The eighth annual Bravo Business Awards. (Cover Story).

Success in tough times doesn't come easy. But it does come to those who start early and stay with a plan. Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer, dropped out of college when he found a market for made-to-order computers from his college dorm room 18 years ago. He hasn't changed his successful formula since. "There's a lot to be said about sticking with a model," Dell tells LATIN TRADE.

Like Dell, all of the winners of the Eighth Annual LATIN TRADE Bravo Business Awards have dedicated many years to their cause. They share a common concern for their constituents and clients, a strong belief in integration and, among a number of them, a fondness for the teachings of auto pioneer Henry Ford.

Chile is the oldest and most strident supporter of free markets in Latin America, but President Ricardo Lagos is taking the country's policies to new heights with free trade agreements in 2002 with the European Union and, most likely, the United States. At 44, Salvadoran President Francisco Flares is one of Latin America's most dynamic young presidents. He has embraced dollarization and streamlined bureaucracy while championing Central American free trade with the United States to attract investment. Once a philosopher, he is now a pragmatic politician, doing what needs to be done in the face of national tragedy after two major earthquakes in 2001.

"To quote Henry Ford, 'Companies with just goals don't go very far. Companies need a cause,"' says Fabio Barbosa, CEO of Banco ABN AMRO Real. He has made the client his cause. Like Dell, with his direct computer sales, Barbosa uses increasing knowledge about his customers to find segments of high growth.

Bavaria CEO Ricardo Obregon is now boldly taking the Colombian brewer's proven track record into Panama and Peru, while Wal-Mart de Mexico CEO Cesareo Fernandez Gonzalez is bringing the giant U.S. retailer's stack'em-high, sell'em-low formula to Latin America. Bottom line: Solid management techniques cross borders.

Brazilians Clovis Borges and Oded Grajew are also crossing borders with innovative approaches to environmental protection and corporate responsibility. Borges has brought forest preservation into boardrooms, while Grajew, another fan of Ford, links concerned companies with causes like children's rights.

Of course, the list of Bravo candidates was long. Nearly half a million LATIN TRADE readers worldwide nominated a broad array of Latin American leaders in government, business, finance and technology, as well as mavericks in environmental and humanitarian fields, We then narrowed the field, consulting with international executives, government officials and leading academics. Finally, we whittled down the list of finalists and chose this year's recipients of the LATIN TRADE Bravo Business Awards for their leadership and their contributions to progress in Latin America.

TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

MICHAEL DELL

ACHIEVEMENTS: Dell has successfully introduced its "made to order" concept in Latin America, becoming the second-largest seller of PCs in the region. Dell PC sales surged 47% in the first half of 2002 while the overall PC market fell 5% compared to the same period last year, according to Gartner Dataquest. For the six months ending Aug. 2, 2002, Dell's worldwide sales grew 6.2% to US$16.5 billion, with profits rising 160% to almost $960 million.

CEO, Dell Computer Corp.

BACKGROUND: Michael Dell dropped out of college to start the company 18 years ago with $1,000 and a firm belief in direct sales. Dell's first international subsidiary opened in the United Kingdom in 1987; it now has some 36,000 employees serving customers around the globe. Dell built its only Latin American plant in Eldorado do Sul, Brazil, in 1999.

FOCUS: Offer customers the best value and the highest level of service." Those concepts work in China, in Korea, in Mexico, in Brazil ... everywhere."

FUTURE: As Dell grows, it segments customers based on their needs. "Large customers want face-to-face interaction. They are willing to pay for that. Small businesses and consumers don't want that service, and they won't pay for it."

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Dell needs to develop leaders so that his organization keeps pace with growth." Our business model is rather unique. We can't just hire somebody from another company."

INSIDER INFORMATION: Dell gets e-mails that ask," Is it true that you read all your e-mail?," He deletes them.

TRADE LEADER OF THE YEAR

RICARDO LAGOS

President of Chile

ACHIEVEMENTS: President Lagos has guided Chile's steady growth since taking power in 2000. During 2002, he forged free trade agreements with the European Union, Costa Rica and El Salvador, as well as an automotive accord with Argentina to cut tariffs to zero by 2006. Lagos will likely sign a trade pact with the United States before the end of the year.

BACKGROUND: In 1988, Lagos turned to the camera during a live TV program, pointed his finger at Gen. Augusto Pinochet and lambasted him for reneging on a promise to step down before a vote that could extend military rule another eight years. "You promise the country eight more years, with torture, assassination and violation of human rights. To me, it seems inadmissible that a Chilean is so ambitious for power as to pretend to hold it for 25 years." Only months later, Chile said 'no' to Pinochet and the transition to democracy began.

