1INCAE Alumni Magazine
P u s h i n g a c o u n t r y u pThe mission and vision of INCAE -- at work
I n c a i s t a s
INCAE Business School
By giving annually to the Amigo Incaista Campaign, you help support our world-class programs, faculty, research, infrastructure and scholarships and help us maintain our position as the top business school in Latin America. Giving is simple. Go to www.incae.edu and CLICK on our logo or ALUMNI.
Please contact Sandra GranizoINCAE Business [email protected](506) 2437- 2365
Donate Today
INCAE changed my life,Now I want to help change someone else’s
Cover Illustration by Patricia Zamora/Atma Comunicacioes
The Mission and Vision of INCAE at work
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
3INCAE Alumni Magazine
Dear Incaistas,
This is the second edition of the INCAE Alumni Magazine, dedicated to our graduates, whose work
and leadership continue to influence and inspire many, including those of us dedicated to the ad-
vancement of this unique institution and school.
Today, we are living in a time of extraordinary change. Globalization and technology continue
to shift our societies and markets, transforming and revolutionizing them. Just as economies re-
align throughout the world, they also do so in our hemisphere. Our mandate is to train leaders in
all aspects of business, especially to confront difficulties and find opportunities. In this edition, you
will read about alumni doing just that. As well, we spotlight ten Incaistas working in one country,
Colombia, to see how the expertise of each graduate propels that country forward, while at the
same time, fulfills the mission and vision of INCAE.
George Cabot Lodge, a Harvard Business School professor and former member of John F.
Kennedy’s administration, is a founder of INCAE, intrinsically involved in its creation. He once said:
“Without an institution of this caliber, we knew the countries in the region could not lift themselves
up.” INCAE was conceptualized and built by North, Central and South Americans to train lead-
ers, so they would bring about change, and promulgate democracy and economic prosperity. It is
inspiring to read stories about Incaistas so engaged in these pursuits.
We are proud of our many achievements this past year, including but not limited to: publicly
launching the Illuminate Campaign with the aim of establishing an endowment; receiving high-
grade rankings from the prestigious Financial Times; and having the highest percentage of women
ever enrolled in our full-time MBA program.
Yet our greatest satisfaction lies with our faculty, whose experienced hands hold the reins that
control the transformative power of an INCAE education. Many have been nominated or have won
awards this year, as in the past. Their accolades and teaching abilities are stellar and as George
Logan says: “They are the heart and soul of an academic institution.”
Thank you for your gracious support and donations to the Amigo Incaista Campaign and the
Illuminate Campaign. I am deeply grateful and excited about the possibilities of the months and
years ahead. We hope you enjoy the magazine and have a great 2013!
Kind regards,
Arturo Condo
President
4 INCAE Alumni Magazine
plan
ning
investment
progressINCAE Alumni Magazine2nd Edition | No. 2
February 2013
PresidentArturo Condo
Faculty DeanJohn Ickis
Executive Education DeanCamelia Ilie
Executive Vice President
Enrique Bolaños
Development Director & National Committees Coordinator
Wendy Rodríguez
Alumni Relations DirectorSandra Granizo
Editor | WriterAna Coyne
Additional WritingAlicia ZamoraMaria Berns
Copy Editor | EnglishAbbie Fields
Graphic DesignAlicia Zamora
Clemente Orozco
IllustrationsClemente OrozcoPatricia Zamora
Principal PhotographyAna Coyne
Additional PhotographyAlicia Zamora
Dennis DrennerPaul Bradford
AssistantKarola Fonseca
Additional photos were provided by Incaistas, INCAE archives and istockphoto.com
INCAE Alumni Magazine is a publication ofINCAE Business School
MontefrescoManagua, Nicaragua
+505 2248-9700www.incae.edu
INCAE Business School
Copy Editor | SpanishMaria Berns
5INCAE Alumni Magazine
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
LETTER from the PRESIDENT
BRIEFCASE
Top Tier RankingsFaculty FocusThe MBA Oath ClubThe Illuminate Campaign
SPOTLIGHTCOLOMBIA SOARING
Jorge HernándezCarlos AyalaÁlvaro SalcedoReynaldo GonzálezJaime RoldánVictoria ReveloCarolina TrejosJorge YanesIgnacio Segares Fabricio Ponce
LEAD PLAYERS
Otto PérezRicardo MartinelliGilberto PerezalonsoRodrigo UribeGuillermo AlonsoJorge OllerMario Morales
The Center for Women’s Leadership
President of GuatemalaPresident of PanamaThe Distinguished Incaísta 2012The Supermarket Scions The Supermarket Scions A Fuego Lento The Innovator
03
06
20
0809121317
24252627282930313233
34353640414244
34
plan
ning
La RepúblicaColombian ArmyColsubsidioMesoamericaSuramericana SAGallupAvianca TacaFitch RatingsUnileverCoca Cola Femsa
6 INCAE Alumni Magazine
B R I E F C A S E
In 2012, the Financial Times listed INCAE among the top ten busi-ness schools in the world in two out of ten categories: Economics and Corporate Strategy. Over-all, the school ranked highest in Hispanic America. Of the three most prestigious rankings in 2012, INCAE was one of only twenty-three schools in the entire world listed in all of them.
INCAE’s reputation is highly re-garded regionally and with these consistently high rankings, its name recognition will widen. The rankings for the MBA program come from student feedback re-garding the excellence of teaching and faculty, job placement, salary increase after graduating, and exposure to international experi-ence, among other markers.
More and more, rankings are decision breakers and makers for individuals choosing which MBA program to pursue. Given the kind of investment being made, both in time and funds, the rank-ing has become a crucial refer-ence for deciding where to pursue a graduate education.
T O P T I E R R A N K I N G S
8 INCAE Alumni Magazine
9INCAE Alumni Magazine
FACULTY FOCUS“They are the heart and soul of any academic institution”
George Logan, President of FMECA
They are highly trained. Ninety-three percent of INCAE professors hold PhDs from the world’s top universities,
including Harvard, MIT and Oxford. Their first-rate education is the foundation of the high-caliber teaching INCAE
is known for.
They are also experienced. They convey information by way of lived experiences, strategized successes, mis-
takes made. It is this real life learning, not just erudition, that students embrace so tenaciously. Most professors
practice what they preach, bringing an understanding and untangling of tangible problems into the classroom.
Students have nominated the following professors for The Economist’s Best Business Professor of the Year.
This is why:
Illustration by José Clemente Orozco
10 INCAE Alumni Magazine
Nicolas Marín, a.k.a. The Profe: After having taught for 45+ years, he
is simply known as The Profe. Ask
Professor Niels Ketelhohn to describe
him, and he uses just one word:
wise.
Marín is the cornerstone of the
INCAE faculty. He has been around
the institution since before many
installations were even built. Most
everyone has passed by his discern-
ing eye. He says the truth, the way
he sees it, and often, the truth hurts.
He is loved by many and feared by
some, which is understandable. In
the corridors one might overhear him
say to a student: “It will be between
God and me whether you pass or
not!”
