Jul y
/
2 0 1 4
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
Ecuador
The beautiful chapel of Santa Ana sits atop the cerro Santa Ana and is symbolic of the remarkable transformation that has happened in Guayaquil in recent years.
Guayaquil – The Blueprint for Success
In an increasingly globalized world, the importance of national borders is diminishing.
Today, cities are coming to the fore as catalysts for investment and commerce. Such is the case with Guayaquil
whose transformation over the last two decades has been nothing short of remarkable.
Pg. 2
A city in transition
Pg. 4
Local banks benefit
from a virtuous circle
Pg. 6
A Vibrant and
Enchanting
Destination
Pg. 7
Sporting passion
runs in the veins of
this city
Pg. 8
A natural hub for
industrial enterprise
Pg. 9
A family business
with international
ambition
Pg. 10
Living the High
Life in Samborodon
Pg. 11
Opening cyber
highways all across
Guayaquil
Pg. 12
The changing
physical landscape
of Guayaquil
International
Investment
Guide
Editor: David Woodward
Regional Director: Srdjan Seva
Country Director: Cecilia Malpica
Coordinator: Afonso Machado
Designer: Alicia Yrigoyen
www.iiguide.com
1 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 5HE
U
nder the leadership
of its dynamic and
popular mayor Jaime
Nebot Saadi, what was
once a stereotypical, unassuming,
working port has been reincarnated
as one of Latin America’s economic
success stories and the stereotype has
turned itself into a prototype. Today,
Guayaquil is regarded as a shining
example for cities across the continent
striving to establish themselves as
industrial and commercial hubs with
their own localized identities and
business models suited to their own
unique circumstances.
New roads, malls, conference
facilities and plans to modernize its port
facilities have put Guayaquil firmly on
the global investment map. For now,
the jewel in its crown is the stunning
Malecon 2000 pedestrian complex
with its stores, shops, garden squares,
museums and IMAX cinema which has
kick-started the process of turning
this self-styled Pearl of the Pacific into
a tourist destination in its own right,
rather than merely a stopover on the
journey to the Galapagos.
Guayaquil’s metamorphosis is rising
from some solid foundations, for with
its strategic location on the Pacific
Rim and its proximity to the junction
between North and South America it has
always been a popular and logistically
important port of call for the three-way
trade between the Americas and Asia.
Situated as it is on the west banks of
the Guayas River, it has also historically
served as the trading hub for Ecuador’s
own import and export trades,
particularly its oil industry. Over the
centuries, it has consequently evolved
into Ecuador’s de facto national port
and its largest city, with a population
of nearly 3 million people in the metro
area.
Today, the Guayaquilenos generate
20% of Ecuador’s GDP while handling
as much as 70% of the country’s
trading activities. This disparity
suggests that, although a long-term
transit port for the export of the
country’s bananas, shrimp, coffee,
cocoa, cut flowers and fish exports as
well as its oil, Guayaquil has not been
enjoying its fair share of the economic
benefits of these industries, particularly
when it comes to oil and tourism.
Ever since he was elected as mayor
for the first time in 2000, Nebot has
been determined to change all that. He
is also on a mission to fully capitalise
on Guayaquil’s strategic location along
some of the world’s most important and
lucrative routes - an issue which has
taken on added significance with the
economic resurgence of China that has
neatly coincided with his time in office.
Although it was Leon Febres
Cordero, former mayor, who got the
ball rolling in the 1990s with the urban
regeneration of the downtown Malecon
district, it will be Nebot who takes much
of the historical credit for the city’s
emergence as a regional hub. That is
certainly the feeling amongst today’s
generation of Guayaquilenos, who in
February this year voted him back into
office for a fourth successive term.
As those election results suggest,
Guayaquil has enjoyed a period of almost
unprecedented political stability since
Nebot swept into office at the turn of the
millennium. To some extent he has been
in the right place at the right time, with
the dollarization of Ecuador’s economy
making it a more stable and therefore
attractive destination for both investors
and business. The relative stability of oil
prices has also helped, as has a growing
awareness of the need to diversify the
Ecuadorean economy away from its
agricultural and energy export bases.
Even so, nobody could accuse Nebot
of squandering the opportunities that
these favorable conditions have given
Nebot has a proven track record of
putting this creed into practice, both at
a grass-roots level and in his dealings
with the commercial and financial
sectors on the international stage
as well as on his own home turf. His
success in galvanizing the inhabitants
of Las Peñas is a case in point.
Although the Guayaquil
neighborhood of Las Peñas was
declared a Cultural Heritage site in
1982 because of the18th and 19th
century colonial architecture of its
narrow streets, this area at the far
end of Malecon had degenerated into
little more than a series of Rio-style
favelas where drugs, muggings and
crime in general were notoriously
rife. Nebot’s solution to the problem
was to offer the inhabitants of Las
Peñas financial help to refurbish and
decorate their own homes. Today,
this former no-go zone is filled with
cafes and craft shops, the tourists
This city has never been afraid
of change and we believe that the
changes we are effecting here are little
short of a non-violent revolution where
wealth is replacing poverty.
him or of being afraid to tackle issues
head on. In keeping with his ambitions
to turn Guayaquil into the “Big Apple
of the South”, he almost immediately
took a leaf out of former New York
mayor Rudy Giuliani’s book and hired
the man responsible for implementing
Giuliani’s famous “zero tolerance”
crime initiative, the one-time Police
Commissioner of New York City William
Bratton. The anti-crime strategy that
Bratton put into place included tough
penalties for people caught begging
or stealing on the streets and is in
evidence to this day in Malecon 2000,
access to which is monitored by police
and round-the-clock video surveillance.
Equally significantly, Nebot also
made the development of the city’s
infrastructure and the empowerment
of both private enterprises and
citizens top priorities – two initiatives
that go very much hand in hand
and which are key to his popularity
and his vision of Guayaquil as a
regional, economic and commercial
powerhouse in its own right.
