a group of sister companies such as SAT Consulting and Construction, Florence Medical, Intercambio Global Latinoamericano, ESCOBA, SAT Capital, and El Prado, to mention a few, along with the relentless energy and vision of founder and president Sergio Torres, Avante Global Trade executes on its mission to be the best provider of innovative solutions and products of high quality with integrity, speed, and fair prices.
The vision? “We strive to never stop breaking barriers and borders in order to develop business opportunities that benefit society, clients, suppliers, and our commercial partners.”
The expertise is in maximizing returns through strategic asset management. By leaning on its supplier network and construction proficiency, Avante Global Trade’s approach involves acquiring assets below their intrinsic value, overseeing construction, and integrating the full chain, from sourcing, building, transportation, and distribution of products within the units to maximize value. Thanks to a resilient portfolio designed to weather economic challenges, risk-adjusted returns through conservative practices, and thorough underwriting processes, Avante enjoys a sustainable portfolio.
Avante Global Trade’s divisions include sourcing OEM/ODM products, wholesale trade (globally) of construction materials, professional services (sourcing, logistics, consulting), and prefab modular container homes, storage units, bars, and many more custom structures. It is this division of modular homes through Avante Developments that is revolutionizing the housing market, locally and abroad.
Avante translates to “moving forward,” and that is the purpose of the modular homes. While the concept is not new, the ways Avante Developments go about their projects certainly are. Using materials and expertise from around the world, Avante operates with a collective mindset that fuels its desire to empower people and communities around the world.
“I am always looking for new ways to do things – ways to challenge the status quo,” says Torres. “Through my travels I came across modular building; this led to the opening of the Avante Developments, a modular home building company.”
Avante Developments’ homes are a collaborative effort among an office in Mexico, a warehouse in China, a facility in Bolivia, a distribution center in Mexico, and headquarters in Edmonton. The strategic placement ensures goods and materials can be developed and flow around the world, boosting the supply chain and ensuring survival through diversity. Operating out of these locations also gives back to the communities by creating meaningful employment for local populations.
“Dare to explore!” smiles Torres. “With our model, we get to constantly see and test new products for the homes across a variety of climates and housing situations. What we learn in one area improves the homes for families in other areas of the world. It’s an aggressive, yet progressive model and a different way of doing business. It’s all about creating social solutions.”
He continues, “Avante Developments is very selective about the markets we enter as we have the mindset of always providing quality over volume. While we abide by every country’s regulations and inspections, Canada has among the most stringent certifications. Avante uses this high level of quality as the benchmark in every area we operate. We don’t just want to be an importer, trader or modular home builder. We take the time to ensure what we put into our catalogues are for long-term use and that we earn repeat clients that are happy to refer us.”
It’s not easy. The logistics of running a globally-focused company with multiple divisions can get complicated. Torres points out how quickly supply chains collapsed during the COVID pandemic. However, he also points out that those pain points are learning points and when one learns from them, things improve.
“Business is a broad concept, whether you are in commerce, buying, trading, or selling. You must always grow, explore, learn and understand the markets and products. For me, the greatest joy is understanding the process and learning to be flexible to accommodate new ideas, products, and processes. As we challenge the status quo, we can make things bigger and better.”
As he ponders this thought, Torres thinks further afield.
“With the way the world is moving and changing, sustainability should be the word on the street. We all need to be mindful of what we do and how we do it for ourselves and future generations. This is why Avante Global is more than a business corporation and Avante Developments is more than a modular home company. During the pandemic, for example, we leveraged our network to move millions of supplies around the world including masks, respirators, and sanitizer. Another example is not just focusing our modular homes on warmer climates. It is easy to build them for warm climates but much more challenging, in both building codes and weather, to build them for Canadians. But with how modulars can address the housing crisis, it is important to focus our efforts just as intently here at home as we do abroad. Being diversified reduces our footprint and overhead. So that creates more affordable operations, which creates more affordable products.”
Avante is always looking for ways to push the envelope across all of its divisions while never losing its focus on the social good, innovation, and sustainability.
Torres thanks, “Everyone that has accepted the challenge of making the world a better place, everyone that has tried our products, everyone in the company and everyone up and down the supply chain.”
Look for Avante’s exciting future developments, which include expansion on the modular site and partnerships with like-minded companies that are happy to build communities by challenging the status quo.
Learn more online at www.avanteglobaltrade.ca and www.avantedevelopments.com.