On the one hand, innately charis-
matic, even entertaining; on the other,
completely understated. Marín’s
thinking is to-the-bone. He com-
bines intellect, human understanding
and common sense with an internal
compass that knows which way is
north, even underwater. He believes
in education, having dedicated a
great portion of his life to it. He sees
with clarity the differences in minds,
admires a diversity of intelligences,
when they use critical thinking. He
gives respect when deserved, so
respect reflects back.
Yet he can easily catch you off
guard. You sit across from him and
mistakenly state an imprecise word.
He raises a finger: “Careful.” You
brace yourself, thinking he is about
to utter a hard truth. You straighten
your back, get ready to confront the
spiraling, full throttle thought. But it is
not a critique. It is an observation, a
beautiful insight that takes you aback
in such an unexpected way. It is as if
his comment pushed a trapeze bar of
previously unthought-of possibilities
in your direction, and with it, he says,
“Grab it!” So you do. You trust him
and you leap.
Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez, a.k.a. Guti: In his Macro class, when a
student asks whether the statistic in
question is good for the economy, this
professor almost always fires back:
“Compared to what?” The under-
standing is implicit. In Macroeconom-
ics, as in life, everything is relative.
For a professor, it might be fair
to think that teaching accolades
have some importance. But one
learns quickly, and must wonder: “In
comparison to what? Professional
achievements?”
In Guti’s case, the list of accom-
plishments is long. After joining the
11INCAE Alumni Magazine
Carlos Quintanilla
Guillermo Selva Roy Zúñiga
Alberto TrejosPedro Raventós
Julio Ramírez
faculty in 1986, he served as Costa
Rica’s Minister of Finance from 1996
to 1998, and later as Chairman of the
Central Bank from 2002 to 2010. He
held the posts of Governor and Assis-
tant Governor to the IMF, the World
Bank and the IDB, among others. His
consultancies run the gamut, from the
private to the non-profit world.
In class, he weaves through com-
plex theories, distills them in a way
that shifts how a student understands
the basic paradigm of the world’s
economies. He transfers understand-
ing; gifted teachers do this.
Down in the pit of the learning
room comes a heated exchange.
One watches how Guti morphs from
the avuncular professor into a bank
chairman during the crisis of 2008,
and what it might have been like to
be on the other end of the receiving
line of command, or boardroom table,
when the world was plummeting and
he held Costa Rica’s economy in his
hands. Watching him teach-- strong,
sure in his knowledge, in control --it
seems there are no better hands a
country or class could be in.
The students leave and the pit
is empty. It is as if he is still there,
holding a scale that weighs what is
most important to him. The weights
are labeled “priority, concern, value.”
One side of the scale is for teaching
and the importance he gives to each
individual in his classroom. The other
side weighs the economic welfare of
an entire country, and the importance
he gives to all its people. It is no sur-
prise; the scale is perfectly centered,
at equilibrium.
An extraordinary person with impres-sive human qualities. A genius.
A real leader among leaders. A brilliant teacher.
Engaging.
Compassionate. Excellent in his subject and knows each of his students.
Andrea Prado joins the faculty of INCAE after earning her PhD from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2011, teaching organizational change and sustainable development. Her research focuses on Industry Self-Regulation. More specifi-cally her dissertation explores the dynamics and consequences of having multiple voluntary standards--environmental and labor-- competing in an indus-try, such as Fair Trade and the Rainforest Alliance. Andrea’s dis-sertation was awarded Best Doc-toral Thesis from the Academy of Management (AoM) in 2012. She is Costa Rican and completed her Master of International Econom-ics at the University of Essex in the UK. From 2002 to 2005, she worked at INCAE as a researcher at the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS).
INCAE spawned the world’s first MBA Oath Club and this year, initiating its
first generation of Lifetime Members. These students, in addition to signing
the Oath, pledge to both live the Oath in their management career and support
other members. Like concentric circles, these new and dedicated members
are creating ripples that are transforming the club into an institution.
With the second generation of officers firmly in place on each campus,
the Club plans to pursue a commitment to act with integrity, and to recognize
the reach, power and responsibility inherent in business leadership. Lissette
Cuadra, President of the MBA Oath Club in Nicaragua, says, “The whole con-
cept of ‘1 Club- 2 Campuses’ with each campus having its own set of officers
allows the Club to share perspectives on ethics and the battle against corrup-
tion.”
The Oath is aimed at transforming the dominant value system by empha-
sizing management’s ultimate purpose: to serve society by creating sustainable
and inclusive prosperity. Those promoting the Club and the Oath believe it is
important to rethink and recreate the way ethics is taught and, more impor-
tantly, practiced. “Ethics is awareness,” says Esteban Roberts, President of
the MBA Oath Club in Costa Rica. “The Club doesn’t teach ethical solutions but
increases awareness of ethical issues.”
The MBA Oath Club is at the forefront of a more socially responsible way
of making business. “If you study the Oath closely you will see that you are
swearing allegiance to a global society,” says Alejandro Castro, MAE 59 and
Club Founder.
The Club invites you to visit its web page at www.incaembaoathclub.org
Mauricio MelgarejoMauricio Melgarejo received his PhD in Management with a special-ization in Accounting, from Purdue University. He is no stranger to INCAE, where he received his MBA in 2003 and then worked as a researcher. He has also worked in the field as an external audi-tor for USAID projects. This past May, the Academic Business World International Conference, 2012, honored him with the Best Paper Award for “Earnings attributes and the properties of analysts’ forecasts: a comparison among firms reporting under IFRS, US GAAP and Non-US local stan-dards,” which studied the utility of accounting information under different standards. As Melgarejo explains: “The findings of the paper reveal that accounting attributes of companies’ net income such as persistence and predictability are more associated with the precision and dispersion of analysts’ earn-ings forecasts for firms that use the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).”
The MBA Oath ClubThe first generation of Lifetime Members
New Faculty
12 INCAE Alumni Magazine
The Illuminate Campaign
13INCAE Alumni Magazine
Carlos Pellas
14 INCAE Alumni Magazine
The Illuminate Campaign gained mo-
mentum this year. Since it started, the
campaign has raised US$13M mainly
from individuals in Central America and
the United States. This support from
old and new friends is helping INCAE
create its first ever endowment to se-
cure resources for student scholarships,
research funding, impact programs
and infrastructure. The purpose is to
help ensure the future of the school
and maintain its position as a leading
institution.
The INCAE Project, a half-hour
film, was presented to introduce the
institution and the Illuminate Campaign.
Events were held in Managua, San
José, Boston, New York and Wash-
ington DC. Later in the year the same
events were held in the rest of Central
America and Ecuador. This short film
tells INCAE’s unique and interesting
story in the voices of those involved
when the institution was created and
then, carried on.
INCAE was created not too long af-
ter John F. Kennedy gave an important
speech in Costa Rica in March 1963,
with Central American presidents in
attendance. This started the process
which regional businessmen carried
forth, supported by USAID and the
Harry Strachan
From Left to Right: Stephen Schwartzman | Donald Fox | Jennifer Fearon | Jaime Montealegre | Caroline Raclin | Diane Finnerty | Wendy Rodriguez and the George and Susan Lodge
Harvard Business School. Through the
perseverance and ingeniousness of
faculty, staff and leaders, the institution
quickly stood on its own feet and started
training business leaders.