“The national Government has
to really understand that Ecuador’s
strength and unity is based on the
diversity of its local regions,” he
explains. “As a Mayor it is my duty and
responsibility to represent the thoughts
and emotions of the city and its citizens,
to make their dreams come true, to
shout about their achievements and to
protect and preserve those things that
keep them breathing – freedom, pride,
self-esteem and progress.”
have returned and Las Peñas is now
the fulcrum of Guayaquil’s bohemian
society.
Nebot is also a firm believer in
harnessing the talents and resources
of domestic and overseas investors
to help Guayaquil equip itself with
the infrastructure it needs if its going
to play its full part in the global
economy. Several major projects have
or are going to be funded through PPP
projects, including the ambitious 670acre port facility in Posorja. Situated
100 kilometers to Guayaquil’s south,
this game-changing deep-water port
last year secured financing from the
Dubai-based DP World.
Two years ago Nebot took a group
of representatives to the original Big
Apple on an investment road show,
where he and his team brought the
financial world’s attention not just
to the Posorja project but also to
a portfolio of 15 other investment
opportunities in everything from
construction and tourism to
agribusiness, fishing, renewable
energy and finance.
Education featured prominently
in the presentation too; for Nebot is
on a mission to nurture the talent,
technology, and bandwidth that will
attract businesses and investors.
Earlier this year, the authorities started
supplying all its high-school graduates
with Samsung Galaxy 3 tablets, an
initiative from which Nebot insists
“there is no turning back”. Free access
to the Internet is also universal, as
are English and IT classes in all state
schools.
Above all, it will be Nebot’s belief
that in the end it is the Guayaquilenos
themselves who are the city’s
greatest asset that should have
investors giving Guayaquil some very
serious consideration. “I would like
to be remembered for helping my
fellow Guayaquilenos being proud of
where they come from and of their
independence and freedom,” he says,
“but freedom has to be practiced to
be enjoyed. This city has never been
afraid of change and we believe that
the changes we are effecting here are
little short of a non-violent revolution
where wealth is replacing poverty. It
is what we set out to do, it is what we
have been doing and it is what we will
keep on doing.” 
Recently re-elected, Jaime Nebot has been Mayor of Guayaquil since 2000.
1
e c u a d o r
e c u a d o r
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
A city in transition
Anybody flying into Guayaquil after a 20-year absence could be forgiven for rubbing their eyes in astonishment at the
physical changes the city has undergone in the past two decades.
Jose Joaquin Olmedo Airport is considered to be one of the world’s top 50 airports and last year was also crowned South America’s Best Regional Airport in the SKYTRAX World Airport Awards.
G
one is the
dilapidated old
airport terminal
that used to
greet new arrivals; gone are
the majority of the colectivos
buses competing recklessly
for their custom; and gone, too,
is the edgy old portside area,
now replaced by the tourist and
pedestrian-friendly boardwalk
that is the Malecon 2000.
The changes that
Guayaquil has gone through
since the 1990s also run
deep, and have had an
effect on everything from
sanitation to housing.
Cosmetic or structural, these
transformations owe much
to Mayor Nebot’s skill and
determination in engaging the
domestic and international
private sectors in his drive
to transform Ecuador’s most
vibrant and economically
important city into a player on
the global stage.
In September 2012
Nebot led a delegation of
government officials and
businessmen to New York
City in what was dubbed the
Guayaquil Investment and
Tourism Forum Roadshow. The
purpose of the roadshow was
to showcase 15 potential and
existing PPP (Public Private
Partnership) projects and to
give investors the opportunity
to participate in Guayaquil’s
future development.
Although the PPP model
has been around for well
over 20 years, many people
remain unconvinced by the
wisdom of ceding control of
public services to privately run
businesses. Anybody agnostic
on this topic who happened
to attend that roadshow in
New York would have had
their doubts expelled, because
Mayor Nebot has earned
a justifiable reputation as
someone who can make the
formula work to the benefit
of the private sector, the
city’s authorities and, most
importantly of all, the people
of Guayaquil themselves.
The changes he has
wrought to the city’s water
and sewage system are a case
in point, for what was once a
disgrace by even third-world
standards is now held up as
a shining example of smart
governance. Something
certainly needed to be done,
for back in the 1990s some
areas of the city were lucky if
the daily water supply lasted
more than two hours, and
even then with frequently
feeble pressure levels.
Perhaps worse than that, less
than 50% of the population
was connected to the city’s
sewage collection system at all.
The process of turning
this situation around began in
1995 when the decision was
taken to privatize Guayaquil’s
drinking water supply and
sewage systems. The first
step in this journey was to
merge the two services into
a single entity under the
name EMAPAG (Empresa
Publica Municipal De Agua
Potable y Alcantarillado de
Guayaquil) which then took on
responsibility for some initial
modernization and upgrading
of these most important of
utility services.
At the same time, Banque
Paribas and the InterAmerican Development Bank
got on with preparations to put
the service out to tender.
The principle behind all
PPP projects is that private
sector participants provide
their public sector partners
with infrastructure at a
reduced or even completely
discounted rate in return for
the right to charge for the
services they are providing
through a long-term service
and maintenance contract.
The Guayaquil water and
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
sewage contract was no
exception. While the terms of
the contract stipulated that
the winning bidder would
both connect new users in
the poorer quarters of the city
at no cost and would keep
tariffs constant for the first
five years, it also relied on
their ability to charge for water
supplies at a profitable rate in
the long term.
In 2001 EMAPAG signed
a 30-year contract with
Interagua, a consortium led
by the Spanish company
Proactivo Medio Ambiente
that at the time was in
turned owned by Spain’s FCC
construction firm and France’s
Veolia Environment. (FCC has
subsequently sold its stake to
Veolia). The concession has
been an unqualified success.
Within five years, Interagua
had managed to get the
city’s water supplies running
round the clock and had also
connected a further 55,000
homes to its water network,
the majority of whom were
low-income families living in
the southern part of Guayaquil.
It has been a team
effort, with ultimate control
and responsibility resting
with EMAPAG. “Our team of
qualified experts look after
every aspect of Guayaquil’s
drinking water and drainage
systems,” explains General
Manager Eng. Jose Luis
Santos Garcia. “That includes
supervising the overall
operation concession to ensure
that it is working in the best
interests of the community as
well as exercising control over
its technical, management,
economic and financial
aspects. Among other things,
it also evaluates and approves
any changes to tariffs, and
ensures that any complaints
are dealt with according to
the appropriate rules and
regulations.”
