Solange Warner (left) and Dina Molaison (right) proudly display the export achievement award given to Ms. Warner’s company, Ashton International Co. photo by Trevor Williams

A native Chilean who has traveled to 52 countries and speaks three languages fluently, Solange Warner has provided consulting services that have extended the reach of Atlanta’s branch of the U.S. Commercial Service, Dina Molaison, an international trade specialist, told GlobalAtlanta.

“Really, my territory is the world,” said Ms. Warner, a speaker of Spanish, English and Portuguese and the president of Atlanta-based consulting firm Ashton International Co.

Ms. Warner, whose company recently won an export achievement award from the U.S. Department of Commerce, is one in a small group of trusted consultants the commercial service calls upon when its clients need immersive assistance in exporting to another country, Ms. Molaison said.

Ms. Molaison and Ms. Warner have built a strong working relationship that Ms. Molaison said has been part of a change in the way the commercial service looks at consultants as a part of its overall strategy. 

“Consultants were viewed as competition before,” said Ms. Molaison, who added that she had a hard time learning how to deal with consultants when she took the job at the commercial service. “I quickly realized…that they can sometimes reach someone our company can’t reach.”

Ms. Warner’s work with Atlanta-based ILC Corp., a network control software company recently bought by Duluth-based Datapath Inc., is a prime example of how the relationship can be mutually beneficial for the commercial service and the consultant involved.

Before being bought out, ILC provided network control software for government and commercial applications in the telecommunications, satellite and broadcast sectors.  The company approached Ms. Molaison for assistance on contracts in Latin America.

“When they expressed a need for contract information, I gave them two choices,” she said.  The company could either work with commercial service’s office in Chile or with a reliable consultant with expertise in the Latin American market. 

ILC chose Ashton International, and Ms. Warner’s ability to initiate contacts with high-level government officials in Chile, negotiate contract issues in Colombia and provide translation services and broad cultural knowledge helped the company garner key sales with companies like Intel Chile.

“They were very happy with the contacts I was able to introduce them to,” said Ms. Warner, who said her persistence paid off when she was able to line up meetings with Chile’s minister of defense.

Her work over the last two years with the commercial service and ILC won her the export achievement award, which was presented by David Bohigian, an assistant secretary in the department of commerce who was visiting Atlanta to speak on free trade issues.

Although Ms. Warner’s four-year-old company’s accolades have come on the export side, it provides import consulting as well.

While the company’s export projects have been concentrated mostly in the communications and defense sectors, its imports include less technical products like Chilean wine, semi-precious stones, fruits and flowers. 

And the cooperation between consultant and commercial service is also two-sided.  On both inbound and outbound consulting ventures, Ms. Warner relies on the information Ms. Molaison provides in reports about different parts of the world. 

“(Ms. Warner) does the heavy lifting, but I’ll support her with any kind of research she needs,” Ms. Molaison said, referring to Ms. Warner’s ability to delve deeper into company-specific negotiations than the commercial service can.

Although the relationship has been fruitful, Ms. Molaison said it’s not the standard.  She mentioned three stipulations that have to be met by consultants looking to work in tandem with the commercial service.  More than half the company’s business must be in the U.S., and the consulting firm has to divulge to the client that it is working with the commercial service.

Also, Ms. Molaison has to be able to consider the consultant as an employee of the client involved.

Ms. Warner hasn’t always been in consulting.  She grew up in Chile before moving to Florida to attend Florida International University, where she graduated with a degree in international business. 

She started S&S Travel Agency in Coral Gables, Fla. before living in Europe and eventually returning to the U.S., where she worked as a senior manager for multinational accounts with American Express Co. for seven years.  

Her experience working with Fortune 500 companies accumulated, and she soon thought she could make a living as an independent consultant.

“I acquired experience working with these companies and I decided to go on my own because I saw the market there,” said Ms. Warner, who added that Atlanta is a great place for her line of work.

For more information on the U.S. Commercial Service and its work with consultants, contact Ms. Molaison.