[00:00:37] Good morning and welcome back to another episode of Supply Chain in Spanish Supply Chain Now in Spanish. My name is Enrique Alvarez and I will be your host today. And well, we have an excellent interview. A great person. And well, in fact this is going to be the second time we’ve tried to do this interview. East. This guest was one of my first people I had the pleasure of interviewing and I thought the interview went pretty well, although it was my first interview and well, not to make a long story too long for those who aren’t listening to this one. After the interview was over, it turns out it wasn’t recorded on the computer. The file was corrupted, we couldn’t save it and well, after several more months I managed to schedule this very good interview. Our guest today is a passionate logistics expert. With over 20 years of experience in this industry, he has helped clients globally and worldwide to not only design, but execute and develop their distribution and logistics strategies. He is in Panama, which allows him to have a very, very good knowledge of everything that has to do with industry, transportation and very close to Latin America in different industries. His professional career, as we will discuss in a moment, is quite long and successful. He is the General Manager of Logistics Servicies, president of the consul of Supply Chain Management Professionals in Panama. The СВЯЗИ is CMP Vice Chair of the CICI International Chamber of Commerce, Vice President of Gias Wan in Panama, Kojo Rustico founder of Now Shipping Now Shopping and Chief Commercial Officer of Happy Group. With you a good friend, a person that if you do not know I recommend you to know very well connected to a person who knows how to do very well social networking and LinkedIn with me today. Demosthenes Perez, Demos Perez. Let’s see how it goes. How are you? Very good day. How did it go?
[00:02:51] Very good, very good. Enrique, thank you for being in favor of this opportunity.
[00:02:56] Hey, it’s not the pleasure, it’s all mine. And I was telling you here before I introduced you, that this is the second time I tried it, because the first time I made the terrible mistake. For some reason I didn’t record the episode after our very interesting talk. So I hope that now, with more experience, this one will turn out better.
[00:03:15] Super, super. They are always good experiences, always good conversations.
[00:03:20] It’s good to have someone like you with experience and a high sense of professionalism, because it makes my job so much easier, the more I have to let you talk and introduce you. So come on, tell us a little bit about yourself, let’s start by talking about you as an individual so that people who don’t know you, who are few in this industry, get to know you a little bit more and above all that personal side of Debemos Perez.
[00:03:46] Well, uh. My name is Demóstenes Pérez. Eh? I am born and raised and live and study and work in Panama, eh? I was born in a village, a small town called Chitra. It’s in the middle of the country, eh? I come from two families, huh? One very business oriented Otomo, education oriented. Therefore, I think I have a weird mixture of. As an entrepreneur and IDE and as a teacher. I love Gamba. Both topics. I have been involved in the supply chain industry for the last few eh. Almost 25 years of my life. It’s an industry I’ve grown to love. I have a lot of passion for everything related to the industry. And well, after being an executive in a corporate company for many years. Now it has been some time. I have my own company, my own Tupelo and I love it. I love to learn. I love studying and talking to people like you, Enrique from the industry, who do so many nice things for you. Not only in terms of work, but also in terms of helping others, which is tremendously important to me. So well, I’m at a stage in my life now that I’m still working very hard, maybe harder than when I was younger of course, but I’ve also been constantly learning and also trying to live life to the fullest, always giving to others as much as I can.
[00:05:26] Yes, there are many, many teachings. It has brought us this pandemic and these last few years. And well, we will talk much more in detail about what is happening in logistics, particularly in Latin America, particularly in Panama. But before we go back a little bit to the future or to the time and the future. Tell us more about what attracted you to this one? You tell us that you have the experience of teaching teachers, but how, how do you fall into the logistics? What attracts you to logistics? When you were young?
[00:05:59] Well, I didn’t choose this career, huh? About 25 years ago, around that time, I was very quiet back in my village, working in the family business. I was always very restless, I always had, still Josephs, as they say now. I had a bar, I sold things on the street, I sold insurance. I worked with my father in our family business. Yes, he was restless and one fine day a close relative, uh, tells me that he had. He had a courier company and had won a contract for a multinational. And within the contract there was a service area that he had to cover, in which he had no knowledge of the expertise, no people, no nothing, and he needed help. And he spoke to me. He asked me if I could help him for two weeks while he set up and did his stuff and I said ok, let’s go. Eh. I’ve always liked the challenge and the things in life. So, uh. Vine. That was in what is now my second homeland in the city of Colon, in the free zone of Colon, an area that I had never seen once in my life.
[00:07:16] You didn’t have any experience in logistics or anything. You were also in the race and studies and so what did you like? What were the pimples for when you were a kid?
[00:07:26] Look, as I said, I’ve always been there since I was very young, since I was six, seven years old, I used to go to the shop. But now we have a hardware store. My family ran a fruit store for about 75 years. My grandfather. So it was always related to the commercial side, sales, purchases, having
[00:07:46] Worked since I was 6 years old with your dad. I imagine your grandfather did too. At that time
[00:07:51] My grandfather had passed away and he didn’t have it. She was not fortunate enough to meet him. My dad continued the business, huh. And well, it was a family business and they also participated from Spain, from Spain.
[00:08:03] You and your grandfather are here. What was your story? How did you get to Panama?
[00:08:07] Them, them, eh? The Perez family came to one. The last record we have for 1800, eh? I think it was 20 in a feeto investigation. My sister Kawada loves this genealogy stuff. He managed to find traces of them. They came to the province, to what today is the Villa de los Santos, which is a historic city, eh? At the time when to love the Spanish colony, they came from Spain. There are family records in that sector, eh? So if they all came from Spain at the time of the colony, eh? And well, they made roots in this in this area. Both families, the parents and the Castillos put down roots in this area. Eh? I tell you at the Poppo, the Perez family. And also the Sanchez family, who was my grandfather’s wife. Both were entrepreneurs by nature. The Sanchezes came from Peru. They do, yes. And now a little bit more recently to Panama. But they were very enterprising people, eh? They had business and it’s back.
