Stand and deliver: tough times? Hard choices? Bring it on, say Latin America's most capable young CEOs

Latin Trade, Feb, 2004 by Marianne Maldonado

Ask top young Latin American executives what they most like about their jobs, and they'll tell you they love a challenge.

"You have to expose yourself as quickly as possible to difficult situations because that's where you learn most," says Ernesto Vogeler, CEO of Protinal-Proagro in Venezuela, who took over the failing feedstock company and turned it into a moneymaker in short order.

Vogeler is among 13 executives tapped as the most talented of a new generation of Latin American business leaders that seems to feed on challenge. According to an exclusive LATIN TRADE poll of top international recruiters, today's executives are flexible and can adapt quickly to new circumstances. They are daring yet methodical, have no fear of risk and like to create, fix and transform their enterprises.

LATIN TRADE asked 50 recruiters from across the region to name their top picks for outstanding young business leaders. We received 229 candidates from 13 industries. Of those, a handful were repeated at least twice by headhunters at unrelated firms and three stood out--with multiple nods--as the go-to managers for the coming decades.

Mergers, restructurings and generational transformations are the signs of the times. Our young execs have traveled abroad to learn how other companies manage similar situations. Many introduced new foreign partners and investors that later took active roles in changes. Our young leaders also worked to develop new markets after domestic growth limits were reached.

Latin America's best young CEOs are "professionals who believe that Latin America is not different [from other regions] ... and are trying to create change," says Jose Macaya, a consultant for Macaya & Suarez Battan Asesores in Argentina.

Colombians are in heavy demand. Seven are in the final cut of 13 top choices. And although they are leaders in different industries, they also all feel a very strong social commitment to their native land.

"We are a country that has been affected by guerrilla warfare for 40 years and we continue to struggle, build and develop" says Enrique Bayer, general director of Clinica Universitaria Teleton in Bogota. "We are still here. We are brave to stay here in our country, providing our ideas, our time and our integrity, for the future of a better society."

The large number of Colombians in the listing is no coincidence. They have traveled a hard road, learning from mistakes made in the past, and they are eager to see their country improve. "This generation understood that we come from a directing class that lacked leadership and these young men feel the commitment, enthusiasm, attitude, energy and dynamism to lead their country forward," says Lourdes Cabrales, a consultant with Heidrick & Struggles in Colombia.

The top young CEOs share a thirst for change, Samuel Azout, CEO of Colombian retailer Carulla Vivero, as did Vogeler and Bayer, turned companies on the verge of bankruptcy into dominant institutions in the region. Emilio Azcarraga, CEO of Televisa in Mexico and Lorenzo Mendoza, CEO of Empresas Polar in Venezuela, broke with tradition and made drastic changes in their family businesses. Mauricio Campillo, CEO of Tecnologia Empresarial de Alimentos (TEAM) spearheaded the merger of four vegetable and cooking-oil companies, a plastic bottler and a food trading company in Colombia. The process included a US$50 million investment, of which $35 million was raised from the company's own cash flow.

Argentine Alec Oxenford, CEO of auction Web site Deremate.com, not only survived the Internet crash but took advantage of tough times to solidify his business, quickly making it the leader in online sales across Latin America. Since founding his company in 2001, Oxenford has developed an expansion strategy for 11 countries, creating the biggest online marketplace in the region. He led three rounds of financing for the company, raising more than $60 million and implemented alliances with multinational companies like Terra Lycos and Microsoft.

All this before his 35th birthday.

When describing their task as CEO, they all agree on one thing. They all got involved because the challenge was interesting. In Colombia, for instance, Bayer transformed Clinica Universitaria Teleton.

Six years ago, the clinic was a physical rehabilitation center with no patients and little technology, Bayer says. Today, it is one of the five most-respected physical rehabilitation centers in the world and the only one in Latin America that offers hydrotherapy rehabilitation and services to patients of all ages, not simply children. It is also a hospital with an interdisciplinary staff practicing in 95% of medical areas.

The institution is also a research and practice center for Universidad de la Sabana, which signed a contract six years ago to run the clinic and hired Bayer as head of the new organization. "Next, we will open intensive care facilities in pediatrics and maternity. We want to be able to perform transplants and heart surgery," says Bayer. "We have a lot to do and a long way to go."