Explore every episode of the podcast Horizontes: LatAm Business Leadership Insights

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COVID proved to be a pivotal moment in Latin America's real-estate market.  A region once characterized as having a healthy commercial real-estate market and a fledging industrial real-estate market was completely upended by the pandemic.  Now it seams that a new normal is taking shape.

We spoke with Juan Gallardo, EVP, Latin America, for the real estate giant Colliers, to learn more about this new normal and what's next.

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Dr. Robert-Evan Ellis returns to the Horizontes podcast to update us on the status of US-China competition in Latin America.  The Trump administration is far more explicit than previous US administrations at identifying the threat of Chinese commercial, diplomatic and military engagement in Latin America.  But are US tactics the right formula to countering the China threat?  And how will Latin American leaders navigate their futures under the shadow of a growing US-China rivalry in their region?  

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Latin America's healthcare market is growing at close to 10% per year, driven by a rapidly aging and increasingly obese population. For some, the regon's rapidly expanding healthcare spending is an opportunity, but it also represents an enormous fiscal challenge ahead for the region. To help us understand the complexities of an industry that touches us all, we interviewed Guillaume Corpart, Managing Director of Global Health Intelligence.  

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Mexico's recently inaugurated President Claudia Sheinbaum aims to chart a delicate path forward, inventing necessary new policies while preserving the political legacy of her mentor, AMLO.  Julio Portales and Roberto Salinas together bring over 60 years of political and economic analysis of Mexico.  Their nuanced understanding of political transition makes for an informative podcast.  

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Latin America's demographic shift is about to accelerate as its elderly population leads all segments with double digit annual growth.  The transformative adoption of new and often disruptive technology is rapidly changing competitive landscapes and basic assumptions for businesses in the region.  Companies need more time to adequately plan their future product portfolio and asset structure.  That is why AMI developed a 10-year forecast of the region.

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Airbus is now the world's largest aeronautical manufacturer, in part thanks to its ability to penetrate aviation markets around the world, including Latin America. The region's airlines have gone through their fair share of tumult but even greater disruption lies ahead. Latin America could become the world's leading supplier of sustainable aviation fuel as well as a leading labor pool of future pilots and technicians. To help make sense of this future, we will chat with Arturo Barreira, the veteran leader of Latin America at Airbus who knows the industry like few others.

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The election of Claudia Sheinbaum delivered several surprises.  One of the less welcome surprises from the investor's point of view was the creation of a super majority in the Chamber of Deputies and 2 seats shy of a super majority in the Senate, in addition to control of 75% of Mexico’s governorships. During the month of September, when these newly elected officials take office, AMLO will still be in power and able to exercise his plan C — a radical overhaul of the constitution.  That has many people concerned.  

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The election of Gustavo Petro in 2022 was unsettling to many Colombians.  After naming a somewhat centrist cabinet, his lack of quick wins led Petro to surround himself with loyal sycophants and assume a more rigid stance.  The political right and Colombia's institutions have fulfilled their constitutional roles of standing up to a strident executive branch, effectively boxing in Petro.  Could his four years in power go down as the longest lame duck Presidency in Colombian history?  To help answer this and so many other questions about the present and future of Colombian politics we invited Sergio Guzmán to the podcast, the Director of Colombia Risk Analysis.  Sergio is a singular voice of objectivity and reason in today's partisan analyisis of politics in Colombia.  He explains the tactical and foretells the strategic like few others.  

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Mexico realized an historic election on June 2nd, 2024, choosing its first female President.  Far more polemic is the fact that the Morena party's landslide victory delivers a 30-day window of opportunity to outgoing President AMLO to radically upend the constitution, an opportunity that he relishes.  The month of September could prove contentious for Morena party leaders, as the outgoing leader AMLO vies to leave a lasting legacy while incoming President Claudia Sheinbaum struggles to calm markets roiled by the awkward transfer of power.  To help us untangle this political web, we are joined by Alex González Ormerod, a rising star in the world of Mexican political analysis, who offers a highly nuanced and insightful take on Mexico's new political landscape.  