[00:09:17] Dad saw it, experienced it in a very similar way. Maybe what you lived with him since you were a kid, the summers, they told me, the summers you spent at the hardware store doing jobs. What is it. What do you remember most about that time? Look, hardware store, what was work for you? Because I imagine that you have to live very differently and since you are a child you see it and you adopt it. Maybe and maybe even the part of a game to the woman.
[00:09:41] It was, it was, it was, it was part of the family. It was part of who we were, eh? It gets to a point where it was no longer work, let’s say. It was. It was what it was. Well, it was, it was. We grew up understanding that we had to work every day. My father, also by training, was an agronomist and he also liked the part of farms, land and so on. So we had some of that too. So there was always work, right? Days off were really rare in the house, so you grew up in a permanent work environment.
[00:10:12] One was playing with the iPhone all day. I imagine myself on the iPad as the generations of today.
[00:10:19] Yes, yes, yes, yes, not at all. There was none of that. And I tell you, what I loved was the part of the relationship and the relationship with people, meeting people. I started to learn the purchasing part, to buy the products that he is going to sell us. And look, I’m going to tell you a very interesting anecdote from that time, this hardware store that was founded around 1930 35 around there, eh? At that time there was transportation by means of carts, oxen, and there in Chile, in my land there were two workshops where the wheels of the carts were manufactured, right? And I did basically it was like a place where they were manufactured to distribute to the region. Quote this one doesn’t it turn out that these wagons used some very long bolts or bolts like 12 14 inches, which were the ones that were the rims and those bolts came from Germany. So I was always curious as to how those screws got to the hardware store. Then he was telling me that I’ve been giving you that since the 1950s.
[00:11:27] If I can’t imagine
[00:11:29] The order, they crave it by letter. He sent a letter. I never understood how they made the payments there. If I can’t tell you, but I know that the orders were made by letter and types. You can imagine those facelifts, can’t you? I figure it was like 8 months, because
[00:11:46] If the letter arrived and perhaps the letter was lost and the
[00:11:50] The bank, then it’s very interesting because that was the input. That is, these screws were the input for the wheels of the wagons to work. So they were very important, but it was an input almost like the microchips that we don’t have.
[00:12:06] Well, with the same leadthings almost next to each other.
[00:12:11] So, well, I was always intrigued by how he did it back then, wasn’t I? Because. Because very little was coming from China at that time. And China was an unknown world as well. At that time. So everything came from the United States or Europe, uh, which were the big manufacturers at that time. Everything was done by letter. My grandfather didn’t speak English, so I don’t know how to write letters to Germany. I have no idea. So well, it was always very intriguing to me, eh? How did things arrive? How did it move? From a very young age too? So I helped. I made myself. I became a truck driver’s assistant. Or did they make me? Well, about 13 years old. And it was the most. At 13 years of age
[00:12:55] He was already driving a truck.
[00:12:57] No, no, no. I was helping her.
[00:12:59] Okay, it helped.
[00:13:00] Yes, since then it was very, very, very way. For me it was total fun. First, because the truckers, the suits, they’re super foul-mouthed, they have the craziest stories in the world. They knew each other better, a good adventure. They obviously recognized the best places to eat on the road and for me it was a walk. So you had to stop at two o’clock in the morning and so on. We were coming to Panama City to look for materials for the for the. To take away, then to sell. And it was quite a Journey. For me that was super interesting. I knew people, I have since I was a kid, I had that one, that one.
[00:13:36] Of course, you weren’t exposed to a lot of things, a lot of business, a lot of administration, logistics, people. Sounds like your dad was really giving you a life lesson, huh? In terms of logistics, in terms of business and as an entrepreneur sing sing.
[00:13:56] Unbeknownst to me and I don’t know how much, he had proposed it. But so it was. It was a tremendous teaching, I tell you, to interact with people from all walks of life. My dad always told me that you had to be able to dine in a five-star restaurant or eat a bowl of soup on the leg of a mango tree. He said that you could, that you had to be anywhere and Alex could do well anywhere, regardless of the people. And so, that’s how he taught me. That’s how I grew up. That is my philosophy of life. For me we are all equal. And I always try to live that teaching. And that’s what I teach my children.
[00:14:37] He also told me that it is something that has led you to be successful in life. At the end of the day, I agree with what you’re saying and I think that being authentic, being genuine, not pretending to have or be or think more than others, I mean that’s important and it’s reflected in a very successful trajectory and I think it’s a good time to move on a little bit. Now if your professional career. Tell us a little bit, since you ended up when you left the hardware store, when they actually let you go. What was that transition like?
[00:15:11] Well, look, as I said, it was that chance that this relative said to me, hey, XX two weeks. I remember he even talked to my dad and asked permission to let me go. And nothing. I came for two weeks,
[00:15:27] Supposedly two weeks,
[00:15:28] Supposedly two weeks. And at that time it turned out that the company that had won the contract was Federal Express and I had no idea what Federal Express was. I didn’t know the service, I didn’t know the place, I didn’t know anything. In other words, it was at zero. And well, it turned out to be another Journey. I started to meet people and learn things. I mean, everything was every day. It was something new. All that was an adventure and nothing. I started to get in, I started to get in already.