And it has certainly
worked so far: by the end of
2014, EMAPAG and Interagua
anticipate that the whole
city will have access to
piped-water coverage and
to the sewage system by
mid 2015. This is a ringing
endorsement for a partnership
whose success relies on
the two participants finding
a way of balancing quality
against profitability through
the monitoring of both the
standard of service and the
city’s drinking water tariff on a
three-monthly basis.
One of the beauties of the
PPP model is that it ties the
private sector participants
into projects for the long haul
and gives them a vested
interest in making the project
work. “Guayaquil attracts
a lot of people who migrate
here to take advantage of the
job opportunities,” explains
Interagua’s CEO Eng. Oscar
Garcia P., “so it is an ongoing
challenge for the authorities to
provide these people with the
Santa Ana today is a colourful neighbourhood .
2
The Malecón 2000 is one of the largest public works realized in Guayaquil and is considered worldwide to be a model of urban regeneration. (Photo: Carlos Julio González)
basic services they need to
enjoy a decent quality of life.
Under the supervision of the
city authorities and the mayor,
it is our responsibility to define
the investments needed to
enable the city to attend to
these basic needs and this of
course has entailed things like
the design and expansion of
new and existing aqueducts,
the purchase of products and
the extension of production
systems.
“We check the master
plan for the city’s aqueduct
and sewage systems every
five years and update it so
that both ourselves and the
Mayor have a clear vision
of what needs to be done,
particularly when it comes to
bringing water and sanitation
to the lower income and
disadvantaged inhabitants of
Guayaquil.”
particular strain over the past
20 years, with passenger
traffic levels currently growing
at around 5% each year, and
Nebot and his colleagues have
been especially proactive in
their plans to anticipate the
issues that this has raised.
A key moment in the
history of Guayaquil’s
airport development came
in 2000, when Ecuador’s
federal government handed
responsibility for airport
management over to the city’s
authorities. Nebot responded
by setting up the Guayaquil
Airport Authority (AAG) to
shoulder that burden and to
go about attracting privatesector involvement. By 2002
it had awarded the contract
for the construction of a
new international airport to
Argentina’s highly experienced
Corporacion America. Within 17
"We believe in a partnership between
the private sector and government
and we are convinced that this is the
only way to develop.”
If water and sanitation
are critical to a city’s
physical health then its
transport infrastructure
is equally important to its
economic prosperity. Like
many a conurbation that has
experienced sudden growth
spurts, Guayaquil has in
recent years been a victim
of its own success in that its
population has grown faster
than its transport system’s
ability to cater for its needs.
Here again, Mayor Nebot has
turned to the private sector
and PPP in his determination
to establish an all-round
level of transport fitting for
a 21st century economic
powerhouse.
Guayaquil’s airport
facilities have come under
months the TAGSA consortium
that it set up to orchestrate the
project had managed to build
an award-winning terminal and
by 2006 had opened the Jose
Joaquin Olmedo Airport which
it now has the rights to operate
until 2024.
The airport is now
universally considered to
be one of the world’s top 50
airports and last year was also
crowned South America’s Best
Regional Airport in the SKYTRAX
World Airport Awards as well
as being ranked among the
continent’s top three airports in
a number of other categories.
“We have been very lucky
with our choice of TAGSA,”
says AAG’s General Director
Eng. Nicolas Romero Sangster.
“They are very responsible
people who have done a
tremendous job. The airport
is our shop window and is
the first thing that people see
when they arrive here so we
take what it looks like and
the service it provides very
seriously. Right now we are
expanding it so that it can take
up to 7.5 million passengers.”
Even that expansion is
not going to be enough to
accommodate anticipated
growth rates, and plans are
already well under way for
the construction of an entirely
new airport at Daular 12 miles
outside the city and near to the
highway that connects Guayaquil
to Salinas and other coastal
towns. Once built, the Daular
Airport will be one of an exclusive
group of airports in the world
with three runways capable of
handling simultaneous landings
of aircraft the size of an Airbus
380.
The AAG has
commissioned US consultants
to draw up a master plan for
its development and while the
final details have not yet been
published, it is known to stick
closely to the PPP concept.
“Right now we have about U.S.
$170m held back in reserve
from the existing concession,”
Eng. Romero Sangster says.
“That isn’t enough to finance
the whole of the new airport,
so we are going to ask the
private sector to invest again.
Why should we underwrite the
whole project when we can get
the private sector to help out?
This is the Guayaquil model.
We believe in a partnership
between the private sector
and government and we are
convinced that this is the only
way to develop.”
The next major transport
infrastructure project on
Nebot’s horizon is the
construction of a major deepwater port down the coast at
Posorja, a project yet again
backed by private-sector
funding, this time from the
Dubai-based DP World.
Along with its airport and
port, the city’s other shop
window to the world is its
bus terminal where weary
travellers alight after the
arduous land journey down the
coast from Quito or northward
from Peru. Until recently this
was not always the greatest
of experiences for the 44
million passengers who pass
through its doors each year;
built in 1985, by the turn of
the century the terminal was
effectively falling apart, its
toilets were appalling and
on arrival passengers had to
run a gauntlet of pickpockets,
prostitutes, drug addicts and
beggars.
To tackle the problem,
Mayor Nebot set up the
non-profit Fundacion Terminal
Terrestre de Guayaquil whose
first task was to raise the
The historic Las Peñas neighbourhood was declared a cultural heritage site in 1982.
(Photo: Felipe Cucalón R.)
Strolling along the Malecon 2000.
U.S.$50m required to overhaul
the station. The smart
new terminal now features
landscaped, vagrant-free
open spaces, automated
ticket machines and working
toilets; it is also self-funding.
“We collect U.S$0.25 from
each traveller and U.S.$1.5
from each trip a bus makes to
and from here,” explains the
Foundation’s General Manager
Eduardo Salgado Manzano.