Carlos Pellas, President of
Grupo Pellas, Chairman of INCAE’s
Presidential Advisory Committee and
Vice-Chairman of the Board of Direc-
tors has been, as his family before him,
intrinsically involved for years. He is not
only a major donor, but is considered
as possibly commensurate, in actual
support and guidance and probably also
in spirit and vision, to INCAE’s founder
of founders, Francisco de Sola of El Sal-
vador. “We don’t have an endowment.
We have been able to exist for 40 years
without one but we cannot plan for the
future without it.” The business school
landscape has changed today, and to
be competitive, the institution has to
innovate, which an endowment would
help.
Harry Strachan, former INCAE
President and founder of Mesoamerica,
is another champion of the school, and
tirelessly donates his support, time and
boundless energy. He accompanied
the campaign on almost all its stops,
encouraging friends to come learn about
INCAE. “I hope that INCAE never loses
the essence that it is much more than a
business school.
Jean Kennedy Smith
16 INCAE Alumni Magazine
The INCAE Project screening, New York City
Stanley Motta
It is about training leaders, solving
problems and finding solutions that will
significantly improve the region,” he
says.
Notably, the events were enlivened
by the presence of George Cabot
Lodge, the HBS professor, writer, politi-
cian, thinker and famous raconteur. As
Harry Strachan says: “George was a
living legend when I went to Harvard.”
To have him there, to be moved by his
stories and laugh with his humor, was a
great honor.
Jean Kennedy Smith generously
opened her home to host an exclusive
screening. Others, including but not
limited to members of INCAE’s Board,
Ernesto Cruz, Wickham Skinner,
George Logan, Stanley Motta, Jaime
Montealegre, Stephen Schwartz-
man, John Nicolson, accompanied the
events. New York powerhouse INCAE
supporters Jennifer Fearon and Diane
Finnerty rounded in a host of their
friends as well. The development team
wishes to thank everyone who helped,
attended, and supported the campaign
and is extremely grateful to all involved
in the effort.
For more information:Wendy Rodriguez Director of Development Susan KindINCAE in America, DirectorINCAE Business SchoolEmail: [email protected]: (505) 2248-9820 or (202) 556-4903
17INCAE Alumni Magazine
Forty-three percent of the students who enrolled at the WKG Campus in Costa Rica were women. This is the highest percentage of
women to enroll in INCAE’s full-time MBA program--
ever.
18 INCAE Alumni Magazine
Gaining Momentum to Close the Gender Gap
Last year INCAE Business School
reached another milestone. Forty-
three percent of the students who
enrolled at the Walter Kissling Gam
Campus were women. This is the
highest percentage of women to
enroll in the institution’s full-time MBA
program, ever.
Behind this figure lies a concrete
commitment to recruit and train wom-
en leaders, says INCAE President
Arturo Condo. “We are the first busi-
ness school in Latin America to have
courses specifically designed to take
into account the leadership barriers
women face, as well as their opportu-
nities. We also have a specific goal
to achieve 50% female enrollment in
our full-time MBA program by 2014.”
According to The Economist,
less than 30% of graduates with
MBA degrees worldwide are women,
a percentage that hasn’t increased
much over the past decade. This fact
makes INCAE’s 43% female enroll-
ment last year even more notable.
Understanding how these results
were obtained directs attention to
a unique asset in the institution’s
arsenal. When Roberto Artavia was
still President, he approached Susan
Clancy, now an Associate Professor
at INCAE, about a Center he envi-
sioned that would promote women’s
participation in the business world.
With her PhD from Harvard, several
books under her belt, appearances on
David Letterman and a host of other
US media programs, Clancy had the
clout to help realize Artavia’s dream,
one that President Arturo Condo
would continue to support.
By 2009, the combined vision
and ambition of these three lead-
ers made the Center for Women’s
Leadership, CWL, a tangible reality
and propelled INCAE into the global
forefront of women’s leadership. It
is the sole business school in Latin
America and one of the first in the
world to create a Center with the fol-
lowing mandate, as Clancy explains:
“The world needs more women in
leadership positions, not because of
money or power, but for the sake of
the organizations, communities and
families they serve. An MBA is a criti-
cal tool to help get them there.”
Yet an MBA is expensive, pre-
cluding some talented individuals the
opportunity of a top-notch educa-
tion, which is why “INCAE promotes
and offers scholarships to women,”
Clancy stresses. According to Ryan
Frazee, Director of Recruitment and
Admissions, “the fact that we have
the Center in addition to new scholar-
ships has helped reach out to talented
female candidates.”
Although the Center is still in
the nascent phase, Clancy and her
team develop courses, conduct
research and lead seminars for
corporations and organizations. “It
is time to invest and train female
talent,” says Clancy. “This is critical
for organizational and country level
competitiveness in the 21st Century.
A solid body of data from the fields of
economics, psychology and business
shows that gender diverse groups
make more innovative decisions.”
Interestingly, the fact that the
Center is located in Nicaragua adds
a remarkable twist. Every year, the
World Economic Forum publishes a
report on the gender gap, which lists
The Center for Women’s Leadership
19INCAE Alumni Magazine
quantitative measurements of gender
equality country-by-country. Since
May 2012, women have held half
of Nicaragua’s parliamentary and min-
isterial positions, ranking Nicaragua
fifth in the world in women’s political
empowerment and ninth in overall
gender equality.
Though Nordic countries top
the list, Nicaragua is the only nation
from Latin America in the top ten. In
comparison, the USA ranks 22nd.
“INCAE happens to be in the perfect
place at the perfect time,” says
Clancy. “It is an incredible opportu-
nity for the Center and this institution.”
Data shows, according to Clancy,
that women who hold political power
think differently and make different
decisions. “At INCAE, we focus on
leadership training. In Nicaragua,
we now have women in positions of
power with no previous experience
with political empowerment. Our goal
is to provide training seminars to help
them be better prepared for the barri-
ers they will face,” says Clancy, who
artfully balances her post as research
director of the CWL with the same
finesse as in her other roles: profes-
sor, author and parent.
Clancy sees a future where the
world will need more women leaders,
and works towards that. With pinpoint
accuracy, she seizes opportunities
and data that others might miss, help-
ing the collective effort to gradually
close the door on the gender gap.
“It is time to start investing and train female talent,” says Clancy, Research Director of the CWL.
Professor Susan ClancyResearch Director of the CWL
SOARINGCOLOMBIA
At the heart of INCAE’s mission was a mandate for change. It was supported by John F. Kennedy, dreamed by the businessmen of Central America, and assisted by professors from Harvard Business School. It was the 1960s and there was a real desire to make the world a better place, to develop
economies and pull countries out of poverty. Out of this, INCAE was created.
S P O T L I G H T
SOARINGCOLOMBIA
From Colombian nationals who went to the PAG in 1970, to graduates from a host of countries, to students currently pursuing MBAs, the
institution has trained business people, yesterday and today, who are collectively lifting Colombia out of the past, and into the stratosphere of hope and possibilities
that are on its immediate horizon.