[00:16:01] And this was already in Columbus, right? In the free zone, apologies. I mean, it’s already really where it’s at for people who don’t know Colon or the Free Zone. Strict et al. What can you tell them? What it was like at the time
[00:16:13] For the city of Colon is located on the Atlantic, at the Atlantic exit or entrance of the Panama Canal. The city of Colon is a small city, but very important from a supply chain point of view. There you will find the Colon Free Zone, which is the largest commercial emporium or the largest free zone in the Western Hemisphere. It is an area that has historically contributed to the distribution of products for all of Latin America. And I lived on the Pacific side, in a town in the middle of the country. In other words, culturally they were two totally different places. The food is different from all the different ones. So it was like I said, for me it was an adventure. And this, this place, the walls of Columbus had one. One has a kind of magic. And it’s like one. As a place where many cultures converge. Then, since it was my turn to make the delivery. Well, we did everything. I played driver currir. It was costumes. Orbyt will be seller towards everything. So I had to go to the companies, not with the parcels and the parcels were late and so what. And I began to get to know not only the secretaries who received the packages, but the owners of the company. Then I had met Hebrews, Arabs, Hindus, Chinese and well, how interesting. There were a lot of people and like me what I was bringing them was of interest to them. Sometimes samples arrived, for example for new collections and eh, and I’m telling you, eh? Either checks were coming in, checks were coming in or B’s were coming in or whatever.
[00:17:58] There is good news. What. What you brought as the mail in his good time I can not imagine, was the connection between them and the rest of the world. The news, the checks, the suppliers.
[00:18:10] So, sometimes, sometimes when I would arrive, they would be waiting for packages that were so important that they would describe themselves and invite me for coffee and give me gifts. I started to get to know people, Enrique. So I tell you, all of a sudden one door would open and they would be Catholics, the next door they would be Maoists, the next door they would be Jews. And so I went and started making friends.
[00:18:33] As that you do not fuck you, that it does not cost you work either I have 6.
[00:18:36] I love it, besides having, I started to meet people. Imagine coming from a universe as small as my village. Sure that city and suddenly come to this. E. A wide range of races, religions and languages. At home we learned English because my dad, as I said, studied in the United States as an agronomist and they taught us English from a very young age. Jessica We learned English at home. At that time there was no internet and no stalking them. I learned to read and believe me they didn’t teach me that in school either, so I had some facility with English. So that made it very easy for me to relate. For example, today I met the first Singaporean person in my life and I didn’t even know what country Singapore was. He was telling me about his country, because it was super interesting because I started to meet so many people, so much culture, so much diversity, that now we talk so much about diversity. They even gave me food.
[00:19:30] Then everything comes from all over the world apart. It is not that Panama and following the canal, as everyone knows, in this program this is. It is the Mecca for the logistics distribution and transport part of Latin America. As I was saying, if I were to say much of North America are also. Everything goes through there.
[00:19:50] Sure, sure, it happens a lot and I learned a lot of things related to the business. I even learned some negative things. For example, I learned what an industrial boom was. It happened to me two or three times. It happened to me that packages arrived with samples of a garment. For example, a line would come in and suddenly one would pretend to be the owner of the package, but it wasn’t because he wanted to see the other’s sample until beyond the autori. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, crazy. I had to. I had to be in authorities and all because one stole the package from the other and. In other words, lies. He was exposed to a business world that was fascinating to me. Eh? Because I’m telling you, just the fact that someone would tell me about an industry that I’m not about something, about a country that has a lot of friends from India. Then I started to learn a little bit about the Hindus and the different races and religions that they have and the foods and such and the deities. I mean, for me it was like wow! I mean, that was so, so, so, so interesting that at the end of the road, as always, it stops being work. And that’s quite a journey. So, well, that was while we were in the FedEx operation. After this operation it was taken over by another company that asked me to join the company.
[00:21:10] And we drove that for that, like, four or five years. And then one fine day it comes to me. Graham went on, he says to me Hey, we have to make a decision and we’ve done a deal or we’ve done a partnership with DHL. You have two choices, either you stay with us and go to DHL or you stay with FedEx and DHL was my natural competitor. E He was the Big Monster and I said no, no, no, no, I’m going there. I need to know what’s going on there. So well, he didn’t have much to think about, huh? And I left. And the transition to H.L. was very interesting because it was an experience again where I had to do a team merge on my team. A part of my team that stayed with me were the ones to see FedEx and a part of the DHL team that had to make a merger of the two companies, which although they provide the same service, they do it in diametrically different ways from the point of view of systems, processes, language. It was another super journey. And the most interesting thing was to mix the cultures in people, not to speak as a mastery of brutal organizational change.
[00:22:32] That in your opinion and well, taking into account your experience, not only at that time, but throughout your entire career, what do you think it is? The two three keys to being able to put together a good team this much we have a lot of entrepreneurs as you know listening to this podcast and Supply Chain Now, the three things that you’ve learned not only from your experience living with such diverse people from all over the world, but going from a culture like FedEx to one like DHL. What? What would you say to people who are trying to change or integrate cultures right now?
[00:23:08] Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Look, I think the first thing is respect, respect. We must always show respect for others. Sometimes we fall into thinking that we are more than the other, or because my company is better than yours, or because I studied more than you, or because, that is GAP, of course. Respect comes first. The other thing. Enrique is that there has to be a positive attitude towards change. 1 It has happened to me sometimes. Many times when the individual doesn’t want to, there is nothing to be done. I mean, you try and try and try and try the best, the best. Or maybe not in the best way, but you try to integrate it and the person wants it. Of course. No, of course not. Don’t break that paradigm. You don’t want to. You have to let it go. Well, there is not always a perfect world. Culture and people cannot always be integrated. That is a reality that we have to understand.
[00:24:16] You have to make those decisions, don’t you? At the end of the day, you have the directive to make the team work and given the possibilities, everyone to be successful. But if people, change is in one, it’s not what it’s about what you’re saying. Yes, yes, I have one. Want to change? You don’t want to change and it’s not going to be possible.