“Parking costs U.S$1.5 per
day and U.S$0.5 an hour. It
is all relatively cheap but it is
enough to finance the whole
operation because of the
volumes we handle.” More
than enough; last year, the
foundation had over $U.S.2
million left to reinvest after
it had covered its costs and
there are now plans to build
a new terminal in Via Daule
Paxales to handle traffic
heading north towards Quito
and Colombia.
Guayaquil’s’ buses have
also been subjected to the
Nebot treatment. What was
once a thoroughly unruly and
anarchic fleet of 5,000 ageing
and privately owned buses
(the colectivos), often working
in direct competition with
each other, is gradually being
modernized and systemized.
The driving force behind this
change is another Nebotinspired foundation, this
time the Metrovia Bus Rapid
Transport (BRT) system.
“Over 80% of
Guayaquilenos use public
transport,” explains Metrovia’s
President Eng. Federico Von
Buchwald, “but until 10 years
ago there were only 6 buses for
every 100 head of population.
Although that ratio has now
gone up to 12, the trouble is
that if you increase it any more
the city’s infrastructure would
not be able to cope. The idea
behind the BRT systems is that
you provide dedicated lanes
for the buses which speeds
up journeys and also requires
fewer buses.”
The transformation of
Guayaquil’s entire transport
system is now in the hands
of the foundation’s dedicated
team of 30, a model that
Nebot has replicated again
and again as he looks to
empower his fellow citizens
and make self-help the
exception rather than the rule.
Among other foundations
that he has established,
for instance, is the Siglo 21
Foundation that is responsible
for the upkeep and renovation
of the city’s streets,
sidewalks, flowerbeds, parks,
statues and other public
monuments.
At the same time, Nebot
has also been using PPPs to
tackle the city chronic housing
shortage, and two of his most
celebrated recent successes
have been the Mucho Lote
and Mi Lote projects where he
has harnessed the resources
of five private-sector
housebuilding companies to
create 50,000 new homes
for over 150,000 low-income
tenants.
The Nebot express just
keeps on rolling. 
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e c u a d o r
e c u a d o r
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
Local banks benefit
from a virtuous circle
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
The resilience that Ecuador’s
economy has demonstrated in the
wake of the 2007-08 financial crisis
is a largely unsung success story.
Guayaquil Cathedral.
Guayaquil is Ecuadors largest city and main port and a bustling hub of commercial activity.
B
y 2010 the
country had
already begun
bouncing back
from the shock, and by 2011
its economy was growing
at 7.8%. Although that has
settled down to around
5% it is nevertheless a
performance that many
countries in both Latin
4
America and further afield
would gladly settle for.
Ecuador’s banks and
other financial institutions
have more than played their
part in this recovery and it
is not only their dynamism
that have made them one of
the fastest-growing sectors
outside the oil industry; their
prudent approach to the
handling of both liquidity and
solvency has been a major
contributing factor as well.
Ecuador was one of the
first countries anywhere in
the world to tackle one of
the root causes of the credit
crunch that rocked some
seemingly indestructible
financial companies –
namely the dangers of
mixing investment and retail
banking. In 2011 a new AntiMonopoly Law that basically
required the country’s
financial institutions to
decide if they wanted to be
lenders or investors.
A combination of
these factors has created
something of a virtuous
circle, with rising disposable
incomes fuelling demand
for retail banking services
and financial products
such as life, property
and car insurance. In a
vibrant environment such
as Guayaquil’s with its
expanding middle class,
the fortunes of the financial
sector go hand in hand with
that of the regional economy.
One bank that is very
much part of the Guayaquil
economic story both past and
present is Banco Amazonas,
who were quick to decide
their future lay in retail rather
than investment banking.
With offices and branches
in Guayaquil and Quito,
the Banco Amazonas has
never had any pretensions
to being a multi-national
investment bank, and,
although it has traditionally
offered everything from small
business loans to securities
trading and automobile
financing, it has never lost
sight of the fact that its future
lies in its continued ability
to deliver a tailored and
personalized service to its
core customer base of SMEs.
“Ever since we set up in
business in 1975 we have
focused on niche markets
and made a conscious
choice not to be a large bank,
because the way we work
is completely different from
theirs,” explains its Managing
Director Eco. Jorge N. Muñoz
T. “As a midsize bank, we
believe we can respond faster
to our clients’ needs and it
also enables us to offer a
personalized service. Our
real competitive advantage is
Banco Amazonas and Courtyard Marriott are examples of the gleaming new buildings going up in Guayaquil.
the time we put in to the fine
tuning and customization of
the products and services we
offer our customers.”
Although Banco
Amazonas also offers this
service to both consumer
clients and the micro
enterprises that it supports,
Munoz is particularly
enthusiastic about the
bank’s involvement and
support for the country’s
vibrant SME sector 85%
of whom are based
either in the provinces of
Guayas or Pichincha. “Our
experience tells us that
small businesses are more
loyal to those who help them,”
he explains, “so we don’t
just sell them products and
services, we send our own
people in to train them. We
also have formal cooperation
agreements with the SME
Chambers in both provinces.”
The nature of the
bank’s relationship with the
country’s SMEs looks set to
move onto a different level
after the Inter-American
Development Bank recently
agreed to use it as the
conduit for a U.S. $1m loan
destined to help member
companies of the Pichincha
SME chamber of small
business grow and develop.
In the not too distant future,
Munoz is hoping to arrange
a similar credit line for SMEs
in Guayaquil and its outlying
province as well.
Both Ecuador’s SME
sector and its larger
corporation also rely on niche
insurance providers like
the Confinanza Insurance
Company to keep the wheels
of commerce and industry
turning smoothly. “We
specialize in finance and
credits,” says Eng. Javier
Artistic murals can be found throughout the city.
Cardenas Uribe, Confinanza’s
Executive President. “Our
focus is on Guayaquil’s
growth and development, so a
lot of our work is about giving
guarantees for construction
projects, for imports and
exports and for both legal
contracts and plant hire
arrangements.” Confinanza’s
clients include some of
Ecuador’s largest domestic
construction companies
including Herdoiza Crespo
and Hidalgo & Hidalgo, as
well as overseas concerns
such as Brazil’s Odebrecht.
