Oct. 8, 2021

Javier Pastor, Vice President & General Manager of Mexico/Central America at Elekta

Javier Pastor, Vice President & General Manager of Mexico/Central America at Elekta
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Season 1

Seasoned Healthcare Executive with proven skills for people development, organizational transformation, and motivation with 15 years delivering above and beyond financial results. Mr. Pastor has an exemplary external focus and is highly collaborative with customers and a wide range of stakeholders to match the company with customers’ needs. He is very adaptive and able to connect strategy to purpose in a way that fosters commitment, Javier has the imagination to innovate and the courage to implement organizational changes and go to market strategies highly inclusive and able to build great teams.

WEBVTT

00:00:00.594 --> 00:01:14.965
Welcome to the Latin MedTech Leaders podcast, a conversation with MedTech leaders who have succeeded or plan to succeed in Latin America. Please subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform. Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast. Amazon Music is teacher Tune in iHeart Radio, Pandora or Deser . Welcome to the LA MedTech Leaders Podcast, a conversation with leaders who have succeeded or plan to succeed in Latin America today, our guest is Javier, pastor , vice President and general manager for Mexican and Central America at elect , a leader in precision radiation medicine. Javier is head for all Mexico and Central America with full p and l responsibility, and has been nominated for the CEO Leader of the Year award . Before elect , Javier was senior commercial operations manager for Mexico. He led this commercial operations team in the region to achieve operational excellence and sales targets. He holds an MBA from the University of Texas, and a bachelor's degree from the Tech of Monterey in Mexico, which is one of the best universities in Latin America. So, Javier, it is great to have you here today. Welcome to the show.

00:01:15.694 --> 00:01:18.844
Thank you, Julio, and thanks for inviting me. Pleasure to be here.

00:01:19.125 --> 00:01:35.045
Awesome . Excellent, Javier. All right , let's get started. So, Javier, please tell us your story , um, in regards to how you got to elect today, your professional journey to where you are, and then we're gonna get into details about Latin America.

00:01:36.435 --> 00:02:48.685
Well, absolutely. I mean , uh, it's , uh, it's a funny story how I ended up in, in , in the healthcare world. Um, when I started, you know, studying engineering , uh, throughout the years, I, I had it clear that I wanted to work for one of the top companies in the world, right? To go in and to start learning and , uh, and , and , and planning my career within one of , uh, of , of these companies. Uh , when I was well advanced in, in my studies on , on engineering , um, I went to study abroad to Sydney , Australia for, for six months, for a semester. Nice. And , uh, yeah. And , uh, when, when I was about to come back , uh, I told myself, okay, it's time to start looking for a job, right? So, and , uh, even if I was not done with , uh, uh, with my career , um, my industrial engineering , uh, career , uh, for me it was time to start looking at gain some professional , uh, experience in this sense . So, came back to Mexico, started , uh, for me it was clear, and, and , and I can't really explain why, but I was targeting either GE or proctoring . Wow . So

00:02:49.125 --> 00:02:50.085
Big ambitious .

00:02:50.514 --> 00:03:09.444
Yeah, exactly. So, so , uh, I knew it was ambitious , uh, but in the end, I found an opportunity as a trainee , uh, within ge , GE Healthcare actually. Okay. So it was GI was not even probably aware about the dimension of GE Healthcare at the time . Yeah . Maybe a few

00:03:09.444 --> 00:03:10.485
People are

00:03:10.675 --> 00:04:32.845
Exactly, because you , you , you , you mentioned ge and it's, you know, oil and gas and , uh, aircraft engines and , uh, and all that stuff. But then, I mean, I, I started , uh, my interview process in the, in the GE healthcare world, and I was fascinated by it , uh, at the time being , uh, GE Healthcare was, I would say, a small company in, in, in , in the country starting to grow , uh, with a , with a few employees. And , um, and that's basically how it started in, in, in that , uh, in , in , in that area. Uh, it was a fantastic journey , uh, an 11 year journey in which I started as a , as a trainee. And , uh, and I saw the company growing and growing and growing and having success. Uh, it had a lot of opportunities to work not only in Mexico, but with Central and South America as well, and in different areas, right. Related to , uh, sales service , uh, finance operations , uh, mainly, mainly service and , and operations was my, my , my background back at , uh, at ge. But I had , you know, fantastic , uh, leaders, fantastic managers. Mm-Hmm. , uh, and without a mentors question , I mean, it was , yeah, it was, it , it was quite an adventure. Uh, that's, that's how I ended up , uh, on , on , on the healthcare world.

