Round Tables

Another activity of the ninth edition were the Round Table, these were developed during Friday afternoon and involved a discussion of ideas.
This activity brought together students with current leaders from different fields allowing an exchange of ideas and questions.

Carlos Safadi, Secretary of Academic Affairs, Law School at USAL; Temporary Deputy Secretary of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires

In Carlos Safadi’s round table it becomes evident that the solution is education. Academic Secretary of the Faculty of Law of the Universidad del Salvador and Acting Assistant Secretary of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires, was commissioned to give participants an introduction to politics. He made a clear explanation of the electoral process and turned the conversation to the mandatory voting interest of the participants. Finally the influence of technology in the electoral system was discussed. Electronic voting as a concept is much more vulnerable, so in some countries which had adopted the method they returned to the previous system.

Diana Barone, Senior Category Manager, eBay inc.

Diana Rosa Barone operates one of the fastest growing categories of eBay. She started by saying that we should see our career as a rotational program, where  we try a little bit of everything. “Your career is in your hands”. Also, they discuss that being in the corporative sector doesn’t define that you can’t be an entrepreneur. She suggested to always take time to analize our market, and to keep curiosity going. The debate ended with the following idea: “Come up with random ideas, entrepreneurship just happens”.

Faustino Arias, General Manager, CALSA

National Public Accountant graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, with postgraduate studies at the University of Virginia, USA, and solid knowledge and experience in strategic planning and leadership of teams.

Faustino Arias reflected upon the role of leaders by saying that they are creators, and must have a clear vision in order to be successful at the transmission to the other. He also considers that leaders can’t fall into shortcuts. On the other hand, he highlighted the need to get out of the comfort zone to create change. Generally in the 90% of the cases these are not carried out by fear of the unknown. On the other hand, he emphasized the importance of possessing the necessary share of curiosity to acquire knowledge in order to find new paths and solutions. Finally he remarked that there is nothing we can’t do, and that each person is as big as his dreams.

Felix Peña, Director, Instituto de Comercio Internacional de la Fundación Standard Bank

Felix Peña is Lawyer, Doctor in Law and has an European Law Degree.

Following the excellent talk that participants had with Mr. Felix Peña, we can draw three main conclusions:

1. It is important to maintain cultural diversity in work teams to take the best from each other and strengthen the group, while one learns and assimilates new customs.
2. Never stop asking: curiosity is the main tool we have to learn.
3. It is important not to lose focus when one faces a project, but even more important is not closed to new ideas.

Gabo Nazar, Presidente y Fundador, Grupo Cardón

Gabo Cardon Nazar is founder of the internationally recognized brand that is inspired by the diversity of cultures and landscapes that identify the Argentina. In October 2003, he was selected as “Argentine Endeavor Entrepreneur”, and is currently a board member in several nonprofit institutions. He said that since childhood has always been restless. He was always pushing boundaries and experience new things. Then, he began to dress things he did and copying everything he saw.

Gabo talked a lot about his history and how it started Cardon. Commented about the fears and the difficulties he had during that time. He highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship, because there are many thoughts. The implementation is critical. He mentioned that it is important to anticipate. To always think 2 or 3 plays ahead, like in chess. He also emphasized the importance of the team when starting a new venture. “You cannot do it on your own, you need a team”. Be around people who are better than you are for certain things. It is the only way to grow. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together “. Gabo concluded his presentation with the following sentence: “Much has been given us therefore much will be expected from us”.

Hernán Kazah, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Kaszek Ventures

Before launching Kaszek Ventures, a venture capital firm, he co-founded MercadoLibre, the largest trading platform and online payments Latin America’s. Before that, he worked as Brand Manager for Procter & Gamble Co. and was a financial analyst Development Program of the United Nations. He currently serves on the advisory boards of several technology companies and also LAVCA. Hernán Kazah asked what do we think about e-learning. “A tsunami is coming and we are not reaching to it”. He said that the best sectors to invest are, education, technology, and medicine. Don’t ever underestimate the challenge of adopting a business model, it also requires innovation. He emphasized that the importance is the way we do it, the execution. How you do it. He finalized sharing his opinion: that there’s opportunity cost when you start a business in a moment of crisis.

Juan Pedro Pinochet, Gerente Gerenal, Gestión Social

Juan Pedro Pinochet is founder and CEO of Gestón Social, a consulting company specialized  in social responsibility that advises companies on all matters relating to sustainable development. He was Executive Director of Un Techo para Chile and Un Techo para mi país for 12 years. Pinochet, who considers himself more social than environmentally- friendly,  commented that in the countries there aren’t  resource problems but management problems, referring specifically to poverty in the countries. He believes that one of the dramas of today is that people don’t believe in long term policies. He sees corporate social responsibility as a short term measure. As a final advice he remarked  that one has to care about what you have in front of you, it may be easier to care about whales because you don’t see them but I see poverty daily.

Mario Quintana, Presidente y Fundador, Grupo Pegasus

Mario Quintana is Founder and President of Farmacity, a company that has more than 190 pharmacies and 4,500 employees. Mario is also the Founder and Chairman of Pegasus. Actively supports various solidarity initiatives, entrepreneurship and human promotion.

Mario highlighted the importance of interpersonal relationships as central along the career of an entrepreneur. He also mentioned a company’s key to success is to listen to what customers are saying about your brand even in times of crisis and it is  what has allowed him to overcome argentinian’s crisis back in 2001.

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