One of the challenges
facing companies like
Confinanza is to make
sure that it can continue to
provide adequate insurance
services to the domestic
and international companies
participating in Guayaquil’s
massive infrastructure
programme without buckling
under the volume of work.
A recent calculation put
the total value of the
urban regeneration, water,
sanitation, transport
and other infrastructure
contracts that have either
been signed off, completed
or put out to tender in the
past 20 years as not far
short of one trillion US
dollars; and that is before
the cost of building the one
million homes needed to
upgrade Ecuador’s housing
stock is taken into account.
Underwriting and
guaranteeing all aspects
of this building and civil
engineering bonanza is, to
and it is becoming much
easier to find skilled, welltrained and knowledgeable
staff as we begin to see
the results of educational
reform.”
With annual revenues
running at around the U.S.
$30m mark, Confinanza
faces many of the same
issues as its private sector
clients, and shares many
In a vibrant environment such as
Guayaquil’s with its expanding middle
class, the fortunes of the financial
sector go hand in hand with that of
the regional economy
say the least, a challenge,
but one that Cardenas is
confident that Confinanza can
rise to. “Over the past few
years we have placed a lot of
focus on quality assurance
and best practice,” he says.
“We were awarded our first
ISO certificate eight years
ago and our most recent one
six months ago. 95% of our
business is now conducted
and processed electronically
of their beliefs and value
systems. “Guayaquil’s growth
is inextricably linked to that
of its private sector,” says
its Executive President.
“Government encouragement
is very important but our
entrepreneurs need to have
clear ideas if they and the
city are going to grow and
prosper.”
Cardenas is clearly one to
practice what he preaches. 
5
e c u a d o r
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An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
A Vibrant and Enchanting Destination
Guayaquil’s rich history and diverse attractions are bringing delight to a new generation of international tourists
Gloria Gallardo Zavala, Director of Tourism and Civic Promotion.
A short drive from Guayaquil are the stunning beaches of Ecuador’s Pacific coast.
At the top of Las Peñas you’ll find the chapel of Santa Ana, along with a beautiful lighthouse. Both were built in 2002, atop the foundations of a 17th-century fort. Cerro Santa Ana is where the city of Guayaquil was first established in the mid-1500s.
G
uayas, the myth
goes, was a
legendary Puna
Indian chief
who led the local resistance
movement against both the
Incas and the Spanish, and
who killed his wife rather than
see her taken captive by the
Conquistadors.
While a more mundane
interpretation of the facts
suggests that there was
already a village of that
name in existence by the
time the Spanish arrived in
the 1540s, it is still a fitting
analogy for the fierce pride
and independence that its
inhabitants have been famed
for, ever since.
These days, however,
the Guayaquilenos are much
more likely to welcome
visiting Europeans and other
foreigners alike with open
arms; for the people and
authorities of Guayaquil are
on a drive to turn their city
and the province of Guayas
into a tourist destination in
its own right, and not just a
stepping stone on the way to
the Galapagos Islands.
They certainly have the
raw materials to work with,
from the historic districts of
Las Peñas and Santa Ana
to the newly pedestrianized
Malecon 2000 riverside
complex. Diversity abounds,
from the city’s Iguana
Park and its historical and
botanical gardens to the
mangrove forests of the
Manglares Churute Ecological
reserve, and from the
exclusive shopping malls of
Samborondon’s Plaza Logos
district to its flower, flea and
crafts markets. Guayaquil has
something to offer all visitors
whatever it is they are looking
for, be it culture, eco-tourism,
some retail therapy, a unique
gastronomic experience or
just a good old-fashioned sun
and sand holiday – or indeed
a combination of any of the
above.
The focus of Guayaquil’s
attempts to draw all these
disparate strands together and
to make both city and province
popular tourist destinations is
the Guayaquil es mi Destino
promotional campaign.
Launched last year amid much
fanfare by Mayor Jaime Nebot
and the city’s Director of
Tourism and Civic Promotion
Gloria Gallardo Zavala, the
campaign’s title is a play on
the two meanings in Spanish
of the word destino; “destiny”
and “destination”.
If Gloria Gallardo were
ever to stop and draw breath
long enough to consider
writing her own memoirs,
then she could do a lot worse
Guayaquil is famous for its iguanas. These curious creatures are enjoyed by both locals and tourists alike.
The Grand Hotel Guayaquil in the heart of the city.
6
than to appropriate Guayaquil
es mi Destino as its title,
for her decision to take on
the role as champion of
Guayaquil’s tourist industry
is the second time that she
has put a successful career in
the private sector on hold to
answer the call of civic duty.
Her first stint in public
office ran from 1992 to 2002.
“As a journalist back in the
1980s and 1990s I felt really
frustrated and embarrassed
by the state Guayaquil was
in,” she recalls. “It was a
filthy town without basic
services and garbage on
the streets and was even
compared to Calcutta by the
World Health Organisation. It
was this that motivated me to
leave journalism, and when
Leon Febres Cordero [the late
and charismatic politician
who before his death in 2008
held the offices of both Mayor
of Guayaquil and Ecuador’s
President] asked me to join
Guayaquil’s civic crusade, I
didn’t hesitate. I took on the
challenge of helping him to
restore the city’s civic and
cultural pride and together we
did it. Within eight years the
Guayaquilenos reclaimed their
roots and reconnected with
their history.”
Mission accomplished,
Gallardo returned to the
private sector and spent the
next few years honing her
print, digital and social media
skills before taking up the role
as Media and Communications
adviser to the Noboa group,
one of Ecuador’s largest
conglomerates and banana
exporters; but when the phone
call came from Mayor Nebot
last year, again she could not
resist. “I am a Guayaquilena
through and through,” she
says, “and I love my city.”
The Guayaquil es mi
destino campaign is very
much her brainchild; she
even co-wrote the lyrics to
its theme tune and chose the
Santa Ana lighthouse as its
logo. She would, however,
be the first to admit that the
campaign is in fact just the
latest stage in Guayaquil’s
journey from run-down port to
international tourist attraction
and part of a process that
was begun by Leon Febres
Cordero back more than 20
years ago.