00:04:33.194 --> 00:04:39.204
Fantastic. Great. Was it GE that purchased a distributor in Mexico, or was the

00:04:39.444 --> 00:06:10.764
Other company? No , actually it was GE as a direct presence in Mexico. Oh , okay. Okay . Ah , yeah. I mean, no, GE has , uh, has in Mexico, you know, a huge operation. And , uh, and since, I mean, several years ago, they have a huge presence in, in Mexico. Um, everything from , uh, from manufacturing to sales to service , uh, all business lines. And when I started at healthcare, healthcare was probably one of, you know, the small businesses , uh, from GE in , in , in , in Mexico with, but with , uh, very high potential. So, I mean, actually a lot of people wanted to join GE Healthcare, and , uh, there was not a lot of opportunities since it was just starting and growing. And , uh, and in that sense , uh, we were driving the diagnostic imaging business , uh, in Mexico and for the , uh, life pair solutions , uh, business and ultrasound business, yes, we had some distributors, but throughout this journey , uh, we did an integration , uh, of the different business lines and actually started operating everything direct in, in , in , in Mexico. So I saw that complete journey and , uh, and , and , and probably when I, when I started back at , uh, at ge , uh, I think we were probably no more than 40 employees or something like that. And when I left , uh, GE Healthcare, Mexico, probably we were around the 220. Wow. So ,

00:06:11.725 --> 00:06:11.725
Yeah .

00:06:11.985 --> 00:07:12.204
So yeah, it was, it , it was a , it was a very nice , uh, nice experience. And in that process of , uh, of, you know, integrating the businesses and , uh, and, and , uh, reaching the agreements with the distributors to start , uh, doing things direct, we of course went throughout all that , uh, uh, regulatory journey to be able to start , uh, uh, selling and commercializing the products in, in , in , in the country. So, gained a lot of experience in terms of , uh, you know, maybe it's not that GE was brand new GE healthcare in the country, but yes , integrating these business lines into the, into the business. It was like starting from zero. So , uh, so it was a very , uh, a , a very nice , uh, experience in that sense. And, and I had the opportunity to, to drive the project management office for that integration. Wow. Uh , of the different business lines. Yeah . So , uh, so yeah, it was, it was a very nice experience.

00:07:12.774 --> 00:07:19.245
Great. Uh , Javier . Alright , so let's talk about elect , how you got involved with elect after ge.

00:07:20.144 --> 00:09:07.845
Yeah. Okay. So , uh, after 11 years at GE and , uh, continuing that journey, I was, I was one day sitting , uh, at my office as , uh, as , um, uh, sales , uh, sales operations , uh, senior manager for , uh, for GE Healthcare. And I was driving a , a , a complex and , and , and big team , uh, going from , uh, inquiry to order process to order to remittance, to site management, to project managers , uh, and , uh, and , and planning absolutely everything since there was , uh, a customer getting ready to place an order till the , uh, product was properly installed , uh, trained on and , uh, and, and , uh, diagnosing patients. Okay . So , um, after that I received , uh, I received one of those calls and , uh, , you know, , uh, and , and it was , uh, my former manager , uh, telling me, you know , uh, do you know, or you have heard about linear accelerators and elect ? And I said, yes. I mean, and I have heard of that because , uh, back at GE we had , uh, one of the devices that it's needed throughout the , the , the chain of , uh, of, of cancer treatment , uh, which is a CT simulator. And , uh, so of course I've heard about , uh, linear accelerators. And I basically knew that there were two main companies in the world , uh, that were doing these kind of , uh, of systems. And , um, and basically what they told us is, we have a distributor in Mexico, we believe that there's huge potential. And , um, what do you think about coming on board and , uh, helping us, you know, finish that , uh, acquisition process and starting operation

00:09:08.235 --> 00:09:11.725
Process that every remember in our conversation before that Exactly,

00:09:12.404 --> 00:09:18.605
Yeah . That acquisition process and , uh, and starting operations in Mexico. And , uh,

00:09:18.725 --> 00:09:20.404
I see, wow, what

00:09:20.644 --> 00:09:43.164
An experience. And it was , it was an experience. And , uh, after that interview, which was , uh, at a very nice hotel in Mexico City, , not even at an office. Right. And , uh, I flew to Atlanta, which in which our , uh, America's, her headquarters are located. And I went through a bunch of probably 10 to 12 different interviews in a couple of days.

00:09:43.803 --> 00:09:44.884
Wow . In a couple of days.

00:09:45.365 --> 00:10:18.085
In a couple of days. Yeah. You know, from , uh, from the , from the, from the president to the CFO to the compliance manager, to the quality manager, to the regulatory manager. So I, I guess they were looking for, for someone , uh, a little bit, well-rounded in terms of, you know, understanding a little bit of , uh, of everything and all that it's needed to start. And , uh, and, you know, operations , uh, from , uh, medical devices , uh, perspective in , uh, in a Latin American country, like , uh, exactly Mexico ,

00:10:18.445 --> 00:10:23.125
Right ? Yeah. And , uh, with a great command of the English language, which is not something very common in Latin America.