“We knew without an institution of this caliber, the countries could not lift themselves up.”George Cabot Lodge
22 INCAE Alumni Magazine
Forty plus years of darkness. The Western Hemisphere’s longest-running conflict. An estimated quarter million dead; millions displaced. The tenacious fighters from the FARC and right-wing paramilitary groups, both heavily into drug trafficking and terror, bullet-marked the national stage with their culture of violence and corruption. The emotional landscape in the country, for years, seemed without much hope.
Virtually everyone in the country has a story. Jorge Hernández, President of La Re-publica, (PAG 1970) looks out through the window from the top floor of the newspaper building at the parking lot below: “We got bombed, down there.” Robinson Vásquez, President of Suppla, (Candidate EMBA 2013) passes a church, blocks from his parent’s
THE BLACK YEARS
23INCAE Alumni Magazine
home and points to a bus stop: “My brother was killed here.” For decades fear pervaded, understandably, scarring the psyche of this nation.
“But we resisted,” says Hernández, and today, optimism flies, albeit cautiously. Visi-tors come. They find this new Colombia seriously catching, just like the ad campaign that blanketed CNN last year: The risk is wanting to stay. “All countries brand,” says Carolina Trejos (MBA 2001), “and this branding was perfect. Beautiful. Because as a foreigner liv-ing here, I believe it is true. The risk is wanting to stay.”
These are some of the impressions of Incaistas working and living in Colombia today:
Text and Photos by Ana Coyne | Illustration by José Clemente Orozco
24 INCAE Alumni Magazine
Jorge HernándezPresident, LR La RepúblicaPAG IX, 1970 | Colombia
“I have witnessed big changes,”
says journalist Jorge Hernández, a
towering man whose gentle voice and
kind demeanor seemingly contradict
his imposing height. From his posts
in the top echelons of Medellín’s
regional newspaper El Colombiano
and Colombia’s nationally distributed
economic newspaper La República,
Hernández recounts witnessing
decades of heavy, harrowing history.
Putting into print what Colombia was
living through, and making it known
to the world, has been Hernández’s
life work.
In 1970, INCAE offered the
Advanced Management Program
(PAG for its acronym in Spanish) in
Medellín, the capital of the province of
Antioquia. Hernández, with other top
business leaders, went into lockdown
at the Intercontinental Hotel for three
months, immersed in study. Accord-
ing to Hernández, this gave “the
participants a new perspective on
the economy and business practices”
and the learning created immediate
impact.
For this journalist, as for his
country, he locates change on the
y-axis of education: “Culture enters
first through education, and we under-
stood that first we had to educate
people.” He credits much of the
change he has seen in Colombian
youth to the opportunities created by
education, and admires Antioquia’s
Governor Sergio Fajardo for his focus
in the campaign: “Medellín, The Most
Educated.” This tagline for Fajardo’s
development plan of the region is
a battle cry, with the logo plastered
everywhere, clearly announcing
the priority for this province and the
country.
In just ten years, how did: Colombia transform itself from a virtually failed state? Drasti-cally cut its homicide rates? Push the guerrillas to remote regions? Today, it is perceived as one of the most promising investment opportunities, not just in Latin America, but in the world.
Many share the same answer: security. “The change,” says Carlos Ayala (MBA 2010) “started when President Alvaro Uribe made the decision to end the war and take action.” That was 2002. “Uribe gave us peace,” says Hernandez. “With security, this country re-suscitated.”
The cost, alludes Ayala, was enormous, in effort, funds and human life. But interest-ingly, he also explains that Plan Colombia, the U.S.-backed counter-narcotics campaign, provided innovative technology that the Colombian military didn’t have before. “With that, we were able to change strategy and neutralize the principal, almost mythic, heads of the FARC, like El Mono Jojoy. That changed how we fought. Instead of going after one guerrilla fighter after another, we went after their leaders.” With success came popularity. Statistics show that the Colombian military is more popular than the Catholic Church, says Ayala.
SECURITY CHANGES
25INCAE Alumni Magazine
Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Ayala, Commander of the Medellín Brigade, is in charge of 864 men. His Co-lombian politeness and real sincerity quickly puts you at ease, despite the formidable uniform on this broad-shouldered military man, who spent six years in the Special Forces. On his desk, encased in a simple wood frame, is the Medal of Honor he received for bravery, the most exigent requirement of this job.
During the difficult years, from 2002 onwards when the govern-ment decided to re-take control of the country, it was men like Ayala who went into the barrios to do the difficult jobs-- inch by inch, person by person. “Comuna 13 is equivalent to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. It is the most critical zone of Medellín. We have 300 soldiers stationed there,” he says. “This was historically FARC dominated territory but since 2006, the military has taken it over.”
The fighting was intense since the combatants, armed with sophis-ticated weaponry, were determined to control the territory because of its direct access to the sea where “arms, ammunitions, drugs and kidnappers could pass with ease,” says Ayala. The struggle took a huge effort, much force, and information, he says. “There were many killed on our part. And on their part. Many were captured. To be able to bring it under
Carlos AyalaLieutenant Colonel Colombian ArmyMBA LV, 2010 | Colombia
control.”Living in a country with strong
institutions and a deep commitment to education allowed Ayala to pursue another interest, one from childhood. He had an uncle who was a business-man. The Ministry of Defense and Colfuturo, which helps Colombians get an education abroad, sent him to INCAE. After returning, his rank was quickly upgraded to Lieutenant Colo-nel. The knowledge, he says, helps him run the intricate logistics in the barracks and outside on the streets with more confidence and fluidity.
Ayala has seen firsthand how the economic growth of a city, region and country goes hand in hand with se-curity. He works with true conviction, believing the military is a force of unity and reconstruction. “Our presence is essential for taking care of democ-racy, the economy and investments in the country,” which, he says, gives him great pride and job satisfaction.
26 INCAE Alumni Magazine
Álvaro Salcedo winds his way up a
red-carpeted staircase to the elegant
Teatro Colsubsidio that seats thou-
sands. “We believe art and culture
are as important as health, housing
and education,” he remarks, from
beneath a golden chandelier, “and
everyone should have access.”
His tour continues to Colsub-
sidio’s Sport and Business Center,
exquisitely designed. Inside, there
is a convention center, an Olympic-
grade pool, a verdant soccer field, a
new gym and a hip restaurant. Again,
for workers.
Colsubsidio is the first compen-
sation fund in the country, a private,
nonprofit organization that is part
of Colombia’s unique social secu-
rity network. Companies pay four
percent of their payroll to Colsubsidio
in exchange for workers having ac-
cess to services, including subsidized
health care, education, housing, even
vacations.
This private organization is the
fourth largest employer in Colombia,
with 35,000 affiliated companies, in-
cluding Grupo Empresarial Antioque-
ño, Grupo Aval and Grupo Bolivar.
Over a million workers benefit.