The first significant
manifestation of this process
was Malecon 2000, the urban
renewal project that has
turned the old port’s Simon
Bolivar boardwalk into an
esplanade that showcases
many of Guayaquil’s’ greatest
historic monuments and
provides visitors with access
to a number of museums,
gardens, fountains, shopping
malls, restaurants bars and
food courts.
“The idea behind Malecon
2000 first started taking shape
after the port had to be moved
to Estero Salado because the
original harbour had got silted
up and average vessel depths
had increased,” explains Eng.
Ricardo Espíndola Zevallos,
Project Manager of the
Malecon 2000 Foundation
private enterprise. “The
for the Island of Puna where
visitors can combine a tour
of traditional community life
with a simple but frequently
sensational seafood meal.
Each of these and
Guayaquil’s other tourist
attractions has developed its
own marketing channels and
customer service facilities
more or less independently
from one another. Without in
any way intending to detract
from their singularity,
Gallardo is now looking at
ways of promoting them all
collectively and a little more
systematically.
“One of the first things
I did when I took up this
post last year was to
commission an inventory
of all Guayaquil’s tourist
attractions and to classify
them by category so that
we could do some generic
promotion and to structure
Guayaquil has something to
offer all visitors whatever it is
they are looking for, be it culture,
eco-tourism, some retail therapy,
a unique gastronomic experience
or just a good old-fashioned sun
and sand holiday
entire portside area became
not just obsolete but also a
centre for crime.” As the city’s
transformation continues
apace, however, it is fast
becoming a hub as well as a
focal point, a platform from
which visitors can branch out
to explore Guayaquil’s other
points of interest.
Among the most popular
of these are Las Peñas,
the historic waterfront
neighbourhood with its
colonial-era architecture
and its 444-step ascent to
the top of Santa Ana Hill
which brings visitors not
just to the fort, lighthouse
and open air museum
but also affords them an
unforgettable views of
the Guayas wetlands; the
Seminario and historical
parks; and the vibrant
nightlife of La Zona Rosa.
Malecon 2000 is also just an
inexpensive boat ride away
our marketing accordingly,”
she explains. “We have also
been doing some research
into the demographic profile
of our tourists. We know,
for example, that those
visitors who come here on
their way to the Galapagos
Islands tend to be young,
but that the businessmen
and women who pass
through here are older and
more affluent. So, as well
as promoting Guayaquil
as somewhere to come to
experience the city’s history,
heritage and culture or as
a centre for ecotourism, we
are also planning to promote
its food and retail outlets.”
The idea of turning
Guayaquil into a
gastronomic centre had
begun before Gallardo took
up her current post with the
launch in 2012 of the hugely
successful ‘Guayaquil
Gastronomico’ fair which
featured tasting and
teaching sessions centred
around local cuisine.
She and her colleagues
are now planning to turn
Guayaquil into a centre
of gastronomic training
and has already held a
competition that has led
to 70 of the city ’s 368
traditional, family-run
hueca food outlets being
put on the tourist board’s
recommended list.
A proposed new rail
link will also give Gallardo
the opportunity to promote
high-end areas such as
Samborondon, home to a
zoo and botanical garden as
well as the lakes, fountains,
shops and gourmet
restaurants of Plaza Lagos.
“We have everything we
need to compete with cities
such as Sao Paulo, Buenos
Aires and Panama,” Gallardo
says, “because we are a
dollarized economy. We also
have the best airport in the
world and we will soon have
Internet service across the
city.” On the back of this
“digitalisation” project, there
are now plans being drawn up
to install a city-wide network
of a digital information points
running from the airport to
downtown Guayaquil.
If Guayaquil is to realise
its full tourist potential,
it is vitally important that
its transport and hotel
infrastructure can absorb
a surge in visitor numbers.
With regards to transport,
the Metrovia rapid bus
transit system has been
overwhelmingly successful
in easing the city’s traffic
congestion, while the new
Daular Airport will be able to
process over seven million
passengers each year.
On the hotel front, great
efforts have been made in
recent years to ensure that
the standard and security of
the accommodation afforded
to Guayaquil’s tourists is
both acceptable and meets
their expectations. It is
a joint initiative involving
the city authorities and its
hoteliers, explains Gino Luzi,
the General Manager of the
Grand Hotel Guayaquil, who
in his spare time doubles up
as President of the Guayas
Hotel Association.
round business convention
hub.
Gallardo, meanwhile,
is putting the experience
she picked up working in
digital and social media to
good use with the launch
of a website and mobile
‘app’ that will both act as
a portal for all Guayaquil’s
independent on-line tourist
information and booking
services, but will also in
time become a valuable
collection and processing
point for data about visitor
“We have everything we need to
compete with cities such as Sao
Paulo, Buenos Aires and Panama,
because we are a dollarized economy.
We also have the best airport in the
world and we will soon have Internet
service across the city.”
“Two years ago we
formed the Civic Committee
for Downtown Guayaquil,”
he explains. “It gives us the
opportunity to communicate
with the Mayor and to
put suggestions to him,
like better lighting, better
parking facilities and more
cultural events.” At the
last count, the Association
calculated that there were
more than 2,000 four- or
five-star, and 600 threestar rooms in central
Guayaquil alone, with at
least a further 300 under
development. Discussions
are now also under way
between Luzi, Nebot,
Gallardo and the Guayaquil
Convention Centre about the
possibility of capitalising on
the city’s strategic location
to position it as a year-
behaviour, thereby enabling
her and her colleagues to
tailor future projects to their
requirements.
Given Guayaquil’s
traditional role as the
gateway to the Galapagos
Islands it is probably a safe
bet that eco-tourism will
rank high on the visitors’
wish list, and neither city
nor province is short of
its own attractions in this
growing niche market not
least of which is Parque de
Simon Bolivar. The park is
universally known as Iguana
Park and with good reason;
located in the very heart of
downtown Guayaquil this
unassuming space is home
to literally hundreds of
iguanas who happily chomp
away at the bread fed to
them by locals and tourists
alike. More adventurous
visitors can make the
40-kilometre trip to the
86,589-acre Manglares
Churute Ecological Reserve
and take a canoe trip
through its lakes and
swamps to get a good view
of its wide array of birds and
mangrove formations.