FOCUS: "I am what you would call, in the United States, a liberal."

FUTURE: Free trade deals in the works with South Korea and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), plus a US$3 billion health care reform.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Lagos has locked horns with the opposition Congress over such issues as health care and water reforms.

INSIDER INFORMATION: At age 16, Lagos chose by default to study law at the Universidad de Chile. "I was no good at math, had no talent for biology to study medicine, nor architecture..."

CEO OF THE YEAR

RICARDO OBREGON TRUJILLO

President, Grupo Empresarial Bavaria

ACHIEVEMENTS: Bavaria has launched an aggressive US$1 billion international expansion strategy. The No. 1 brewery in Colombia and Ecuador bought Cerveceria Nacional, Panama's largest beer maker with 70% market share, and a 24.5% stake in leading Peruvian brewer Backus & Johnston. To help finance the expansion, Bavaria issued $312 million in bonds--the largest domestic corporate bond issue in Colombia's history.

BACKGROUND: Bavaria group, controlled by the Santo Domingo family, named Obregon to his post in mid-2001, but the 54-year-old executive has worked his entire career with the conglomerate. In the mid-1990s, the Bogota native directed the international growth of Sofasa, the auto assembly joint venture of Bavaria, Renault and Toyota, into Ecuador and Venezuela.

FOCUS: "You have to line the company up toward a common objective: the client."

FUTURE: Bavaria is a beverage company, not just a brewer. With help from consultants, the company revitalized its brands, including its first brand launch in more than 20 years.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: "Mediocre people make for a mediocre company." In a big company, people need a clear idea of responsibilities. They need to be consulted and feel part of the team. Otherwise, "energy gets dissipated."

INSIDER INFORMATION: The Santo Domingo family had been eyeing international markets; Obregon executed the strategy. "I did not bring the ideas--they were in the air. It was easy to persuade people that this was a propitious moment for change."

MOST INNOVATIVE POLICYMAKER

FRANCISCO FLORES PEREZ

President of El Salvador 

ACHIEVEMENTS: President Flares has kept El Salvador's economy surging with innovative policies, despite two devastating earthquakes. The country adopted the dollar as its currency in 2001. He streamlined regulations to allow a business to get a tax number in 24 hours and set up shop in seven days. El Salvador has signed free trade agreements with Mexico, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Panama and attracted more than US$500 million in foreign investment during the last two years.

BACKGROUND: Forty-four-year-old Flares, a former philosophy professor, entered politics after the assassination of his father-in-law, the chief of staff in the late 1980s under President Alfredo Cristiani. Shortly after Flores's party, Alianza Nacional, lost its majority in Congress in 1997, he became the youngest president of El Salvador's Congress.

FOCUS: "As a country, we are responsible for our own destiny"

FUTURE: El Salvador is negotiating a trade deal with Canada to be signed this year and expects that U.S.-Central American trade negotiations will reap another agreement by the end of 2003.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Flores has lobbied the Bush administration hard for better treatment of Salvadoran immigrants, who send home more than $2 billion a year.

INSIDER INFORMATION: Flores tells of a Nicaraguan boy who shined 33 pairs of shoes then donated the money to the Salvadoran Embassy for earthquake relief. "We are convinced that our [Central American] solidarity will help us progress."

ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE YEAR

CLOVIS RICARDO SCHRAPPE BORGES

Founder & Executive Director Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education

ACHIEVEMENTS: The Society for Wildlife Research and Environmental Education (SPVS) pioneered carbon-sequestering projects, in which companies earn pollution credits for buying forests and preserving them. Through partnerships with General Motors, Texaco and American Electric Power, the group has acquired 18,000 hectares in GuaraqueCaba, the largest surviving stretch of Atlantic forest in Brazil. With the support of U.S.-based The Nature Conservancy, the group has raised almost US$20 million for forest preservation.

BACKGROUND: At the start of the 1980s, Borges and a group of young biology students worked as volunteers at the Capao da Imbuia Natural History Museum in Curitiba. The government was not interested in looking after the museum, so the group formed a non-governmental organization to help the museum. It became the SPVS in 1984.

FOCUS: Preserve the environment and, at the same time, use natural resources for the benefit of the local communities.