The concept of corporate social
responsibility, CSR, is not new to
Colombia. According to Salcedo,
Álvaro SalcedoGeneral Secretary, ColsubsidioMAEX XIX, 2005 | Colombia
it dates back to the 1950s when
Colombian business leaders decided
that companies would only reach their
full potential when their employees
did as well. In essence, he explains,
what Colsubsidio does is redistribute
company profits to create a spectrum
of opportunities for employees to
benefit as well.
With the economic boom, many
new companies are setting up shop
and Colsubsidio is a good choice to
be affiliated with, says Salcedo. “We
are effective and know about having
a social conscience within a business
framework.”
He was encouraged to go out
of Colombia and get his Executive
Masters by Colsubsidio’s director,
Luis Arrango, who spearheaded the
institution’s modernization in prepara-
tion for the changes that were coming
to his country.
With the major security advances, Colombia took back its roads, making land travel less dangerous. “With the recovered territory,” says Fabricio Ponce (MEE 1995): “we can now distribute and sell in all cities, in 90% of Colombia.” The safer roads opened up not only commerce but also the exploration of natural resources.
Since last decade, a significant effort has been made to market Colombia to foreign investment, which was key to achieve major economic advances. “The improvement of security conditions, as well as different stimulus for an array of industries, especially the oil sector, and the stability of macroeconomic variables has turned Colombia into a country attractive to invest in,” says Jorge Yanes. (MBA 2011)
It is the third largest economy in the region, after Mexico and Brazil. “There is low inflation around 2.5% and a stable currency. They have very conservative policies, with fiscal stability; companies can carry out investment plans for the long run. In 2011, Fitch upgraded Colombia to investment grade, BBB- rating,” says Yanes: “This is a good mo-ment for Colombia.”
THEN THE ECONOMY
27INCAE Alumni Magazine
He was a star at INCAE: the valedic-torian with the highest GPA, winner of the Distinguished Scholar Award. So after INCAE and almost three years working for Procter & Gamble in Puerto Rico, it makes sense that he would be hired by the star-studded company, Mesoamerica, the region’s leading advisory and private equity
firm. After only five years, Reynaldo González made partner and was handed his next major challenge: Colombia.
Here, Mesoamerica is building and operating the largest, most ambi-tious restaurant business, focused on strong local brands. The total con-solidated revenue of the restaurant industry in Colombia alone is US$11 billion. It is massive and extremely fragmented. The largest group con-trols only 2 percent of the market and foreign competition is minimal. “We saw an opportunity,” says González, and with that, Mesoamerica bought OMA, the leading coffee shop in the country with 186 stores and 13 full service restaurants.
“At Mesoamerica, we look at the famous S-Curve. When per capita GDP is between 5K and 15K, consumption accelerates and then explodes. Right now, we are at 7K.
The extra dollars go to restaurants, clothing, education; so the new middle class in the next 15 years will generate additional consumption, and that is one of the reasons why you enter a market,” explains González.
Mesoamerica is active in many countries, uniquely positioned to as-sist companies from Central America to go south and from South America to go north. “Three or four Colombian companies are becoming true Latin American powerhouses. Because of our experience in the region, we are perfectly suited to assist them.”
At one moment self-assured, the next moment humble, González seems deeply confident, not only in his company and himself, but also in Colombia. “In the restaurant busi-ness, we are making an impact,” he says. “We are relevant in this huge market and we are proud of what we are doing.”
Reynaldo GonzálezManaging Director, MesoamericaMBA XXXV, 2000 | Dominican Republic
The recent changes in security and economic policies have been all-important. Yet, Colombia is interesting in that it is so influenced by roots, certain basics in the culture and society that are also seem to fuel this soaring. Colombia has always had well-functioning institutions. Political institutions that governed. Constitutional courts that worked. A central bank. An educated elite. Good universities. A huge internal market. Smart urban planning. Efficient, profitable public companies, especially in Medellín. “Here, educa-tion and sports are very important. Schools are being built all over, technical schools and libraries in the poorer areas,” says Hernández, to address the social problems, at the core of Colombia’s dark years.
There are public parks and public sculptures. Soccer fields with children practic-ing; outdoor gyms with seniors exercising. Libraries in the underground subway system. Signs that say: “We are committed to taking care of our parks” and “Life: It is the funda-mental priority of society and our government.” Everywhere in Colombia, you see culture.
STRONG ROOTS
28 INCAE Alumni Magazine
1.7%2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006 2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012Projected
2.5%
3.9%
5.3%4.7%
6.7% 6.9%
3.5%
1.7%
4.0%
5.9%
3.7%
Colombia’s GDP over 10+ years
Source: Dane
Unilever headquarters in Bogotá is far from hierarchical. Inside, desks are arranged almost at random, each temporarily claimed by a plugged-in-professional or wait-ing for a khaki-clad manager. The office is paperless. The workers are
young and the atmosphere seems fun, with neon posters displaying Unilever’s products plastered on the walls.
As comfortable as the others is Country Director, Ignacio Segares, a Costa Rican who at only 41 has worked his way up to top manage-ment positions at Unilever offices in China, Costa Rica, Venezuela and now Colombia. Despite his notable and successful professional trajec-tory, he laughs when he quips: “I excelled a little at INCAE,” though he credits his quick rise to his training, especially in strategy and market-ing.
Paramount to Unilever’s suc-cess worldwide has been its market-ing strategy, which the corporation adapts to each country. “In Colom-bia, there exists a standard of living classification of one to six,” Segares explains. “One to three, which
Ignacio SegaresVice President, Customer Development Middle Americas & Country Director of Unilever MAE XXIX, 1997 | Costa Rica
are the lower classes, represents roughly 50% of the population” and this bottom half is Unilever’s mar-ket. They package their products “in small quantities, like 10 ml of shampoo instead of 350 ml, so that people can buy what they need with only a few coins. They don’t have the cash for bulk purchases,” he says.
According to Segares, more than 50% of business in Colombia also happens over the counters of small, neighborhood shops. “Though the penetration of supermarkets and hypermarkets is increasing, mom-and-pop stores predominate and are still grow-ing. Why? Around 40% of employ-ment is informal, unstructured and people receive daily, maybe weekly wages,” says Segares. “This shapes our strategy here and how we do business.”
29INCAE Alumni Magazine
Robinson VásquezPresident of SupplaCandidate EMBA 2013 | Colombia
Suppla, the leading logistics company in Colombia
Fabricio PonceCEO Coca Cola Femsa in ColombiaMEE VII 1995 | Ecuador
In his tailored business suit, Fabricio Ponce strides into the boardroom with the same confidence as the Lone Ranger riding Silver. At the age of seventeen, he left Ecuador to study at El Zamorano Agricultural School in Honduras. After three years as an agronomist, he “was riding a horse when something went click,” he says, and got out of the saddle and made a U-turn to B-school. “I always knew I wanted to lead a big life,” says this CEO as he nonchalantly cocks his head towards a sophisticated soda display and asks, “Want a Coke?”
Ponce, 44, meteorically shot through the ranks of the Coca Cola Femsa company, working as a top executive in Mexico, Central Amer-ica, Argentina and Brazil. Now he leads the company in Colombia, a country that for years produced and consumed mostly local colas and juices, making Coca Cola’s push to
gain more of the Colombian market a challenge. Ponce, who special-izes in turnarounds and corporate restructuring, was sent in. With years of management experience in com-petitive environments and unstable economies, he has a proven record of doubling the value of companies, usually within five years.