00:10:23.705 --> 00:10:25.245
That's, that's correct. You ,

00:10:25.445 --> 00:10:33.924
You , you speak English perfectly. I mean, so it's , uh, it's , it's quite an asset. Yeah. So, and , and elect is from where originally somewhere in Europe, right?

00:10:34.065 --> 00:11:07.245
Sweden. Sweden. It's a Swedish company. Okay . Yeah . Like this , uh, is a Swedish company. Um , and , uh, we are part of the Nordic , uh, stock exchange market. Uh, it's a public company and , uh, basically focused on cancer treatment with , uh, with radiation systems , uh, and all the software and applications that go around it. And , uh, to properly manage treatments and to properly manage , uh, radiation therapy and oncology departments at data hospitals.

00:11:07.705 --> 00:11:19.803
I'm so happy to hear that a company like ELECT is doing business in Latin America, so patients have access to these , uh, innovative , uh, treatments and technologies. So let's, yeah . I'm sorry, go ahead.

00:11:20.595 --> 00:12:30.764
No, no, no, I said that . I mean, absolutely. It's fantastic. And , uh, coming from the diagnostic imaging world and now into the , uh, into the treatment world, I mean, it's, it's quite a , it's quite a change , uh, a fantastic change because I mean, you're , you're treating patients , uh, with cancer, once they start a treatment, they cannot stop the treatment. So yeah , service is super important. And , uh, and it has been , uh, a fantastic , uh, a fantastic journey and , uh, and , and experience and decided , uh, to bet on a country like , uh, like ours and others in Latin America as well , um, uh, with , uh, with a direct operation. And , uh, and that's something we're very proud about. I mean, the, the , the level of growth that we have in , uh, sustaining since early beginnings as of today, I mean, we, we have basically tripled the number of devices out there in the last , uh, three years and the access to, to cancer , uh, treatment with radiation therapy. It's just , uh, very different , uh, to what was in Mexico before elect was , uh, direct

00:12:30.894 --> 00:12:35.764
Impressive. Wow. That's great to hear. Okay. Yes. And , and elect , how's presence where in Latin America?

00:12:37.004 --> 00:12:51.365
Uh, we have in all of Latin America , um, the direct , uh, markets are Mexico and , uh, and Brazil , uh, Colombia is kind of , uh, hybrid , uh, but , uh, the rest of Latin America throughout distributors.

00:12:51.715 --> 00:13:14.044
Okay, I see. Alright . So let's talk a little bit about , uh, trends that you see happening in Latin America, Javier , that are , uh, relevant to our discussion today. Any disease trends, any population trends, any , um, political economical trends? Do you see there are beneficial for companies like elect to do more business in Latin America?

00:13:14.924 --> 00:13:33.605
No , absolutely. I mean, in terms of , uh, of the trends that we are seeing and , uh, are well known , I mean , uh, the population is getting older and , uh, and, and , and unfortunately, you know, this , uh, uh, this lifestyle that , uh, that we have, which is, you know , uh, everything is very fast, very stressful. Yes . Lot hours . Yes . They're

00:13:33.605 --> 00:13:35.044
Mechanized, unfortunately.

00:13:35.625 --> 00:14:48.485
Yes. And it's, it's , it's quite hectic. And sometimes, you know, we forget about , uh, exercising, about , uh, relaxing for a little bit and , uh, and eating properly. So, I mean , uh, in terms of diseases and, and tendencies, definitely we cannot say that, that , that , uh, diseases are going down, right? Or these trends are going down or that cancer is going down. Right. So , um, unfortunately, we, we see it more and more and we , uh, see more the need for technologies like ours and , uh, and , and , and other complimentary technologies in terms of , uh, uh, of , of , uh, cancer diagnostics and , uh, and treating and , uh, and giving feedback to the complete system. It's , uh, it's absolutely growing. It's absolutely growing. And it's, it's a very interesting mix in Latin America because you have these , uh, diseases , uh, trending , uh, trending up. And then naturally in countries like ours, you have these , uh, big, big deficit on the , um, on the amount of , uh, of systems and technologies that are needed to, to , to treat these patients. Right. So

00:14:48.485 --> 00:14:49.445
Options for patients.

00:14:49.875 --> 00:15:40.524
Exactly. Options for patients. So today, I mean, it , it's very sad, but , uh, the reality in, in markets like ours is that , uh, uh, people actually die waiting for , uh, for a space to receive a , uh, uh, or a slot to receive a treatment of , uh, of this kind. Right. So , uh, in a very few words, I mean, the opportunity is there, I mean, the opportunity , uh, the opportunity is there. I believe it's , uh, the way you are able to , um, to sort out the market needs. And even with , uh, with costly technologies like ours , which require a lot of r and d , a lot of service, a lot of support , uh, how do you figure out that fit and , uh, within the market needs and the art technology and , uh, and how you make it accessible and , uh, and also profitable for the company .