FUTURE: Finish the Guaraquecaba project." Carbon sequestration projects last for 40 years and we're only in the second year." Link landowners and companies to preserve the Parana pine forest in the south of Brazil--only 0.7% remains.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Teach Brazilian companies to forge environmental partnerships, using U.S. companies as a model.

INSIDER INFORMATION: "The most important thing we have is our credibility." Awards help organization gain respect and weaken local critics.

INTERNATIONAL CEO OF THE YEAR

CESAREO FERNANDEZ GONZALEZ

Chairman of the Board and CEO, Wal-Mart de Mexico

ACHIEVEMENTS: At the annual shareholders' meeting in May 2001, Fernandez announced an 18-month expansion plan that included the opening of 62 stores. Fernandez and his team completed the program in just over 12 months. Wal-Mart de Mexico's sales grew 25% to US$9.7 billion and profits increased 23% to almost $460 million in 2001, a year when Mexico's economy was in recession.

BACKGROUND: Fernandez joined Grupo Cifra, acquired by Wal-Mart in 1997, almost 36 years ago and never looked back. He worked his way through the ranks with stints in every division--supermarket chain Superama, department store chain Suburbia and Wal-Mart, among others. "Basically, I have developed with the merchandise."

FOCUS: "The customer comes first. If they don't shop with us, we would not be here."

FUTURE: Fernandez has announced a new $600 million expansion plan over the next 18 months.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: To offer "Every Day Low Prices," Wal-Mart has to have every day low costs, too. Wal-Mart's operating expenses accounted for only 14.6% of sales in 2001, the lowest level in the company's history.

INSIDER INFORMATION: Fernandez's passion for cooking drives him to shop at different stores to compare the quality of the food, fruit and meat. "That really helps me to check on our produce and see how the business is going."

FINANCIER OF THE YEAR

FABIO C. BARBOSA

CEO & President, Banco ABN AMRO Real

ACHIEVEMENTS: Banco ABN AMRO Real, with total assets of US$13 billion, posted a 32% gain in net profits through the first half of 2002. The bank acquired Banco do Estado da Paraiba and automotive portal Web Motors, as well as arranged more than $3 billion in project financing for Brazilian telephone company Telemar and state-run oil giant Petrobras.

BACKGROUND: Before joining ABN AMRO in Brazil, Barbosa worked at Nestle and the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan . In 1995, he joined the Dutch bank's Brazilian operations because of its commitment to Brazil and retail banking. Three years later, ABN AMRO bought Banco Real, Brazil's sixth largest private bank, for $2.1 billion.

FOCUS: Client satisfaction. The bank hired The Gallup Organization to survey its clients. It matched customer satisfaction levels with transactions and found that a satisfied client generates 2.5 times more revenue than a dissatisfied client.

FUTURE: Client segmentation. The bank is dividing its almost 4 million clients into four service levels. The goal is to get as close as possible to 100% customer satisfaction without blowing the budget.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Get executives focused on the customer. Executive bonuses are tied to client satisfaction indices. "Let's put ourselves in the client's shoes and understand what he wants."

INSIDER INFORMATION: "At monthly directors' meetings, I bring a tape with the voices of clients complaining about service. Instead of seeing a number, the directors hear the clients' voices."

HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR

ODED GRAJEW

Founder & President, Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social

ACHIEVEMENTS: Grajew established toy manufacturers' ABRINQ Foundation for Children's Rights in 1990. Today, more than 2,000 companies in Brazil work with the foundation on programs reaching a million children. In 1998, he founded Instituto Ethos, uniting 650 companies, 250 universities and 600 journalists to the cause of corporate social responsibility in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: An engineer with an MBA from Brazil's Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Grajew in 1972 launched Grow Jogos and Brinquedos (Grow Games and Toys) to develop "intelligent games" for adults and adolescents. While in Europe and the United States during 1997, he saw how corporate responsibility expanded from philanthropy to the impact of a company's behavior on employees, investors and consumers.

FOCUS: Position the organization as an intermediary between those who need the resources and those who have them.

FUTURE: Instituto Ethos has formed Forum Empresa with organizations in Chile, EI Salvador, Mexico, Peru and the United States to promote corporate responsibility throughout the Americas.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Instituto Ethos conducts research to help consumers buy products from responsible companies. It has also developed corporate benchmarks for ethics.

INSIDER INFORMATION: Grajew likes telling how, after raising wages in the 1930s, capitalist icon Henry Ford was expelled from a Detroit businessmen's association as a communist. Ford's workers eventually became the automaker's best customers.