Like many countries, Peru has had its share of highs and lows throughout its history. The political instability in the 1960s remains a traumatic memory but has yielded deeply ingrained lessons for the future.
Menorca Inversiones Chairman and CEO Renzo Carozzi recalled the challenges that Peruvians had to face at that time the military took power: “My family was very involved in agribusiness in Northern Peru, Lima and the mountains. Everything was taken away from us at that time. I had gone abroad to university in order to study agriculture, only to find out there was no longer an agriculture business to come back to. So, I had to adjust”.
While trying to recover his family’s seized assets, Carozzi entered the shoe manufacturing business at a time the economy was highly unstable and volatile. But, he persevered.
“You will never reach the top without having fallen a couple of times,” Carozzi stressed.
A few decades later, Peru restored democratic rule and introduced free market economic measures. The government of former President Alberto Fujimori is widely credited with jump-starting the country’s impressive turnaround.
“He did pretty well. This country was broken and needed people to invest. Fujimori gave us the tools to do so, as he respected private property,” said Carozzi.
By 1996, with the Carozzi family assets recovered, Menorca Inversiones came to life. The company committed itself to converting land once used for agriculture toward housing developments for low-income Peruvian families, which raised the quality of lives of its residents.
“Our promise is to deliver more than what our customers expect,” he said.
With a projected sales total of close to US$60 million for 2015, Menorca’s strategy is paying dividends as it offers seven-year financing to its low-income customers who have no access to traditional banking loans and provides them with an opportunity to own a home.
As the family business continues to prosper, new ventures in the food industry, shoe manufacturing and retail are creating opportunities to forge partnerships with Asia.
“We are very much open to listening to ideas from aboard,” Carozzi said.