00:15:40.924 --> 00:16:00.764
Yes , exactly . Yeah . And , um, I guess , uh, the, the, one of the things that make Mexico stand out in the world is its prevalence of diabetes, right? It's one of the top countries in the world with the, the, within the diabetes. Is that correct? Is that something that

00:16:02.205 --> 00:16:07.205
Yes . I mean , is that , that is correct . I mean, diabetes , uh, and obesity , uh, obesity,

00:16:07.764 --> 00:16:07.764
Child

00:16:07.914 --> 00:17:17.644
Obesity and child obesity, which is , uh, which, which is so sad. Uh, but yes, Mexico is one of , uh, uh, the top countries that is , uh, trending in, in, in these kind of diseases, cardiovascular diseases , uh, a cancer, unfortunately. Uh, so it's , it's is is this mix that we see and that you unfortunately, unfortunately see in this kind of , uh, uh, you know, of, of countries in which , uh, unfortunately not all the population has access to , uh, even very basic levels of education. And , um, and , and , and so there's a lot of ignorance in terms of how harmful things can be for you and for your body, right? Uh, uh, so , um, so, so I mean , uh, absolutely I can, I can say that , uh, I mean, we, as , uh, as a whole with Mexicans , uh, we don't tend to take care a lot of care for ourself , right ? , so, I mean, yeah, we , we , we love food. We , uh, we'll , we love , uh, getting together with a family. Yeah . Uh , so , so , yeah.

00:17:18.164 --> 00:17:24.204
And , you know, and tacos are evil tacos, ares are evil too. Good. I mean , is , and so cheap

00:17:24.515 --> 00:17:25.365
Exactly. Of

00:17:25.605 --> 00:17:26.805
Feeling , so it's impossible to see .

00:17:27.664 --> 00:18:01.765
That's kind of , you know, the , the , the food that , that , that it's super cheap and that , uh, most of the Mexicans , uh, eat , uh, yeah. I mean, can , can have serious consequences if, if, if you don't watch out, right? So , um, yeah. But absolutely, I mean, diabetes , uh, cancer, cardiovascular diseases , uh, obesity and , uh, and , and , and , and a lot of obesity with , uh, with children , uh, are factors that are , uh, absolutely , uh, trending in, in, in , in this sense.

00:18:02.275 --> 00:18:51.125
Okay. All right . So let's get down to , um, uh, more tactical , uh, matters , uh, in terms of regulatory efforts , uh, importation some, some , uh, tips or stories that you may share with us that will , um, help other companies learn from your experience , uh, Javier, and not make the same mistakes or adopt best practices. So, let's talk about Mexico as a, as a place to do business , uh, and the other countries too, in that , in, in, in your region, central America. Um, what is it , um, uh, that it makes Mexico an attractive place to sell medical technologies? Is a regulatory process straightforward? Is it difficult? Uh, what do we need to know about that?

00:18:51.625 --> 00:19:25.565
Yes. I mean, it's, it's, it's a mix. And I'm gonna start with Mexico because, okay . In terms of regulations, I would say that with , uh, without a question, I mean, the region that I manage, Mexico , uh, and Central America down to Panama , uh, without a question, Mexico is the more heavily regulated country. Uh, and moreover, on an industry like ours , in which we are regulated by the coffee race , you know, the , the Ministry of Health, we are regulated also by the nuclear commission, right. Given the, the, the radiation of our systems . Oh,