In a classic example
of the law of unintended
consequences, a new nature
reserve has sprung up in
the last few decades on
the Santa Elena peninsula
thanks to the activities of
Ecuasal, one of Ecuador’s
leading salt producers.
Better known for the beaches
and resorts of Salinas, the
peninsula is also home to
Ecuasal’s giant salt plants
that have become a transit
stop for up to 130 species
of migratory birds. “Around
30 years ago, we cordoned
the salt plants off to protect
the birds and their numbers
have grown exponentially
ever since,” explains
Ecuasal’s CEO Nicolas
Febres Cordero. The salt
plants of Santa Elena have
subsequently developed into
an internationally recognised
bird sanctuary.
Gallardo is brimming
with any number of
similar, localised projects
to increase Guayaquil’s
traction in the international
tourist market, including a
new Cacao museum, the
renovation of the historic
Panama Street and a cable
car up to Santa Ana. “We
are going to make Guayaquil
an essential destination
for everybody who visits
Ecuador,” she says, “and
what we say we are going to
do. We deliver.”
You had better believe it. 
Sporting passion runs
in the veins of this city
The neighborhood of Las Peñas contains the best historic colonial architecture in Guayaquil
and contributes to the unique identity of the city.
A nature lovers paradise.
Just as in many other cities across the
world, football is both in Guayaquil’s
blood and a powerful agent that glues
its communities together.
G
lasgow may have Rangers and Celtic, Madrid
may have Real and Atletico, but Guayaquil has
Club Sport Emelec and Sporting Club Barcelona,
who have been battling out their fierce but
friendly rivalry at the top of Ecuador’s Serie A for decades.
Right now Emelec is in the ascendency. Having been
crowned the league’s champions in 2013, and at the time
of writing the club was running away with this year’s title
as well.
Like many other illustrious teams Emelec started life as
the multi-sports recreational club of an electrical company
and only really started taking football seriously in the
1940s. In the 1950’s its “dream team” became national
champions for the first time and international success was
to follow. Emelec reached the semi-finals of the pancontinental Copa Libertadores in 1995 only losing out to
eventual winners.
Over the years, Emelec’s fortunes have often mirrored
those of Guayaquil itself. If that continues to be the case,
its fans can look forward to great things to come in the not
too distant future. 
7
e c u a d o r
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An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
A natural
hub for
industrial
enterprise
Garcia Torres was more than
happy to look further afield
than the domestic market to
make sure that only the very
best ingredients got used in
the Fresco Solo formula.
“We have always used the
best materials in the world,” he
says. “It doesn’t matter where
they come from. I went to Italy
for the citric acid that we use
in Fresco Solo and now that it
is easier to import goods we
use durum wheat semolina in
our pasta that comes from all
over the world. We are already
exporting pasta to Venezuela and
I think there is scope to expand
our export activities because I
think we make the best pasta in
the world – even better than the
Italians!”
There is plenty of
independent evidence to back
up his claims to the quality and
purity of its products. In June,
for example, four products in
its pasta range won Superior
When invited to describe their
homeland, Ecuadoreans will often
paint a picture of a series of separate
but interlocking microenvironments
and economies.
R
unning from
the Amazonian
jungles, through
the agricultural
plains of the Central
Highlands, and then down to
the coast that is home to its
fishing and shipping industries
and which over the past 60
years has developed into the
powerhouse of Ecuador’s
industrial sector.
The city and port of
Guayaquil is both the provincial
capital of Guayas and the
most important commercial
and industrial center in the
entire country, whose industrial
development has seen the
inhabitants of its rural hinterland
flock there in ever growing
numbers. In recent years, the
scale of this migration and
of Guayaquil’s overall growth
has been such that it now
increasingly overshadows Quito
in terms of economic, if not
necessarily political, importance.
Thanks in large part
to its port and its shipping
sector, industrial activity in
Guayaquil has now reached a
tipping point which can only
see its growth rate accelerate,
according to the President of its
Chamber of Industry Eng. Henry
Kronfle Kozhaya. “Guayaquil
has several competitive
advantages over other cities in
Ecuador,” he explains. ”There
is, firstly, the port, which is only
15 miles away. Then there is
our relatively stable climate; we
don’t get tornados, hurricanes
or any other extreme weather
conditions that can disrupt
industrial production.
“But probably the biggest
thing Guayaquil has going for
it right now is the fact that our
shipping and freight forwarding
industries have developed and
matured to the point that they
are now part of an international
interlining network.”
Interlining is shorthand for a
series and network of contractual
arrangements between shipping,
trucking, rail and airline
companies that facilitate the
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
Ecuador is the world’s leading exporter of bananas an industry which generated exports of $827m last year. But bananas are not the only story here.
coordinated transportation of
cargo using several different
modes of transport on air, sea
and land. Guayaquil has made
full use of its strategic location
to make it an integral part of the
interlining, intermodal network
that runs between North and
South America to the Asia Pacific
region and beyond. As well as
having a highly positive impact
on the volume of cargo moving
through its port, it has also had
an equally beneficial influence
on the rest of the city’s and
province’s industrial base.
As well as being a major
shipping and trading center,
Guayaquil also plays host to
a thriving SME sector which
has turned certain areas of
the city into bustling hubs of
saw mills, machine shops,
foundries, tanneries, sugar
refineries and a number
of factories and plants
engaged in the manufacture
of consumer goods. In
recognition of the key role
that this entrepreneurial
community has to play in
the city’s development, the
city authorities have started
extending loans to them
through the National Finance
Corporation and have also
given its Chamber of Small
and Medium Industries
responsibility for helping them
develop some of the skills they
will need to grow.