To inject change and invigorate the 9,000 employees, he says he “promotes business behaviors like ambition, nonconformism, humility and saying ‘no’ to yes men.”
He encourages all employees to follow a daily regimen, which allots points for exercising, eating properly and spending time with family. He believes a better person makes a better leader. “I am most motivated by helping people reach their highest potential,” he says. “If employees are fulfilled, the results are better for the company.”
30 INCAE Alumni Magazine
Carolina TrejosAir Partners Director, AviancaTacaMBA XXXVII, 2001 | Costa Rica
A photograph frames a young woman
comfortably sitting on the wing of a jet
plane. While still an undergraduate,
Carolina Trejos says she got a “lucky
break” with a United Airlines job at the
San José airport. “Sixty percent of
job success depends on finding what
you love and an environment that
fits,” she says.
After her MBA, she tried work-
ing in marketing and advertising but
returned to aviation. Since 2003,
Trejos has been with TACA, having
started in corporate sales. But with
the merger last June, Trejos now
finds herself working for Avianca
Taca in the Loyalty area and is the Air
Partners Director in Bogotá.
“My work is a bridge for devel-
opment. Just opening a new plane
route from one city to another immedi-
ately creates and grows business
opportunities-- for everyone. What
aviation does essentially is erase the
boundaries inherent to frontiers,” she
says.
When the war targeted art, and a bomb placed inside Fernando Botero’s Bird sculpture killed nearly two dozen, hurt many more, the city government did not take the sculpture remains away. They left it where it was, and Botero sculpted another one to sit beside it. As a reminder of courage and peace; of the need to fight and hold on to the most essential human aspirations.
“The real protagonists of this story,” says Vásquez, “are the Colombian people.” He sits at a restaurant in mall in Medellin that looks like a mall in Miami, and his friend chimes in: “It is like we just woke up.”
It might feel like the country just woke up. But bringing the country out of the darkness of plagues into the lightness of possibilities, required: Plans. Leaders. Perseverance. And Hope.
THE COLOMBIANS
31INCAE Alumni Magazine
Before going to INCAE, Jorge Yanes
worked for more than five years at
Fitch Ratings in Venezuela. Just six
days after graduating, he found him-
self re-hired by his former employer
and heading south again, this time
bound for Bogota, to join the cor-
porate team of Fitch Ratings in the
promising market of Colombia.
“The immediate challenge was
learning about the companies and
transactions that are rated by this
office,” says Yanes, who just one year
later covers the credit analysis of over
20 companies in the food and bever-
age, transportation and telecommuni-
cations industries.
Fitch Ratings provides financial
markets with independent credit opin-
ions. “Our customers are the global
investors,” says Yanes. “We provide
accurate and timely credit opinions
about companies, so we contribute
to the transparency investors need.
The investor uses our information as
pieces in the decision making process
of whether to invest or not.”
Yanes pinpoints economic stabil-
ity in the country as crucial for carry-
ing out long-term investment plans.
Companies in Colombia currently
issue bonds with terms of 10 years or
more, which is a positive sign of the
momentum the economy is experi-
encing.
Jorge YanesDirector, FITCH Ratings ColombiaMBA 2011 | Venezuela
Birds of Peace | San Antonio Place, Medellín
32 INCAE Alumni Magazine
From his desk in a mid-rise building in Medellín, Jaime Roldan looks through a window at the busy employees working amidst a sea of cables and computers. This wiry, sharp-witted, easy to talk to executive has just returned from a PAG course in Costa Rica. With the new knowledge, he analyzes at super speed where his country and company have been and where they are going.
Suramericana is an investment company born in Colombia in 1944 as Grupo de Inversiones Surameri-cana SA. It has several sub-holding companies, one being the insurance group Suramericana SA, which has 52 offices. Over the past seven decades, Suramericana has grown, diversified, multiplied its interests and moved to other countries in search of markets,
becoming one of the giant multilatinas in South America, employing more than 40,000 people.
Roldan explains that Suramericana SA came of age under the Cepalino method of development, which started in Colombia in the 1950s and lasted until President Cesar Gaviria changed things in the 1990s. Before him, the economy was closed, protected by high tariffs and duties, which had its advantages, says Roldan. “Colombian companies developed and produced Colombian cola, beer, insurance, sugar, liquor, even polymers. Imports were re-stricted so people consumed Colombian products. When things were difficult, people simply became more creative and invented solutions.” A whole array of national industries were fostered and grew in a way that made Colombia’s economy somewhat independent and because of that, strong.
But along with this, according to Roldan, came disadvantages: “The
Jaime RoldanManager ERP - SAP | Suramericana SAPAG 2012 | Colombia
protectionism limited development, closed us to the outside word, slowed technological advancements and limited efficiency.” This all changed when President Álvaro Uribe came to power in 2002. The economy that had already started opening up in the previous dec-ade, sped up. “Suddenly, here we go. We told ourselves we have to become competitive,” says Roldan, “so we did. Many people were frightened. They thought our companies were going to be put out of business.” But they weren’t. Instead, Colombian companies met the challenge, adapted and thrived.
33INCAE Alumni Magazine
In 2010, Victoria Revelo, a Colom-
bian psychologist, temporarily left her
family and small daughter to get an
MBA at INCAE. After earning it, the
American research and consulting
company, Gallup, hired her, enticed
by the combination of her previous
training in human behavior with her
new knowledge of business adminis-
tration.
Over the past years, she has led
the largest project at Gallup in Latin
America with the Colombian National
Police, a program aimed at transform-
ing the institution, inside and out. The
purpose of the decade-long initiative
is to restore the community’s confi-
dence in the police force and create a
collaborative relationship to address
social issues, such as security,
education and community develop-
ment. “Together, this adds to the so
needed peace and economic growth
in Colombia,” says Revelo.
In 2011, homicide rates dropped
an impressive 14 percentage points
compared to 2010. In August 2012,
homicide rates continued to be
curbed. As well, in August 2012 the
National Police was recognized in a
biannual survey as the principal in-
stitution that contributes to improving
the quality of life in Colombia.
To Revelo, INCAE classes on
Decisions were most enriching. She
recognizes the importance of women
in influencing and creating social and
economic impact. For this reason, in
addition to her work at Gallup, she
volunteers in a program at Javeriana
University to help young single moth-
ers: “It’s great to have an MBA and
increase your income, but we can
never forget the people who need our
help.”
Victoria ReveloClient Development Consultant, GallupMBA 2011 | Colombia
Ricardo MartinelliPresident of PanamaMAE IX, 1977
L E A D P L A Y E R S
I N C A E p r o d u c e s t o p l e a d e r s
Otto PérezPresident of Guatemala
PAG XL, 1990
36 INCAE Alumni Magazine
PerezalonsoGilberto
ConsultantMAE VI, 1974 | Mexico
37INCAE Alumni Magazine
WINNER OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED INCAISTA AWARD 2012
Gilberto Perezalonso hasn’t given an interview in over a decade. To reach this meticulously dressed man, sitting behind a perfectly ordered desk surrounded by breathtaking Persian and Mexi-can sculptures, requires crossing impressive security barriers. One might wonder what this consultant, in this upscale Polanco penthouse in the metropolis of Mexico City, is protecting himself from.