00:19:25.743 --> 00:19:27.845
Yes. You have two regulatory bodies . I

00:19:27.845 --> 00:25:09.243
Have two. Wow . Yes. And, and , and , and two , uh, quite tough ones. So I'm gonna talk , uh, first about the Coffee Breeze . And , um, my main advice in this sense is if you're starting an operation in, in , in the country, you have to make sure that , uh, you're choosing the right person in country , uh, that has some level of knowledge and expertise on how , uh, to get products , uh, registrated in the country. Okay. And that knows the Coffee breeze , and that knows that it's , uh, a lot of work and that it's , uh, time consuming and that it takes time for sure. And , uh, there are some fast tracks , uh, legal fast tracks into, into that , uh, process that you , uh, that you need to know , uh, like the third authorized parties in which , uh, in , in , in , in which you can fast track your process a little bit, or there are some other processes like the , uh, FDA equivalents , um, that you can use it , uh, you can use FDA to fast track your registration process a little bit. Um, but in the end , uh, you need to have someone in country that has a level of expertise, either if , if, if it's , uh, for new company, hiring someone , uh, or using a third party with , uh, with the knowledge that it's needed. Uh , because in my opinion, yes, it's , uh, it's time consuming. Yes, it takes time. Uh, the authorities take a lot of time to put your registration out there, but the, the, the, the heaviest thing is to get your information together in , in the right way, to get your dossier ready, in the right way. All the documents needed , uh, from your, from your factory, your manufacturing centers, your I esos . So , um, so I, I , I believe that it's really a matter of expertise. Uh, a lot of people would, would think that , uh, you know, it's impossible. It costs a lot of money. Uh, and, and , and , and no , actually that's, that's not the case. You just need to , you know , know the process. You need to know how to do it. And , uh, I , I can say that , uh, that, yes, I mean, there's, there's a lot of qualified individuals out there in terms of , uh, of regulatory processes for , uh, for medical devices that , uh, that, that can make your life easier. Uh, in the other hand , uh, for instance, we are part of the amit , which is an association of the medical devices , uh, manufacturers , uh, industry in the country. Oh, great. We're , yeah , we're a set of , uh, around , uh, 30 to 35 companies , uh, that we all work together in terms of , uh, regulatory legislation, and we see, you know, the pain points, where the gaps are. And together as an industry, even if we're competitors, we go with the authorities and , uh, and , and , and we try to make , uh, things easier and better. So, I mean, talking about the Covid precinct , getting the products registered , uh, it's, it , it's a task. It's time consuming. You need expertise, but it's absolutely doable. I mean, and that's why companies like ours and the most relevant companies , uh, out there, like, yeah, I'm gonna say ge , but also Phillips , Siemens , uh, you know, Medtronic , uh, dragger , uh, I mean, all of them, they have direct presence here, right? So , um, and , uh, and , and , and you can maybe start with a distributor that , uh, clears, you know, the path a little bit for you, or, or, but , but my, my main comment is, I mean, don't be afraid of starting an operation directly. I mean, you have a , you have qualified , uh, individuals out there , um, and the process, it's , uh, it's complex, but it's not impossible. And , uh, if you know how to do it and you do things right , uh, I mean, it's , uh, it's only a natural process. I wouldn't dare to say that CORIs is more complex than FDA , for example, . I mean , I think it has . Yeah , I don't think so . Yeah , exactly. Exactly. So if , if you're able to start an operation in the us , certainly you're gonna be able to start an, an operation in, in country, in , in , in Mexico. And I'm talking about the most heavily regulated , uh, uh, you know, country in, in, in the region that I'm , uh, that I'm managing. Uh, then you have the nuclear commission, which that one, everybody says that one is impossible. I mean, you're never gonna be able to do it. You're, guess what I mean? Yes, you're able to do it. It's not impossible. You just need someone that understands the nuclear commission, their concerns, what are they, you know, taking care of, because you're handling, you know, radiation, and it's natural to be , uh, you know, heavily regulated. You're bringing in cold , uh, sources, iridium sources, and , uh, you're, you're actually irradiating people. Um, so , uh, in that example, for instance, one of our first hires in at elect , uh, was our radiation safety officer office. And , uh, he's of course a medic , uh, a medical physicist who has worked , um, in yes , in companies, but also in hospitals and with the nuclear commission. So once again , uh, the tip and advice there is you need to know what you're doing. Uh, you need to understand the author's concern, and you have to do things right and do it right the first way, the , the , uh, I mean, the first time you submit, do it right. And you are not gonna have , uh, any , any issues

00:25:09.805 --> 00:25:11.605
And get the right expertise on board .

00:25:11.884 --> 00:25:16.644
Yeah . You need the right expertise, and , uh, and you can find the right expertise here.

00:25:17.365 --> 00:25:27.164
Sure . Let's talk about the other countries. Uh , let's name them , uh, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama, right?

00:25:27.384 --> 00:25:28.765
Yes, exactly. Middle

00:25:28.983 --> 00:25:30.684
Is out of the territory.

00:25:31.644 --> 00:25:35.404
We , we , we , we don't have a , you know, important bus business. Yeah, that's what ,