[00:24:36] Yes. And lastly, I would say that whoever is in charge or whoever is in charge of the integration process has to have leadership skills. In other words, you have to, you have to prepare yourself. It is not easy to deal with, with people that as we all know, we all have good days and bad days. Of course, in different backgrounds, different situations. And that has to be understood. In other words, we are not robots. We have to understand that we are different. We have to understand that we can have totally different points of view and we have to understand and value that. So, just a good leader alone has the ability to take those different points of view or different ways of looking at things and bring them together and create a team. If there is one thing that is difficult it is to create a really good team or integrated team, because team is easy to say to team. No, no, no. In other words, a real team that respects each other, that takes care of each other, that really supports each other is a very difficult job and that requires an extraordinary effort, which obviously also has an attitude component, as I was saying before. But always close, always ahead. And I think those are some of the hardest lessons I’ve learned in so many years of building teams. Because that’s basically what I’ve done. I learned how to build work teams, high performance teams. At the moment I am working on strengthening my current team in the company NO3 and so on.
[00:26:22] And well, we’re going to talk about that in a moment and really thank you for sharing this. For those who just paq us are listening to it. For those of you who have just joined, I just want to remind you that we have Demosthenes Perez in Panama. Let’s explain a little bit of your story and as you heard, basically three things if you want to have a successful team, if you want to integrate people with different characteristics, with different stories and with different perspectives, those are three basic things I respect. No, no, never feel more, never feel that you are the first or the primordial. Respect is important a positive attitude and good leadership and demos. If it’s okay with you, let’s make a short break, here this one and we’ll be right back. Surely. Criminal Court 55 twenty-three. How are you doing? How do you feel? Smooth. Something you want us to change is going well? No, no, no, no… Now a little bit takes us out. It’s true. Your professional experience does not allow you to pay special attention to what you think is best for you. And then I would really like to introduce us to your company so that it can also serve as a promotion and to talk a little bit about today or the future. How do you see the situation with the teams, with the traffic, how do you see Panama?
[00:27:56] Vaporea Obrer.
[00:28:00] Welcome again, this is Supply Chain Now in Spanish, I’m your host, Enrique Alvarez, and I have with me a great guest who by the way is also a host and with whom I’m going to be interviewing many other personalities throughout Latin America. A good friend, Demosthenes Perez de Mohs. How are you?
[00:28:20] Very good, very good, Enrique. Happy, happy.
[00:28:22] We’ll be back. We are back again. And well, I forgot to mention to everyone who listens to us that if they’re interested in listening to conversations and interviews like this with you, to join us, to sign up wherever they have their. Anywhere they have their podcasts. This is Supply Chain Now. Please follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube or whatever system you use to listen to your podcasts. Again we come back to Vemos who has already explained the whole part of his early career, from working in the hardware store with his dad and grandfather and the history of the family to going from one adventure to another. This one that has gone through really has known every part of the supply chain from literally the screws coming from Germany to accompanying it to distributing it on trucks through FedEx. And now when? When. We went to this break. I wasn’t saying about the transition between FedEx and DHL. Tell us from there, let’s pick up from there from DHL. What’s next for you?
[00:29:37] Well, at that time it was full currir, as they say, we noticed the currir part. At that time, while managing DHL operations, I was bitten again by the entrepreneurial bug and decided to leave the company. Some friends had formed a Warner Fregao and invited me to be part of the team. And it was the truth that as I tell you, well, I was. I always had that entrepreneurial streak and I accepted. I went with them like. As commercial director.
[00:30:13] This is logistics services or not yet before
[00:30:16] Or no longer yetis. Sometimes I was already with DHL, eh? I left Logistics Services for a year or so and went to learn the Free for wedding business, which I didn’t know. Flirtatious like your good friends who already had their company, eh? I raised some capital with people I knew with. with good friends from Colombia and Honduras and other countries we had friendships. So we made this company. But hey. A reality, Enrique, that already that time I talk to you about this was in 2005. First of all, I was very young, I still lacked a lot more experience, especially in the financial part, eh? And nothing was a product of a tremendous experience because I mean we worked very hard. There were three of us, huh? 16 hours a day. It was very exhausting. I started to put together, to get into these Wilders alliances that still exist today and are very strong to get cargo and we started to get some business. But well, the reality was that at that time, uh. For business as usual was Worthing. You know very well, eh? It’s not, it’s not a business that starts producing right away. And I had a family to raise, I needed more activities. The pressure, stress and such like dad is going to take its toll. At that time, the guy who was my former place at District Service calls me and says Hey, we’re back.
[00:31:52] We have this particular situation, eh? What do you want to come back? So I tell him Ok, I was obviously looking to see what he would do. I was still with my partner, with the Irada group, I spoke to them and I said, gentlemen, I can’t go on. So I took a couple of steps back, huh? But to catch momentum vague the vague documentary. Yes, of course. And so I agreed to return to Agrestic Servicies as general manager of the company and with a mission which was to set up that company. Well, in a logistics operator. All in all. And I decided to integrate all the teams that I created, all my backoffice, which at that time I didn’t have, because it was a very nice compliment and we finally made a building. We started to develop important distribution center business. So I continued the relationship hand in hand with DHL and globally I started to ualquier with all the tariffs and we started to do a lot or a lot, a lot of participating in a lot of regional distribution center projects. I estimate that there were about 200 projects for global companies that I was involved in from the very early days. Look, I got to manage both operations and project manage such basic things as. I tell you like condoms. Even drilling machines for underground mines. Everything in between, everything that is in the center, I had to be somehow tires and bulk products, computers, clothing, footwear.
[00:33:35] Etc. I had a huge, huge experience in that organization of pharmaceutical duty, food and everything that involves this type of administration of these operations that are totally very different, of course. And the other interesting thing about this experience is that Enrique also had to deal with companies literally from all over the world. Of course. From Russia, from China, from Asia in general. Well, obviously from the United States, let alone Europe. So, the experience that I had previously had in the free zone of meeting people with so much cultural diversity also helped me a lot, because it was easy for me. Do you understand me? To communicate with these people because I understood their culture, I always had a story to tell when I came. Not if you, not if the meals, not if the parties. Well, I always, always had something to tell these people as a product of that experience. So I’ve always been a very worldly guy, even though I’m here in this small country. So that gave me, I think, a very, very big advantage when it came to doing business. The business world has to have diversity. Apart from the fact that I also like to study a lot and that’s why I went in. Between the cultural part and the part to know the industry. That makes you like. As a kind of expert.