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Organized crime in Mexico today includes highly sophisticated groups who have effectively penetrated the supply chains of Mexico's burgeoning exports.  They have extorted their way into ownership of the agri-food sector and they regularly hijack the trucking convoys of export manufacturers — more than 50 trucks per day on average.  Site selection of new manufacturing plants in Mexico must now consider security of one of the key components of decision making.  Chris Dalby, a veteran security journalist, has spent a decade studying the complex economic, political and social backdrops of organized criminal groups in Mexico and provides a stunningly frank assessment of the success of Mexico's OCGs and the inability of Mexican government, policing and judiciary to combat this scourge.  

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Renewable energy holds much hope for investors in Latin America. The region is endowed with some of best solar and wind energy generation assets in the world.  Electricity demand is growing.  The region's private sector and voting public welcome energy transition.  And yet, Latin American governments, despite their enthusiastic cheerleading for the idea, are the biggest obstacles to a successful and speedy transition.  Arthur Deakin, AMI's Energy Sector Practice Director will help unpack this complex story in a fascinating discussion.  

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David Price leads the 3rd generation of a family that invented the membership warehouse club, PriceClub (now known as Costco).  As Chief Transformation Officer, David helps lead the family's foray into LAC markets, under the brand PriceSmart, first established in Panama in 1996 and now present in 13 countries.  Balancing the lessons learned by family before him with the new challenges of e-commerce, global retailing and convenience chain competition, David Price must find a way to thrive in markets that also embrace the old and the new.  After listening to David Price for an hour, you cannot help but be convinced of the firm's inevitable continued success. 

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En 2021, en medio de COVID, Jorge Noguera se alejó de la cima de su carrera corporativa para perseguir sus aspiraciones de servir como miembro de la junta directiva y asesor corporativo. La transición ha sido exitosa pero también desafiante. Con Horizontes, Jorge comparte conocimientos invaluables con aquellos de nosotros que aspiramos a lograr un éxito similar en una carrera posterior a la jubilación.

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Reading Alejandro McCormack's CV will make your head spin.  Since earning an Bachelor's degree at UT Austin in 2013, Alejandro has earned two graduate degrees, worked for merchant banks in Boston and London and helped lead five different fintechs based in Europe and Central America.  His enthusiasm is infectious and matched only by the hard earned wisdom of his reflections.  

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Diego Rodriguez leads the logistics practice at AMI. After a decade in that role, he has studied every major market and logistics segment in Latin America. Each year, he predicts the opportunities and risks ahead for the logistics industry operating in Latin America. Logistics is now recognized as a core function to any business in the region that relies on international customers and/or suppliers.  Understanding the risks ahead for the logistics industry is therefore crucial to many.

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Sam Logan has spent three decades studying OCGs (Organized Criminal Groups) in Latin America in order to understand how they are structured, how they operate, how and why they expand, and how they differentiate themselves.  His understanding of OCGs has led to some startling revelations of their immense reach, sophistication and business accumen.  In some parts of the region, OCGs are a defacto local government, whereby private sector companies may have no choice but to cooperate with them.  

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Aurelio Oliveira leads the Latin American operations of the world’s largest private sector renewable energy producer, Enel.  After a period of much hype and cheap capital poured into renewables, today’s surviving renewable players must balance the political pressures to transition with the commitment to shareholders to deliver returns.  Enel understands that strategic challenge like few others.  

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Adam Blanco spent nearly two decades inside Russia working for the US State Department, US AID, Visa International and Russia’s leading auto importer.  Since returning to the US, he has built a name for himself as very well-informed Russia analyst, by leveraging an impressive array of Russia based intelligence sources.  His insights into Russia’s mercurial leadership help Western audiences understand Russia’s global strategic objectives.   

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Después de 15 años de una carrera muy exitosa al frente de la agencia de marketing digital más grande de Guatemala, Philip Wilson quería más. Le encantaba su trabajo pero faltaba algo. Entonces decidió abordar uno de los problemas más importantes de Guatemala: la falta de agua potable. Utilizando un diseño de filtro único que consiste en cerámica, aserrín y plata coloidal, el producto de ca. $30 filtra los desechos biológicos y químicos que se encuentran en el agua rural y urbana, produciendo agua potable. Hoy en día, Ecofiltro se fabrica y vende en cuatro continentes, lo que la convierte probablemente en la empresa más globalizada que jamás haya surgido de Centroamérica. Philip Wilson comparte sus secretos del éxito en una conversación fascinante. 