00:25:35.805 --> 00:25:36.285
Imagine , that's what I ,

00:25:36.865 --> 00:27:44.884
Yes. But in the rest of the countries, in every single one, we have been able to, to generate successful , uh, successful business. Uh, I mean, you won't believe, but for instance, in , in El Salvador, in the past three years, we have installed , uh, two linear accelerators and , uh, and soon to have a , a gamma knife, which is our state-of-the-art system , uh, for , uh, uh, radiosurgery, for, you know, brain disorders and , uh, brain metastases and that kind of diseases. So, I mean, again, you're talking about complex devices. You're talking about importing cobalt sources. Uh, the business is there, it's absolutely there. We have been doing business with governments and with , uh, with private entities. Uh, in terms of regulation, I would say that most of these countries , uh, are , uh, it's a , it's less, it's less of a process , uh, and , and a struggle to get your products registrated in that sense. It's also not a huge market. I mean, you have very nice opportunities and profitable opportunities every , every , uh, now and then, and you have to be ready, and you have to be present for when those opportunities arise. Um, but , uh, but, but basically the way we handle that is throughout a distributor. And these distributor is also handling , uh, distributions for other , um, for other medical devices companies. So it makes sense for them because they have a , you know, a , a a wider portfolio and a wide range of , uh, of , uh, of products. And , um, and of course, we support them with all the information then they need in terms of , uh, a regulatory documentation. But they are the experts. So once again, they are in country and, and our distributor, they have local expertise in every, even if they are located in Panama, they have small offices in the rest of the countries with local people, local regulatory managers in, in each country. Uh, and once again , uh, I mean, that's, it's, it's, it's not too complex. The formula is to have the expertise in country for whatever you wanna do.

00:27:45.355 --> 00:27:54.005
Okay. And who holds the registration in those countries? Elect corporate , uh, through a third party, or you let the distributor hold the registration?

00:27:55.045 --> 00:29:21.204
In , in Central America, we let the distributor hold the , uh, hold the registrations. Normally, in order to be able to import , uh, systems like ours , uh, you need to have, of course, a legal entity , uh, yeah . Where , where you are located, and then , uh, and then have a , have a registration. Um , so if we wanted to hold those registrations, we would need to have legal , uh, you know , a legal presence in, in , in , in the country . So it doesn't make a lot of sense. What we have decided is , uh, we had a few distributors , uh, in Central America , uh, given the size of the market, we'd say, no, let's have only one distributor. Let's focus on that distributor. Let's help them grow. Uh, so we have been investing , uh, heavily along with them , uh, to have the operation that we have today. Uh, but we also trust them big time. Okay. So they, they, without a question, they are our partners, and you can reach some level of agreements . I mean, for instance, I'm not saying that that's the way we do it, but , uh, uh, what you can do, if, if you're planning to start , uh, operations with , uh, with a distributor, you can say, okay , uh, I'm gonna allow you to have the registrations. I'm gonna provide you with all the information for the registrations. But if it comes a time that I wanna direct presence , uh, we should agree beforehand that you're gonna do a session of rights of , uh, that registration Exactly, yeah . Into my name, right? So Exactly. Everything has some

00:29:21.444 --> 00:29:24.365
Solution , amount of dollars or zero for whatever. Yeah.

00:29:24.474 --> 00:30:08.325
Yeah. And , and , and you can actually, I mean, yeah , you can value the amount of work that it requires, how much it actually costs with the authorities to, to get the registration and how much business this is being able to give you. Uh, and yes, maybe we can set a given figure since the beginning. We can assess once a year. Um, but, but those are things that, I mean, a lot of companies tend to see, you know, tend to do the, I'm not gonna fully trust my partner down there. Uh, I don't want them having my registrations. I mean, you need to have a partner that you can trust on , uh, that you can have that confidence and that you are working together , uh, to have a successful business with . If you don't trust your distributor, I mean, you're screwed.

00:30:09.684 --> 00:30:37.845
Exactly . Because you need to do a great due diligence process before choosing a distributor , because it is not difficult. It's, it's not easy. It's a chess game. So yes , if you do your due diligence right, then you are gonna be in a position to trust your distributor because you did your homework before. It's not like somebody you met in a , at a trade show, you shake hands and had a couple of beers, and now that's your new distributor in Guatemala or Nicaragua. So it's , uh, you

00:30:37.845 --> 00:31:31.125
Need to do your due diligence , uh, correctly. You have to , uh, go down there, you have to sit down, you have to understand their operation. You have to get not only your due diligence in terms of documents and financials and uh, uh, and, and get them monitored. I think , uh, it's, it's also a matter of a field. I mean, go down there , pay , you know, spend a few days with them, get to know them , uh, how did they start their company? Uh , and, and , and the other part, which I believe it's very important , uh, and you see it a lot, and , uh, I mean, sometimes, you know , it's always like the big huge company, and it seems like the big, huge companies against the distributor, right? I mean, like, it seems that some of these companies have the secret and perfect formula to make a distributor go bankrupt, right? . So , so yeah , and well said ,

00:31:31.484 --> 00:31:31.484
Happens

00:31:32.125 --> 00:31:32.565
And happens .

00:31:32.845 --> 00:31:33.765
Very smart comment . Yeah .

00:31:33.904 --> 00:32:19.234
So once you start building that relationship , uh, with your distributor and , uh, and , and , and , and seeing that it , this is beneficial for both, and you start working in terms, you know, if you grow, I grow, if I grow, you grow , uh, and it's a win and win situation, of course, there's always gonna be, you know , uh, complex conversations and , uh, but in the end, a friendly relationship, an understandable relationship, and knowing that yes, your distributor has to invest and put money and risk on the table, but you are always gonna be the company with the deep pockets, and that's not gonna change. So you really have to understand , understand how to leverage that, right? And , uh, and , and be as fair as possible with your distributor.