[00:35:09] And I imagine that all these contacts that you had, or different ones internationally speaking, were the ones that started to bring you closer to what was to come for you. What is this relationship with the chambers of commerce, with the vos, with? I mean, at the end of the day you were becoming a VEM, you were not an expert, at the end of the day you became an expert and you are an expert now I would say one of the most important people, with more knowledge, experience and strategy in the logistics part in Panama and most probably in Latin America.
[00:35:45] What I think is that if the experience has been tremendous, the relationship with God, I never wanted to get involved in the world of the cameras. But hey, yes, I did start happy hour awareness. From the point of view. Educational to learn. I like to learn. But well, I was invited and here in some, some local guilds. And I came in from far away. But well, since I’m me, I’m already in the head and growing, president of the two or three electing president of the Logistics Business Council, which is perhaps the highest body here.
[00:36:24] That’s the Jesus. When you were talking to me before we were on the air on your government assignment, it’s true that you had to yes, tell us, tell us a little bit more about this which I found very interesting and it’s again something different than what. I had a partner in that
[00:36:44] Panama is a very particular country in that sense, because it exists. I would say a higher level of public-private partnership than in most countries. Here in the region, and I’m not saying this because of, because of, because of blogging or anything like that, but because of what my own colleagues in other countries tell me. So. Eh? Here, uh. We have a fairly well developed guild sector and Hirsh and so the council was born. What a coincidence that in the end the one who founds the personal council is the one who is my partner today in Hyperloop. It then creates a guild of guilds with the intention of integrating the state with the with the with the with the logistics or management. The supply was private and then born around 2012. There is another entity called the logistic cabinet, which is something like a private public cabinet that presides. Well, today the Vice President of the Republic sits in which a number of ministers of state and also a number of representatives of the private sector in which they discuss issues related to the progress of the E of the business. So I had to be there, in that chair, from the private sector, never as a public employee or anything like that for 4 years. I had to replace a colleague. So I spent four years attending presidencies, almost monthly or monthly meetings, where we basically discussed with the ministers of state. These projects and sometimes initiatives that they brought to the table, which were negative to
[00:38:34] Which are infrastructure projects and commercial growth and development in Panama or in Panama, two interesting ones for the country,
[00:38:43] Customs projects, metallurgy projects, health and. Well, these issues were discussed there and we also brought our own ideas at the end. From there was born what today is known as the National Logistics Strategy 20/30, which was a project that we delivered to two thousand seventeen. If I am not mistaken, where it is like a road map of what are these factors in which the public and private sectors must work together to strengthen the country’s economic performance. From a logistical point of view. I think it is important to mention to our listeners that Panama. The services component of the Gross Domestic Product in Panama is the highest, that is, the highest in comparison to the primary and secondary tertiary sectors. The service is the largest contributor to the national economy.
[00:39:38] We see, in short, that without you giving us all the detail of this national logistics strategy, far from it. But what would they be? What are the most important areas of this 20/30 plan? Where to? Where is Panama going? Because I ask you. Because I believe that. Panama dictates a lot of where all the other countries are going. Probably in Central America, probably in Latin America and well, they have, well, they have the trade gateway or the Panama Canal influences all the countries. So I imagine a lot of people who are listening to us will want to know that they’re getting a little bit more out of this national logistics strategy.
[00:40:14] Sure, look, uh, uh. But to put it in context, God blessed us with a situation or a geographical location, with a sumo to the narrowest country on the continent. So that was as you say and put here the Panama Canal, put the tran seismic railroad which is the dry canal. We have the highways connecting from the back now. After the interview, I go to my office on the other side of the country and I’ll be there in 45 minutes. I don’t cross the country in 45 minutes, it’s from Panama, it already has, let’s say, the physical part. I am the blog. The strategy is aimed at developing projects that further improve the connectivity that the country offers to the world of trade and initiatives, for example, from the point of view of visibility. So now the visibility, the supply side is totally relevant to be able to guarantee the effectiveness of the supply chain. So the country is focused on the integration of institutions, customs with the free zone or with the Ministry of Commerce or not, so there has to be an integration of systems, even here at the state level, especially in Latin America. But of course, it’s very complicated. Alas, alas, alas! Today, it’s not a power struggle and so on, but, well, all the institutions have to be more and more digital, eh? Today Panama’s customs processes are extremely fast and efficient compared to Hong Kong or other countries in the region. They have to be the best, though, eh? For example, uh. Me. I receive a container today at the Port of Manzanillo, for example, and the ship docked tonight.
[00:42:09] I have that container in my warehouse tomorrow morning at 11am, eh? Already downloading and that product will be ready on top of the system for the customer to place orders and dispatch. From a regional business point of view. Panama already has these great advantages. Eh. As part of your business. But. We have to keep working on improving and giving more to global trade. It is said that between 5 and 7 percent of global trade crosses the Panama Canal. Some say it’s more, I’m not an economist to know how much, but what I can tell you is that it’s a lot. And that has to be strengthened, because especially with all the challenges that we have experienced or that the world is experiencing in pandemic and pre-pandemic, well, every day we see new disruptions in our chain. The bitro, of course, it becomes more imperative that options exist. Not all this resilience stuff, which we hear a lot of industry talk about, eh? One way to bring that resilience to the other supply chain is to have more choice. And for Latin America, Panama represents a very interesting option because it is having a product located much closer to the point of sale or point of consumption. Located in a site, in this case the Colon Free Zone, which is a zone that allows you to have the product for an indefinite period of time without charging taxes on the product. So I can react to what a market in Chile asks for today, but I can also ration to what a market like Guatemala or the Dominican Republic asks for tomorrow.