Perezalonso’s smile is big, it is radiant. His sleek, bald head reminds one of Kojak and his humor is contagious. When he answers a question about his security, he
tells a joke: “What happens to a mariachi band when Gilberto Per-ezalonso joins the company?” He answers with a huge belly laugh: “It becomes a trio!”
Perezalonso is a restructuring expert. Over the trajectory of his professional career, his fame has stemmed from his seamless ability to come into a company, efficiently reorganize it, and save it from itself. His is not a job for everyone.
He is most known for his work with Televisa, the Mexican media conglomerate, a company that by the end of the 1990s had mush-roomed into a Goliath of excess.
Emilio Azcarraga Jean, who in 1997 had taken over as President, “ knew what he wanted,” says Pereza-lonso, and “told me to come and re-structure it. Change the company. Change the culture, everything. I admired him because he was young and born into that company but he made the difficult decision to let me do what I needed to do.”
Perezalonso pared Televisa down to size. The job cuts were dramatic, with the number of employees reduced from 21,000 to 13,000. He lowered executive salaries and cut luxurious expens-es. When the job was done, almost
38 INCAE Alumni Magazine
three years later, he moved on. “You have to learn from the movies. The bad guys either die or leave,” laughs Perezalonso, “I prefer to go.”
For nearly fifteen years he has made the difficult decisions, done the needed work for a handful of the most important companies oper-ating in Mexico. His professional path has garnered him widespread recognition and praise, as well as possibly engendered a few invisible adversaries.
He says one of the secrets to his success is his ability to put together efficient teams and choose talented professionals. However, in the end, he carries the full respon-sibility himself. After Televisa, he has consulted and worked for other companies like Aerovias de México, Geo and Volaris, spending about a year or so with each. “Time enough to put the house in order,” he says. “The first two weeks at a new company are very difficult for
“You have to have a very clear picture. You need to have a strategic mind.You must change the culture... to restructure a company.
”
me. I have to figure it out, under-stand the implications of the neces-sary changes. I am good at seeing the big picture.”
Though nationalized a Mexi-can, Perezalonso is originally from Nicaragua. After studying law in Mexico City, he first pursued diplo-macy, working at the Nicaraguan Embassies in London, Tokyo and then the United Nations. He got his MBA from INCAE through a grant from the Nicaraguan Central Bank where he was working at the time. In 1979 he relocated to Mexico, and worked for 18 years for Grupo Cifra, S.A., where he honed his restructur-ing skills in top executive positions. There, he was held in high repute, maybe as he says, “for being effi-cient, kind and tough,” but probably even more notably for heading the team that closed the sale of Cifra to Walmart of Mexico, a two billion dollar affair.
39INCAE Alumni Magazine
One targets low. Then sells high.The other targets high. And refuses to sell at all.
The Supermarket
Scions
40 INCAE Alumni Magazine
Palí, to most Costa Ricans, is a low-cost, local supermarket; one hundred and forty dot the country. But to businessman Luis Uribe Rodríguez, Palí was not a store’s name but a nickname his grandchildren gave him.
Palí was a man unafraid of hard work. When his employees worked late into the night, so would he. In 1919, this son of Spanish immigrants consolidated Almacen Uribe y Pages in San José, transforming it from a small store into a general store and then into a retail icon.
But this was only the begin-ning. Palí’s son, Enrique, notched it up. “My father was clear this was not going to be the only establishment,” says Rodrigo Uribe, a soft spoken, to-the-point man who today is president of Cuestamoras: “It was going to be a chain.” Just as clear as crystal, Palí was a man with a plan and his son, a man with vision.
Enrique visited the United States, where he was inspired by the self-service supermarket. With family support, he launched Más x Menos in 1960 in Cuesta de Moras. Along with the muscle and leadership of executives John Moretti and Samuel Hidalgo, the chain grew, becoming “the first and most successful of its type,” says Uribe.
The stores multiplied and the market shelves were kept freshly
stocked by thousands of local producers. “We started developing relationships with these small farm-ers, gradually got engineers into the fields, then created quality control programs,” recalls Uribe. The fam-ily started companies like Hortifruti and Industrias Carnicas to create a supply chain for products such as meats, fruits, and vegetables to reach consumers directly, avoiding middle-men. It was revolutionary. Eventu-ally, the program became known as Tierra Fertil, or “Fertile Land,” which helps support and create fair markets for small and medium farmers, now a model replicated in countries as far away as India. “It is one example of a sustainable business where you make money and create a real benefit for the whole chain,” says Uribe.
In the mid-1970s, brothers Ro-drigo and Carlos Uribe Saenz started pulling the family business wagon. In 1979, when economic depression en-gulfed the region, the Uribes launched a no frills supermarket chain called Palí, paying respect to the family patriarch. Consumers welcomed the low prices; the concept was replicated internationally.
Rodrigo Uribe became president of the company in 1990, sought out international alliances, acquired the Nicaraguan chain “La Unión” and expanded. The different enterprises entered a strategic alliance with
Rodrigo UribeExecutive PresidentGrupo CuestamorasMAE VII, 1975 | Costa Rica
“Palí was a man with a plan and his son, a man with vision.”
Text: Ana Coyne
Grupo Paiz and eventually were sold to Walmart.
Selling the business his grand-father started to the largest retailer in the world is “a story with a few difficult chapters,” admits Uribe, “but a happy ending.” It would have been arduous for anyone to make the mammoth decision of “letting go of a business built up slowly, within the family, then handing it over to an international corporation with a different culture,” he acknowledges. “But eventually we understood it was best. To let it go and start something new.” Which is what he has done with Grupo Cuestamoras, a company he now runs that manages an invest-ment portfolio and provides business services.
“Probably my main contribution is to look at the big picture first and then work back to the details,” says Uribe, quietly. “Let’s talk about strategy. What are we trying to accomplish? What are our long term plans? How do we stay focused?” He thinks out loud, showing how his intellect con-nects the map route by starting with the destination city in sight, before breaking down the turns. Logically. Lucidly. A master planner. In part it may be genetic, to a larger extent ac-cumulated experience, but it is here, with his mind, where Rodrigo Uribe reveals the bountiful inheritance he received from his father and his Palí.
41INCAE Alumni Magazine
Guillermo Alonso’s story is the third installment in the hand woven tale of a visionary Costa Rican family. It was the year 1932, near the intersec-tion of Avenue 3A and 3rd Street in San José, in the heart of old town where the “Bar Azul” was hatched, a cafeteria, whose proprietor Guillermo Alonso Rodríguez was an immigrant from Spain. Little by little, his sons, the Alonso Matanza brothers, got involved and the cafeteria evolved into a grocery.