00:32:19.704 --> 00:32:33.035
Yeah. Because at the end, he's really a partner. It's a partnership agreement, it's not a sales agreement where they're just a buyer of your products. Yes . So that's how unfortunately many companies see them. Just a buyer.

00:32:33.535 --> 00:33:03.045
Yes. And, and , and we actually do spend time with them in these countries. I mean, it's not that we manage everything from these desk I'm sitting on right now. Uh, we go down, our teams interact, we sit down with them and with the customers. We want the customers to feel that yes, there is a distributor, but there is no reason whatsoever why you can't pick up the phone and call me, right? I mean, it's , uh, and , uh, and , and that's the way we, we, we have been working and , uh, and , and , and , and , and it pays off.

00:33:03.595 --> 00:33:32.244
Okay. Um, another question, we're close to the end of the show, JIRA , but , um, I'm sure listeners are questioning this. Is it easy to find one distributor for Central America? I know it's impossible to find one distributor that covers the whole Mexican territory is a huge country. You may need, what, 3, 4, 5 perhaps to cover the main cities. Um, but in, in Central America, would it be easier just to have one distributor that covers the whole region, or is difficult?

00:33:34.105 --> 00:34:43.465
I guess the answer depends a little bit on your product line. Uh, right. Uh, at elect , we, we have these big, massive systems, right? Uh, for instance, if I go back at GE , and you're talking about anesthesia machines or respiratory devices, which now we have in globally been using , uh, a lot, it's, it's different because of the level of popularity that you need. Uh, right. I mean, probably if you're talking about linear accelerators on a contract , these dimensions , you're talking about, let's say no , 15, 20 systems, right? In , in big con in , in one of the biggest , uh, uh, countries. If you're talking about , uh, and of course we have the smaller stuff, but , uh, if you're talking about , uh, these kind of devices such as , uh, uh, as anesthesia machines and , uh, uh, ultrasounds, for instance, in which you have to go, you know, to the gynecologist office and touch base every single door, it's, it's quite different. And , and the channels are very different. Uh, but in general terms, I can tell you that in , uh, that for Central America, it's very easy to find a distributor that can handle , uh, all of Central America. Oh,

00:34:43.465 --> 00:34:44.025
Okay. Okay.

00:34:44.204 --> 00:35:00.704
That's , uh, that's absolutely , uh, a no-brainer. It's what we do, and it's what a lot of , uh, you know, the, maybe not to say a lot of names , uh, and not to talk on their behalf. Uh, but that's, that's how the major medical devices , uh, companies are doing it in Central

00:35:00.945 --> 00:35:01.184
America . Okay .

00:35:01.344 --> 00:35:05.304
That's what they have. One distributor, maybe it has different names in different countries. Oh , okay. But

00:35:05.585 --> 00:35:06.704
It's the same owner . Yeah ,

00:35:06.974 --> 00:35:42.925
It's the same owner. It's the same com company . It's the same partner in Mexico. I can tell you that. Uh, also, I mean , it depends if you're talking medical devices, if you're talking pharma, if you're talking , uh, uh, about , uh, different kind of medical devices and the capillary that you need to, to approach your market, but in Mexico without a question, you're gonna be able to find the monsters, the distributors that are monsters, you know , uh, multimillion dollar companies doing business in , in , in , in the country, sometimes even , uh, invoicing much more than , uh, than a company with a , a global

00:35:43.045 --> 00:35:43.764
Company manufacturer

00:35:44.405 --> 00:37:07.434
With , with , with a direct presence in the country. Yeah. Wow. Uh , yeah. Sometimes, I mean, they have built relationships with distributors that actually are bigger companies than us in the country. Of course, not globally, but in the country. Yes. Yeah . Okay . Yeah . Uh , so, so you have the whole portfolio to pick from and, and , and , and , and , and once again, I come back to saying, take the time to calm down, to talk to the different options. Do your due diligence, get a feel. Uh, but the options are out there. You're gonna find these , these distributors, and you might go with the approach of saying, my product needs two or three different distributors like North Central South, or , uh, my product requires one guy. Right? So , uh, but, but it's , uh, going back to the ease of , uh, getting this started and , uh, and doing, and , and starting , starting to, to get going with the business in, in Mexico or in Central America, the expertise is there. Uh, it's not super expensive expertise. Uh, the , uh, the access to credits , uh, and uh , and financial resources is there. And , uh, and, and , and I mean the, the distributors talking about distributors, there's a , a very wide range of distributors Okay . To get you started. Alright . Yeah .