[00:43:53] And I wouldn’t even go so far as to say that I can tell you much further north to New York than at the end of the day. And well, in fact, for those who are watching us on YouTube, those who have the pleasure of seeing us, not just listening to us, have a screen behind them that shows the days of transit from Panama. I imagine it’s
[00:44:14] Demons this will
[00:44:15] You can get to the coast, you can get to the coast, you can get to California, you can get to New York in seven days. Today it seems to me that this is it, I hope, but this is what you say, not at the end of the day. Panama gives you many options. If you are a global company, if you are a company that is growing, I think Panama is the gateway to the continent really and it is very important. So this thing you mention about the 20/30 national logistics strategy is something that maybe I would suggest that people look it up if we can put some notes on it now that it’s not clear when we post this interview I’d love to publish the interview. Yeah, I don’t even know how to speak Spanish anymore, we can’t put notes, comments and let’s put this up because I think a lot of people would be interested in knowing a little bit more about where Panama is going. What options are there in Panama and how they could really use that to continue to grow and improve their supply chains per rectum. We will be back and as we said last time, we couldn’t have. And in fact, maybe it’s worth having 2, 3, 4 interviews because there are so many stories to tell. But well, I know you’re having a hectic day and so as not to take up too much of your time, let’s move on from this one. You’ve had some very interesting posts. You were also at the one at the Chamber of Commerce also the GC 1 Take us to the demos right now. No, you started your company? How? How did we get to where you are right now? Because I would like to ask you a little bit what is your opinion of the future?
[00:45:55] Okay, look, I. I was like, like. As general manager of this company for quite a few years I had a super super team development had. We made some very interesting trades. We open for example the operating room for company for afortu infringe of componés e not e. That is, a financially successful company operationally. But suddenly I began to feel that I had nothing more to do there. This is called the comfort zone. I didn’t have any. He had everything, he had a great team and he had an assistant. It had everything. It had everything. And all of a sudden it’s like I don’t like it anymore. There were no more people. I needed something else. I was. I needed and I started to think about it and. And well, uh. As I said, with so many relationships that one makes, I find myself in front of this colleague of mine, my friend, that we always talked and I say hey, it happened to me that so-and-so called me for a business, but I can’t make it the front page. And he said to me pussy, the same thing happened to me. I’m also called so and so and so and so and so. Whenever we met the one with the same story, all the things we saw happening because he was in a situation pretty much like mine, it was too. It was a giant leaving a company. We weren’t in competition, but it was similar. So, well, one fine day we told people let’s make it clear. I did it. In my case I did.
[00:47:25] And this when you’re talking about when you’re talking about this is 2017, out there.
[00:47:29] Not one thousand, not two thousand nineteen finals, eh? When we started with the whole project, the whole idea, eh? I talked to me, to my board of directors and I told them gentlemen, I, I need to leave. And obviously it was that it was very difficult. My transition took a few months, maybe longer than I would have liked. The pandemic got in the way too, eh? And well, we started the business, we had, uh, there was already, there was already a medium-sized operation that had been started, my partner had marked it, I was going to go in with him, uh? And the idea was that we already had several, like four or five very interesting projects to develop. Obviously COBIT is coming. E Yeah, that wasn’t in any business plan, so uh. My flagship project, so to speak, fell KLE the one I was going to develop falls by hobby and nothing had to start to arre, arre, to rethink the company, to rethink the service, to rethink the project, eh? And well, we created, we created this organization that already has more than 100 collaborators with great honor. Wow!
[00:48:41] Hey, congratulations because in one of the most difficult years in the history of the world, I think it’s a great, great. Yes this achievement and something that speaks very well of you as a leader and well, of your partners and the team you are forming, so tell us a little bit more then about Hype Hype Group, I imagine.
[00:49:01] And Federov if uh, I tell you, well the 20th was a year, we never closed because the client the operation we handled was a special telecom and industry operation and we never, never, never, never could e close doors still. Obviously we worked from home for many months and the team was in charge of doing very punctual things, they would go to receive the containers, they would close the containers and then they would go, open them, dispatch them and leave. The whole team working at home. We didn’t fire anyone, thank God, during the pandemic. That’s something we’re pretty proud of, eh? And well, uh, we spent the year, let’s say, trying to figure out how to save those projects that were already somehow closed, eh? But none were spared. So, well, uh, as I say, we had to rethink and that is something that the company is born in pandemic, practically sideways and that makes the DNA of the company is that change. Resilience, eh? Challenges, eh? Think differently, change it, change the turn, the rudder. So, uh. We became a very agile organization, Enrique, very agile, eh? No ties to traditional themes or anything else. In other words, the client, whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants.
[00:50:21] What services do we provide? What services do you offer so that those who listen to us can know what you do?
[00:50:27] There was a logistics operator specializing in regional operations. Or do we enhance all this stuff that we talked about before about Panama and the transits and such? While we bring the product, the client brings his product to Panama, to the Colon free zone, where he can bring the product to the
[00:50:43] To be by, by sea, by air, by
[00:50:46] Day, by land. Exactly. Soon it comes in different manners. It is stored or has been stored in this area, eh? Under an inventory status. Regionalize is metal, it is not local, it has not paid taxes of any country,
[00:51:03] So the benefit of working with an FTZ that doesn’t pay taxes until you don’t really need the process. And there is an import.
[00:51:11] That’s right. And using all these routes, all this transit, all these frequencies that Panama offers through the canal and so on. We may receive an order from a customer in Honduras today and we are shipping tomorrow for Honduras there, as they
[00:51:31] They have their own storage, their storage is also
[00:51:34] Distribution of the warehouse. If we do warehousing, we do inventory management in our specialty. Now it’s value-added services, which basically means that if a product requires some kind of process or process to be introduced into a market, to pass non-tariff barriers or to meet a market condition, or to meet a market condition, or to be introduced into a market, then it’s a value-added service.