The business started growing and in the 1960s, when Guillermo Alonso was seven years old, “the cash registers revolutionized the busi-ness,” he recalls. “We established the first self-service grocery store in Costa Rica,” the first to target an upscale clientele with high quality products, he explains.
In 1979, with his formal educa-tion at the University of Costa Rica, Mannheim and INCAE complete, Alonso, with his analytical look and banker-like attire, dove profession-ally into the family business, Auto Mercado (“A M”). From the start, his vision was as innovative as his forbearers. In 1983, in the midst of a dire economic crisis, Alonso con-structed “Plaza del Sol,” the first mall in Costa Rica. “It included a modern
supermarket, hyper clean, great look, with a variety of products, which bet on attracting an upper-middle class clientele,” explains Alonso. In and around the supermarkets they also built “dry cleaners, pharmacies, and photoshops to satisfy more needs. It became the neighborhood mall.”
Today, the Alonsos have a chain of 18 supermarkets and a new con-venient type of venue called “Vindi.” They have 2,400 employees and in 2013 plan to open three new super-markets and another eight “Vindi” stores.
The Auto Mercado headquarters is located in a building just blocks away from where the roots of Auto Mercado Supermarkets first sprouted, the “Bar Azul.” The walls and floor might have been spruced up with hip metal sheeting but the original structure still stands, in a downtown that looks dated and dingy, but where the headquarters remains loyal to the company’s origins. The company’s purpose seems clearly on track-- a constantly evolving business that stays within the family.
“Today global companies are endemic. More and more, local busi-nesses and local business leaders are diminishing. But there are always opportunities, always,” says Alonso.
“The hand woven tale of a visionary Costa Rican family.”
Guillermo AlonsoCEO, A M Auto MercadoMAE XI, 1979 | Costa Rica
Text: Alicia Zamora S.
42 INCAE Alumni Magazine“I am convinced that everything has been created, so... ...why can’t we make it better? That is what we try to do.”
“We may not be huge, but we will be a legend. We may not be as powerful as other companies, but we will be an inspiration. I’d bet my life on it.”
43INCAE Alumni Magazine“I am convinced that everything has been created, so... ...why can’t we make it better? That is what we try to do.”
Jorge Oller doesn’t miss a beat.
Hand him a business card, he really
looks. Say your name, he repeats
it, catching the undercurrents in the
tone. He reads the unsaid within
the said.
Founder of Tribu Group, the
Central American network of ad-
vertising and publicity agencies, he
started the business in 1989, which
now employs more than 700. Tribu
combines tradition and modernity,
beauty and business, unconvention-
ality with wisdom. “We don’t pitch
anymore,” he says, “clients just walk
in.”
Jorge Oller doesn’t really need
an article. It is enough to read his
quotes. And his blog,
A Fuego Lento:
www.jorgeoller.com | Enjoy.
Jorge Oller
“We may not be huge, but we will be a legend. We may not be as powerful as other companies, but we will be an inspiration. I’d bet my life on it.”
Founder, The Tribu GroupPAG XLIV, 1994 | MAEX XII, 2002 Costa Rica
44 INCAE Alumni Magazine
The Costa Rican entrepreneur Mario
Morales believes in the might of new
technologies. So much so that he
chose Innovare as the name of his
company, inspired by the philoso-
phy of innovation tucked deep in his
pocket of wisdom.
Everything started at INCAE
when Professor Carlos Sequeira
showed his class the first multimedia
CD-Rom Harvard had created.
“Seeing video in 1995 on a computer
screen inspired me. Windows 95 had
just been launched. The web was
beginning. Google didn’t exist. I was
fascinated,” he recalls.
Wanting to try his own hand at
it, Morales decided to make INCAE
a version of the latest sensation,
presenting the case of the Sal
Andrews advertising campaign. It
was produced entirely as a digital
interactive case in video, with no
paper copy.
That CD-Rom became a veritable
success, “from Mexico to Argentina,”
says Morales. Author Philip Kotler,
the guru whose book Marketing
Management is a mainstay in many
business schools, included a copy of
the CD-Rom in the Latin American
version of his textbook.
Morales wanted to continue
producing more of them. But INCAE
didn’t have the same plan. So he
founded his own company, Aura
Interactiva, aimed at an engaging and
fun marriage between learning and
technology.
Aura Interactiva started in his
parent’s garage in 1998 with an initial
investment of 12K. After eight years,
the volume of sales exceeded one
million dollars with exports going as
far north as Canada and south as
Chile. The company needed invest-
ment capital to grow and brought in
a venture capitalist. But things ran
amuck, and eventually Morales lost
control of his own company. “All my
savings and eight years of my life with
that company were left behind. It was
not about the money. I just wanted to
do what I loved.”
This desire to innovate was
honed at INCAE. So when no com-
pany seemed interested in hiring him,
he started another. “I was convinced
innovation would be valued some-
day,” says Morales. “There is a gap
in relation to the way that innovation
is perceived by companies in the de-
veloping world. Tools are available.
Yet Latin Americans seem unaware of
how fundamental it is to their survival
and competitive advantage.”
What followed was his wisest
maneuver, which produced a big
breakthrough. He won a contract as
the Innovation Consultant to the BAC
Credomatic Bank. “They brought
people from New York, from all over
the world. But those guys were too
philosophical, too theoretical. When
I spoke, I was practical, local, giving
them a “Show Me the Money” talk and
Ernesto Castegnaro, the CEO, hired
me. Now they are the most innova-
tive bank in Central America.”
“Have you heard that Robert
Frost saying, two roads diverge in
the forest? I took the less traveled
and it did make all the difference,” he
says. Morales is recognized today as
a creativity and innovation expert in
the region. His clients include global
giants like GE Money, Holcim, Cargill,
AstraZeneca, Baxter and Toyota. He
has developed a recipe for promoting
innovation.
“Have you heard
that Robert Frost
saying, two roads
diverge in the
forest? I took the
less traveled and
it did make all the
difference.”
Founder InnovareMAIT II, 1996 | Costa Rica
45INCAE Alumni Magazine
46 INCAE Alumni Magazine
Innovation starts with curiosity, observe tendencies, people and companies.
Follow your Passion.
Question assumptions and the Status Quo. Ask “Why Not?!”
Innovation is always at the intersection of two fields, Change Perspectives.
Experiment.
Take Risks.
Connect the Dots.
Look for inspiration by meeting different people, travelling and reading.
Jot down new ideas in a journal.
Take the less trodden path.
1.
2. 3.
4.
5. 6. 7. 8.
9. 10.
47INCAE Alumni Magazine
Giving to the INCAE Business School’s Illuminate Campaign helps ensure that generations of future leaders have an opportunity to get an education and find a place in global business and society. As part of this philanthropic community, your help provide the financial base to ensure that the school remains a leader in its field. Your gift to the Illuminate Campaign is deeply appreciated and vitally important to our mission.
Please Make a Gift
48 INCAE Alumni Magazine
PUT YOUR NETWORK TO WORK FOR YOU Don’t miss your REUNIONS 2013
Briefcase | Sportlight | Lead Players
AND CLICK
on ALUMNI
www.incae.edu
GO TO
Top Related