00:37:07.835 --> 00:37:35.755
And , and I guess , uh, Javier, the reason why is probably easy to, relatively easy to find one distributor that can handle the whole central American region except for Mexico, of course , uh, is because these countries are so small and so close together in a small area that they need to expand. They, if Amman , Nicaragua wanna go to Salvador Yes . And Guatemala sell , because the population is , is no more than three, four , 5 million people in each.

00:37:36.224 --> 00:38:04.284
Exactly, exactly. That's, that's the reason. And , uh, and the reason is I always see it, right? Like in this , in this industry, healthcare, healthcare, it's always, I mean, kind of a , you know, a small circle of people that are, you know, managing this industry on a given country in like ours, right? I mean, even if, even in Mexico, I mean, it's, it's, it's not thousands of people managing like the poor of . You

00:38:04.284 --> 00:38:05.085
Can name the payers

00:38:05.445 --> 00:38:41.324
. Exactly. So I mean , uh, you, you go down, I mean, you have healthcare, then you go down into radiation therapy, like cost , and the group starts making small and small and small. So it's not rocket science what you need , uh, to, to , to get , uh, again, the capillary you need for your product . Uh, so, so yes, and everyone from here to Panama, everyone knows each other. I mean, the doctors know each other , uh, the users, the physicists, the , uh, everybody knows, knows everybody. So it's, it's, it's not that tough. Okay.

00:38:41.554 --> 00:38:54.844
Okay. Okay. Yeah. In South America is , is is different because , uh, countries are larger. Yes . Columbia , 50 million people, Venezuela, almost Exactly . Brazil, Argentina. So it's , uh, it's more spread out .

00:38:55.045 --> 00:38:59.925
So that's , that's that , that's common. Sometimes you see like Argentina and Chile, maybe you have the same distributor for Yeah ,

00:38:59.925 --> 00:39:00.405
Exactly. Yes .

00:39:00.835 --> 00:39:23.284
Once in a while , but yes, absolutely. You're not gonna have the same distributor in, in, in Colombia than for , uh, than for Argentina, a Chile. Exactly. Because of the size of the countries , the size of the population, but also the amount of time that it takes to get on an airplane and go from, you know, yeah. I mean from Colombia to, to, to Chile or , uh, yeah. I mean it's , uh,

00:39:24.045 --> 00:39:26.965
And , and also the differences in culture because , uh, yes,

00:39:27.074 --> 00:39:27.364
From

00:39:27.364 --> 00:39:35.804
The American standpoint, European standpoint, all these countries are the same. But when you get down to very different, the basics very different. Yeah.

00:39:35.875 --> 00:39:48.005
Yeah. You , you sit put down, I mean, one, one Colombian, one Mexican, one Brazilian, one Argentinian, and , uh, I mean , I mean , it's even hard for us to kind of get along at some point, right? .

00:39:49.195 --> 00:39:49.684
Exactly.

00:39:49.844 --> 00:39:50.844
A lot of egos down here.

00:39:51.304 --> 00:39:54.405
Yes, yes, yes. A lot of soccer history, a lot of fights,

00:39:54.644 --> 00:39:56.045
A lot of soccer history. Yes ,

00:39:56.324 --> 00:40:14.005
Yes . . Alright , Javier, we're close to the end of the show. What would be your final words of wisdom if you had the CEO of , uh, American, European company sitting in front of you that he's just, or she's just looking at Latin America as a place to do business? What would you say to, to him or her?

00:40:14.965 --> 00:41:38.005
I would say, I mean , uh, it's , uh, as in the rest of the world, opening a company and starting operations , uh, it's a challenge. It , it's tough. It takes time, it takes money, it takes dedication. Um, but it's, but it's not impossible, even in the, so-called , uh, emerging markets like ours in which there are, you know , uh, parts that work all right , parts that tend to be kind of a disaster, and that work the same as in, in, in developed countries. Uh, I mean there's, in Latin America, I would say , uh, there's a lot of , uh, potential for business and there's some ease of doing business and starting an operation ready . Uh, you need , uh, qualified individuals, you need individuals with expertise, and you have to be ready to make those investments in, in people that are gonna set up your business and set the foundations. Um, if, if you are not ready to do that and invest properly, mainly in your team and uh, in your people, don't do it. I mean, it's , uh, that's my piece of advice. I mean, this is the people that are gonna set the foundations that are gonna take care of the reputation of the company. So be ready to, to find the best in what they do and be ready to compensate them accordingly. Uh, that's , uh, that's, that's my advice in this sense .

00:41:38.844 --> 00:41:48.005
Excellent. Javier, thank you so much for being in the show today. It was a delightful conversation and I'm sure listeners got a lot out of it. So have a great day. Thank you .

00:41:48.465 --> 00:41:50.045
Bye. Thank you so much. Bye-Bye.