15 minutes with ... Carlos Roberts: taco kingpin breaks down entrepreneurship, touts social responsibility.

Turning the family business into an international enterprise is certainly the dream of most Mexican entrepreneurs. Carlos Roberts, CEO of taqueria El Fogoncito has achieved that goal and is far from finished.

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His mother was just trying to make ends meet for her family when she opened the doors of the first small El Fogoncito in southern Mexico City in 1968. Roberts was looking to expand his growing empire when he recently inked a deal that will open an El Fogoncito franchise in Managua, Nicaragua, the third such venture abroad in addition to 17 other restaurants in Mexico.

Illustrating he is part of a young, new generation of successful entrepreneurs, Robert's emphasis on employees' personal and professional development and companies' social responsibility signals the beginning of a trend in Mexico. The result of this, he says, is a turnover rate at El Fogoncito of 38% comapared to the Mexican restaurant industry average of 162%. Roberts says that real entrepreneurs know that "imitating something is not the same as giving birth to it" and as the son of those who he claims invented gringas and made tacosal pastor famous, copying doesn't seem to run in the family.

Do you consider yourself to be an entrepreneur or a businessman?

I would like to establish the difference between a businessman and an entrepreneur. A businessman can be whoever inherits a company ... (but) an entrepreneur is doing something new every day. So, I do consider myself to be an entrepreneur.

Name some characteristics that set an entrepreneur apart from the average businessman.

The constant search for something new. Looking for maximum quality and generating new possibilities. For example, we have made the jump into other countries, which has distanced us from the competition ... and we have had the same (successful) result. Imitating something is not the same as giving birth to it.

Let's say someone wanted to open a business or launch a new product on the market. What advice would you give them?

Most people believe that you have to be an expert in a particular area to be able to launch something new. But I know someone. Jesus Sotomayor, who held a lot of positions, but probably one of the most important was as one of the administrators of Telefonos de Mexico. And Jesus says it's not necessary that one have that much knowledge of the area he wants to venture into. Forty-five percent is having the ambition and the motivation to do something, another 45% is knowing the right people at the right time, etc. This leaves just 10% for the know-how and I believe this know-how could even be outsourced.

I would like someone to tell me how Carlos Slim is an expert in telecommunications or retail or in any of the other areas he is involved in. I think he knows, but he is not an expert. Where he is an expert is in having the 45% which is the drive and the 45% which is the PR and the rest, if he doesn't know it, he surrounds himself with the right people.

So, do you believe that instead of being the CEO of a taco restaurant, you could have had the same amount of success in another type of business? Yes, without a doubt. I am in this business because I have a great appreciation for what my mother created when we were very small and I have been involved practically since the company was founded. I was five years old when the first El Fogoncito was opened, simply to maintain the family. I never imagined this could grow and transcend borders.

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The formula is the same, the same drive, the same PR. What's most important is that you are satisfied with what you are doing. And for me, what I am doing with this business gives me a sense of real satisfaction.

It's no secret that loans are hard to get in Mexico. How do you overcome financing obstacles when you want to start a business?

Unfortunately we don't have central investors. We don't have that figure as in other countries, especially the United States. We also don't have venture capitalists nor a development bank, like the SBA (Small Business Administration) in the United States. Since we don't have them, we have to look for their equivalents. The central investors in Mexico are the in-laws or the friends and family. If you have a grand idea, I think what comes into play again is your drive to do things and the ability to sell yourself to friends and family and convince them you have an interesting project that could have X amount of investment return.

Is it easy to find people who are really qualified to do what you need them to do?

In Latin America we have an overabundant labor pool. The big problem is that it is not qualified labor, which leaves businessmen, entrepreneurs and leaders of this country with a great task. You need to develop your labor force. It's at that point when social responsibility ceases to be a fad and becomes something that is an obstacle to your success. As long as businesses, especially those dedicated to services, have employees who are committed to goals, committed to the company, who have their act together, that's where their success lies. If you don't encourage that, you're going to have a real problem. You're going to have high turnover and that will lead to your clients' dissatisfaction.

So, does this mean you are not satisfied with the Mexican educational system?

I know anything can be improved. I don't want to say if I am satisfied or not. I know that a lot of things could be done.

I am not satisfied with the resources that the Education Secretariat has, but it's important we understand that elementary and middle school education are perhaps responsibilities of the state. But the other responsibility lies with the entrepreneur. You have to put together a committed team and you are going to do that only with training, and I don't really like to use that word because it implies that there are people who are untrained. I prefer to use the word empowerment, which never implies that somebody doesn't have the ability. You are simply giving new tools so they can do a job correctly.

Given the high turnover rate within the restaurant sector, why has your restaurant chain had so much success in retaining qualified people?

Our empowerment, or training, program has three aspects. First, we give them operative training, which shows them how do things, how to pass a glass, from which side to approach the table and how to remove plates. The majority of companies give employees training and they don't go past the operative stage. But we believe that's only a third of what you should give them. Another third part is basic instruction. We know that in this sector, and this isn't just true in Latin America but in the world in general, people have had their basic education truncated. They never made it to college, and maybe they stopped at elementary school, so if this is the situation, why, if it's now in your hands, why don't you facilitate their obtaining primary and middle school certificates.

Here in El Fogoncito we have an accord with the National Institute of Adult Education (INEA) to cover this part. When new people in the company realize they have the opportunity to earn these certificates, they dedicate themselves much more to the company and they think to themselves, "This is a different kind of company that cares about its people." Obtaining these certificates also leads to an important increase in self-esteem, which eventually translates into higher productivity.

The last part of this training process is human improvement. At our restaurant, this part has nothing to do with the business. We know that many people who ask for jobs here have problems with alcohol or lack respect for their family and themselves or don't understand institutions. They don't know how to ask for things in a bank, or how to open a savings account or how to ask for service in the public health system, etc.

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What we do is bring them closer to all this so they understand it. There are discussions with Alcoholics Anonymous ... meetings with various bank representatives ... (and) what all this does is make this company different than all the others, at least in the restaurant sector.

And what about training at the corporate level?

There are programs like Crescom International, which provides compact discs for training, and in fact we have a human development manager who is in charge of this task. Managerial abilities are not learned in school. People are managers because they have a potential that goes beyond that of their classmates. But specifically, these people don't have the (managerial abilities) or maybe they have some that need to be complemented with communication or problem solving, etc.

Further up the ladder at the directorial level, we encourage them to take social development courses. This course has nothing to do with operative training but with respect and dignity toward people, values like freedom, fairness and solidarity. When they pass this course, when they have to make a decision, they'll think twice about it. They are going to reflect over whether what they are doing is fair or not, if it's solidary or not, etc.

In addition, I have the case of two people, one of whom we are paying to pursue her MBA. She is our administration director, and our general manager already finished a course in advanced management, something I have also done. In that way, we assure that we are all speaking the same language.

When an entrepreneur opens business, what should their goals be?

I would like to answer by saying what their goals shouldn't be. Any businessman in this country should have a commitment to contribute to society's well-being.

Generating wealth is a result of your actions, but it doesn't necessarily have to be the goal. By supplying goods or services the country needs, you're going to be creating jobs. You're going to create a respect and dignity among people. Eventually you're going to make money, which is fine because you've put into play a series of resources, not exclusively financial ones, but also your time, your effort, your dedication, etc. The reward for all that is the generation of wealth, but that shouldn't be your goal.

Armando Saliba is the associate editor of BUSINESS MEXICO.

Photos by Antonio Nava