[00:51:59] Labeling, or insurrections or repackaging, or
[00:52:04] That’s all we do. For example, today we are working very hard in the Enright Tell fashion industry. I have been providing very particular services in which the product or the garment comes out of our of our warehouse as the selling price in the country. At the destination you go out with the LAUR halves to the button that puts crepe the door when you go out through the store, we make you seams when they require seams. Stitched labels some countries like Peru, Ecuador that require labels to say imported by so-and-so.
[00:52:38] Estol labels all the label I put it, you do it yourselves and
[00:52:42] Everything, everything. Today we are working on what we call a FullHD Fremen BTV is not business. Business is for Reiter at the moment, but we are already starting to develop the direct-to-consumer part of Bitsy as well, eh? Well we have all the computer systems and all the processes to handle operations are operations, let’s say high demand operations, not other operations.
[00:53:11] A lot of demands too. No? This is added value. You need to have a really committed team with a high level of quality, I imagine, with state-of-the-art technology. It is also part of Lothal, a non-Hawaii entity. Throughout the region you are giving service to anyone who wants to store and have these services in Panama. Palop Redistribute everywhere or are you starting with certain regions? How are you thinking?
[00:53:36] No, notice that today we are serving from Guatemala to Paraguay. Ok, all in my tween eh? We are in the different industries we serve. As I say, we are still having very strong telecommunications and we are also in the industrial part and also in theacho part. Imagine industries, totally different industries, but with the same concept and analyzed inventory regio goes to countries depending on demand. That is, the customer does not need to have imported product in a market, does not have to have paid taxes for, for something he does not know if he is going to sell or not. If you have it in Panama stored regionally, you are only going to ship it when the market really requires it. Therefore,
[00:54:24] In other words, you never import it. Maybe in Panama, that is, it is something that maybe is imported only once in Paraguay, or if it is only stored in Panama.
[00:54:33] Exactly, exactly, there, there what the customer gains is opportunity cost. Of course, because if I have a product that I brought, for example for E for Peru, because I thought that Peru was going to sell it, but it turned out that for some reason that product did not work in Peru or the market did not like it, but it turned out that in Guatemala the product was a great success. If I have it in Peru it is impossible to send it to Guatemala. Impossible. It is not possible. But the costs make it impossible.
[00:55:04] Well, it’s another import and export import in another country are more, you keep it in Panama, which is two, three days away from any of these other countries. As you wish and
[00:55:16] Rare. It’s like this. That’s the secret toast, as the tall ones say. Secret is that one.
[00:55:22] You can play all over Latin America being your distribution center.
[00:55:26] Panama plays with what the market wants to say. There are about, especially in the times we live in. You can’t afford to have large inventories sitting in a country without moving it. So, the grace or the beauty, so to speak, of selling it in a safe place, in a place that is in your inventory, is in U.S. dollars. A place that is very safe both on the level.
[00:55:52] That’s the other one. It is a very developed, very important, very secure banking and financial infrastructure. Again, as a result of the canal and many other things, Panama has managed to have an infrastructure that is a model in many parts of Latin America.
[00:56:08] That’s right. So that’s, that’s what we sell in what we empower. For these companies. So. Basically, Sony Peele Group does not adapt to any needs. To what the customer wants, to simplify processes. We already have a lot of experience in complex processes in large corporations. I’ve worked on projects, as I said, for very complex, very large companies. Therefore, as a customer we already coded a way to make it easy and fast. How to do it?
[00:56:45] How you have the Anthea is experience and you have lived it with other industries and other companies. But if you’re looking at, I mean, moving a little bit beyond your company, now moving a little bit more into the general and a little bit into the last part of our interview, how do you see how you see the world? Now we have the equipment problems in China, the congestion at the ports in the United States, the exorbitant prices that are so exorbitant. What is your reading of Panama? First. And then if you could extrapolate and say well, what is your reading of Latin America? What is your market forecast for the rest of the year?
[00:57:26] Look, one of the particularities of the business that I manage is that for us Panama is just another market and not necessarily the largest. Panama is one of the smallest markets we serve, therefore, all the. Vision and the forcas we see has to be at the Latin American level because that is the business it handles. Sure, so look, I see, I see without many challenges from the point of view of freight, eh? Because of the votes we didn’t think they were going to start going down. But it seems we were wrong. They keep going up. Challenges remain. Much of the traditional logistics that was done to Latin America was done from the United States. It’s still done to a large extent in South Florida, but at a very high cost. I think this is the time when companies really need to do an analysis of how they are moving their cargo with these expensive freight rates. Now you have to be even more cautious in how you move the load. They didn’t waste any, any, any transportation guidelines, huh? Demand is always going to be definitely Caniff markets affected, but we will always need products. We have also seen the birth of many new industries, many new types of business and a lot of production. Also that it can be made local. I think the pandemic has taught us a lot that actually in the face of the pandemic, we thought we were going to be buying a lot of product. Eh? In Asia, huh. I am already seeing some trend of important companies, brands looking for manufacturing in our country. In Colombia, in Ecuador, in Mexico. Not to mention. Obviously it is the cradle of manufacturing, but Enrique is seeing a strong tendency to diversify a little bit that, that, that source of manufacturing. We will never stop Bob, we will never stop receiving products from China. It’s weird,
[00:59:37] He’s not a monster, look at him.
[00:59:39] But yes, yes I am. I’ve already seen several initiatives from well-known companies that are looking at how they can increase their manufacturing to be less dependent on Asia and that supply chain that is rapidly being affected. E the film noir that used to be the theory, because now it seems that the a swimming around for any puddle every day to subtitle a new one a disruption in implausible things, no? Over there I read at the weekend that now comes one more tweet from the sauce of this restaurant fildeo girl eh? How crazy! And platoon! And every day we’re going to see more
[01:00:16] Nacho Scotti Grec here in this week or last week they were talking about with Carin, Bursa, in Supli Cheyney or they were talking about everything that is missing. All these, this what you say, all these black swans or Black Swan or short jazz that we are living and I that will be it. Do you think it will be the new standard then?