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Eduardo Coello leads a large, complex and constantly evolving business — the Latin America and Caribbean division of Visa, the world’s 11th largest company.  How did a mechanical engineer working in the factory operations of Proctor & Gamble end up running LAC for Visa?  That is quite a story unto itself.   Few industries are as transforming of or as transformed by our region, Latin America, quite like the payments sector.  Latin America is often the laboratory of new payments products and solutions that are subsequently implemented across global emerging markets.  Eduardo Coello of Visa tells us why. 

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Fernando Donayre runs a $600M Latin America equities fund that is unlike any in the industry.  Not only does Inca Investments (his firm) enter and exit at times different from the rest of the herd, they also hold onto equities, on average, for 2-4 years versus closer to a 9 month average by competing firms.  With industry beating returns logged consistently over two decades, there are lessons to be learned in Fernando’s contrarían investment approach.  Whether you dabble in the market, work in finance or lead a LatAm business, you need to understand the logic and virtues of contrarían investing in the emerging market world’s most volatile region — Latin America. 

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Alberto Bernal ha llevado una distinguida carrera como uno de los analistas económicos más destacados de América Latina, trabajando en Bogotá, Miami, Nueva York y Londres. Su colorido enfoque narrativo para explicar los ritmos económicos únicos de América Latina lo convierte en una joya poco común: un economista comprensible y agradable de escuchar.

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Dr. Robert-Evan Ellis is the pre-eminent scholar on the subject of China-Latin American geo-political and commercial engagement.  Over the last 15 years, Dr. Ellis has published five books and dozens of articles on the broad, complex and evolving relationship between China, its companies, its branches of government, its military, its intelligence services and its cultural diplomats and Latin America.

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Matthew Griffin advises governments (US, UAE, UK) and global corporations (Samsung, Disney, UBS, Bloomberg, Assurant, Dentons, among others) on the future.  His job is to paint a picture, or series of scenarios of what his client’s jurisdiction or industry will look like 30 to 50 years from now.  How does he make such predictions?  To what purpose? And what might we expect in the years ahead?  These are questions that Mathew Griffin will help answer.  

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Roberto Salinas has been a highly visible and influential analyst and commentator of Mexican politics and economy since the onset of the NAFTA in 1994.  So who better to turn to in order to understand the sudden rise of the Morena party and what lies ahead politically and economically for Mexico when AMLO’s six-year presidential term ends, as well as the risks facing investors today.  

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Omnicom Media Group may be the largest company that you’ve never heard of.  With $13bn in annual revenue and over 60,000 employees worldwide, OMG is a behemoth in the world of advertising, media buying and marketing.  Few industries have been disrupted more than media and very few executives have thrived throughout the tumult of disruption.  Julian Porras is one of the few, a veteran of Latin American marketing and advertising whose wisdom was built on the battlefield of volatile Latin American markets.  

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Ambassador Guillermo Rishchynski recently capped a 37-year diplomatic career with ambassadorial posts in Brasilia, Bogotá, Mexico City and the UN (New York) before serving as Executive Director at the IDB in Washington.  Few can claim a career as widely or as deeply steeped in Latin America.  

Embroiled as we are in the daily (and often damning) news cycle, it is rare and instructive, the opportunity to listen for 60 minutes to a regional veteran with a long view on Latin America. 

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Capital intensive projects in Latin America are inherently polemic.  To come to fruition, these economically vital investments must overcome political interference, local community angst, competing economic interests, organized crime threats, environmental and indigenous rights activists, among other challenges.  Kelvin Dushnisky has managed the above ground risks of some of the largest mines ever built in Latin America.  What he is at liberty to share is eye opening and instructive.  

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Dominique Virchaux has counselled hundreds of Latin American corporate leaders on their career path up and out of the Latin American region.  His advice is invaluable to those who share such aspirations. 

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Mauricio Ortiz has consistently achieved enviable profit growth for Boston Scientific, in a highly regulated industry (healthcare), in a region wrought with political interference and economic volatility.  How did he do it?  By being bold and nurturing a tight knit culture of managerial excellence.