[01:00:38] I think there are cycles. I think so, eh? That is, since
[01:00:42] Chicken Catsup there are shortages of
[01:00:46] Microchips and
[01:00:47] Chips. It is one of the main gasoline for those who are here in the United States, like us.
[01:00:52] With Bit.ly cologne edited this. So I think we should. The future is going to be. Enrique, I think, I don’t have a crystal ball to say it, but it’s going to be about not depending on a single source. No? Diversification I think is going to be the key and use more regional attribution chips and build on these existing structures and take away a little bit of the concepts that we had in the past and think, innovate and innovate innovatively. But now to be able to guarantee supplies, not at the end of the road, eh? Latin America, as small as it is, compared to the big markets, is still a thriving market, growing very interesting and very diverse. And obviously it makes it very complex as well. But. But stop. That’s why there are people like us who can help decode the complexity of Latin America. I think that’s the key. There are a lot of companies that decide not to come or try to come and get scared, eh. Why? Because they feel that the existing complexity is too high. So, there. Experts can help you comply with these market standards.
[01:02:19] Where do you leave technology in your opinion and I believe that with this we are about to close.
[01:02:25] So how do you
[01:02:26] See the technology? I feel like a lot has been said about visibility. A lot. That’s very important, obviously, but with all these black swans you mention, with everything we’ve been through. Well, many times all these systems to be clearer about demand and consumption and all that have gone down the drain. Basically we have had to re-tune and adjust all the Forcas models from
[01:02:56] The, from all the channels, from everything already, because it’s like a bad word now isn’t it?
[01:03:02] But hey. But what do you see? That is, how technology moves in general and you guide from that to totally. Other technologies such as in warehousing or in distribution or in
[01:03:15] Technology, Assam is becoming more and more relevant every day. In other words, operations and technology go 100 percent hand in hand. I think I was talking about it recently with a good friend of mine who I will recommend Dr. Felisa Preciado from Depend State. Let’s talk a little bit about why Latin America is so difficult, huh? Having visibility because it is so difficult and that interconnects us between companies, between countries. And it is a purely cultural issue. Enrique. We need to have visibility, we need to integrate to be able to facilitate things and that is a big challenge. We see in the world all these control towers. These big companies doing interesting things globally, but that in Latin America is not the case. That reality does not reach the famous visibility within the supply chain. It is a myth. As you mentioned. Me. I am part of ten Wand. It is a worldwide aggression of trade standards that basically seek visibility in all processes. So for me too that has become a kind of flag. To try to promote and make the Latin American businessman understand the importance of sharing important data, of integrating. Hey, no, hey. It is still a myth and it is still a paradigm that we can’t do it. It has to be broken. Because if it is necessary, from a customs point of view, to do cross border operations after crossing borders and commerce while Latin America is practically impossible. Nowadays, uh, with all our different customs and requirements, it’s extremely complicated. So you see, the world is moving towards one, towards one direction, but Latin America is very, very anchored, perhaps to the schemes of the past and we have to work hard to reconnect and break down those barriers so that we can also, eh? All these technological and business advances and penetrate our countries and our economies.
[01:05:26] Not very well said. And well, as you say, do not lift the anchor to processes and business models of the past, right?
[01:05:32] That’s right, that’s right, that’s right.
[01:05:34] Let’s give a treat as always that where the people who are listening to us. Where we can connect you. They can connect with you if they would like to contact you. What is the best way to do it?
[01:05:48] Look, I try to be on at least once a day. LinkedIn is the social network that I use today and uh, I tell you daily uh. The website of my company and P.L Group is tres PL Panama dotcom trippy Panama. Dot com. It’s very easy too. I also now have a podcast that you’re going to be a guest on soon called No Shipping Out Shopping. It is a personal project
[01:06:14] E now shipping now shopping.
[01:06:17] Exactly. Well, there my car was one of your guests. In fact, a lot had to do inside view for, for, for this guy and we’re going to talk about that later. So we’re there every couple of weeks as well, talking to a fellow guy who’s very much involved in the supply chain education part of teaching in the Bakker supply chain of the business. So we invite you there too. So nothing would be
[01:06:42] Perfect. Let’s make a male relative and enter Supply Chain Now in Spanish and not shipping Now Shopping
[01:06:51] You were not told because you are in the logistic roster above.
[01:06:56] It’s a pleasure to talk to you, so keep me in mind for whatever you need. My pleasure. We see how we always do. And well, you’re a host of mine on these and we’re going to continue to be. How would you fire yourself. Program Help me to say goodbye to the program and a challenge that you want to leave to the people who listen to us today.
[01:07:15] Well, I didn’t kill him. Well, first of all thank you for the opportunity, as always these conversations. It has become the most beautiful way to learn and grow. Eh? Me. I would ask the audience eh? Do not stop educating yourselves on a daily basis. Today it is very easy. We have so many free tools available to learn and grow professionally. Keep up to date. See this type of program as its Spanish page. How well we were talking about this project before, Enrique. There is an absence of good content in Spanish. There is a lot in English and maybe in other languages, but in Spanish we have a, a, a, a, a little chance to listen. So take advantage of these tools that people like Enrique and his countryman team have made available to you for free. So with that I invite you to stay tuned and let’s continue. Let’s connect, connect to, to, to do business and in the perfect future we see.
[01:08:22] I couldn’t have said goodbye to the show better than you. A pleasure to all who are listening to us. Thank you very much again Enrique Alvarez with Supply Chain in Spanish and see you in the next episode.