“We have put together
eight 13-hour training courses
covering topics like sales,
management, accounting and
taxes,” says the Chamber’s
President Eng. Renato Carlo
Paredes. “Many SMEs in
Ecuador are small family
businesses, and is our job
to show them that they need
to meet certain standards of
good practice if they want to
take advantage of some of the
services and subsidies that
the Government has to offer.”
In an independent
initiative, Guayaquil’s Chamber
of Commerce is also using
training seminars to encourage
new technology companies to
get off the ground. “We sponsor
events throughout the year
which both help companies
migrate to new technologies
and learn about things like
e-commerce,” says former
President Eduardo Peña
Hurtado. “We are basically
teaching people how to do
e-business.”
By Western standards,
Guayaquil’s industrial sector
is still very much in its
infancy, but by the same token
holds significant potential for
growth.
Today, a significant
proportion of Guayaquil
companies are somehow
connected to either agribusiness
or fishing, and shrimping has
been one of the city’s fastest
growing income generators in
the past two decades; and while
many of the companies operating
out of the city still retain some
connection to Guayaquil’s
historic reliance on land and sea,
the scope of their operations is
becoming increasingly diverse.
One such company is
Sumesa, producers of both
pasta and dry soup and its
first and flagship product, the
Fresco Solo powder drink. As
is the case with many of the
products it has developed over
the years, Sumesa’s President
and founder Eng. Jorge M.
more almost certainly on the
way; Garcia is now looking to
raise between U.S. $3m and
$5m for the modernization of the
equipment to build its nascent
export activities.
Consumer-oriented
companies like Sumesa have,
of course, benefitted from
the increased affluence being
enjoyed by Ecuadoreans in
recent years. A rise of 35%
in annual disposable incomes
since 2010 is equally good
news for retailers, particularly
those like La Ganga operating
in the high-growth market for
consumer electronic and mobile
telecommunications goods; a
particularly opportune space
to be occupying today, given
Mayor Nebot’s commitment to
the development of Guayaquil’s
knowledge workforce.
Founded by its current
President Ing. Carlos Garcia
Fuentes just over a decade
ago, in 10 years La Ganga has
“Guayaquil has several competitive
advantages over other cities in
Ecuador; the port, the stable climate,
and now the shipping and freight
forwarding industries that have
matured to the point of becoming an
international interlining network”
Taste Awards in the annual
competition organized by the
Brussels-based International
Taste and Quality Institute.
Things have changed
considerably in the 40 years
that have elapsed since Eng.
Jorge Garcia set up Sumesa
as one-man band in a factory
measuring all of 21 square
meters. The company now
employs 500 staff who today
occupy 45,000 square meters
and has a portfolio of 32 food
and beverage products with
grown into Ecuador’s largest
chain of electric, electronic
and communications
warehouses. In some ways
the story of Carlos Garcia
and La Ganga is a classic
tale of the power of the
entrepreneurial spirit and
epitomizes the determination
and “can-do” spirit of the
Guayaquilenos that has made
the city what it is today.
Carlos García F. set out
on the La Ganga venture after
parting company with his
former partners in a company
that specialized in selling
Hotpoint and Durex white
goods such as refrigerators
and dishwashers. When they
decided to run the company
down, he took some of these
goods in lieu of cash and used
the proceeds from their sale
to respond to pent-up demand
for electrical and electronic
goods by setting up what has
become one of the country’s
leading distributors of tablets,
TVs, white goods and DIY
tools produced by some of
the world’s leading brands
including Samsung, Suzuki,
Sony and Electrolux.
One of Garcia’s great
achievements has been to
gain and maintain the trust
of his suppliers, many of
whom have reputations as
tough negotiators and hard
taskmasters. “We have a
great relationship with all our
suppliers” he says, “firstly
because I am an excellent,
reliable and trustworthy
client, but secondly because
commercially their brands sell
very well at our retail outlets.”
The success of businesses
like La Ganga and Sumesa
are music to the ears of both
Kronfle and Nabot who share a
conviction that the Guayaquil
economy needs to diversify into
areas that are not necessarily
related to its natural resources.
Guayaquil’s entrepreneurial
class clearly have the
imagination and determination
to turn that conviction into
reality; and although the
city’s current growth spurt
owes more to a series of
incremental factors and policy
decisions, than any one major
macroeconomic development,
their effects could turn out to
be as profound as the cacao
boom or the discovery of oil
that fuelled earlier bursts of
growth for Guayaquil. 
A family
business with
international
ambition
The 74-year old L’Henriques family firm is one of
Ecuador’s leading suppliers and distributors of parts and
components for the country’s industrial, automotive and
hardware industries.
I
t was set up in
1940 by Mrs. Lidia
Henriques and her
son Teddy Henriques
with the aim of alleviating
the suffering of their fellow
citizens by distributing
prosthetics. Their legacy
still lives on with SERLI, the
charity organization that
Lidia established to help the
country’s amputees.
Simultaneously, while Mrs
Henriques was pursuing her
dream, her son Teddy decided
to branch out by distributing
parts for mechanical power
transmission and material
handling equipment for the
industry as well. But it was
not until the late seventies
with the succession of
Teddy´s wife, Mrs. Maria
Leonor Henriques along with
her son, Marcelo Alvear
Amaya that L’ Henriques
began to take on its current
form.
Within a decade Alvear
had launched both hardware
and automotive wholesale
divisions who now stock
and represent a formidable
array of global brands.
L’Henriques’ clients from
all over the country buy any
number of electrical and
hand tools, locks, adhesives,
lubricants from numerous
familiar brands such as
WD40, Stanley, Black &
Decker and Super Glue;
while the auto retailers, car
dealers and private motorists
can rely on the company
to provide them with
many industry standards
including NGK spark plugs,
Gates belts, Fag, Ina and
Timken ball bearings, Cyclo
additives, and Loctite, to
name a few.
From its small
beginnings, L’Henriques now
sources its goods from across
the world, but by no means
indiscriminately. “We only
work with premium brands,”
says Alvear, “and we refuse
to associate ourselves
with inferior goods as that
would affect our image and
deviate from the company´s
corporate principles. People
trust the advice we give
them, and we have clients
involved in every aspect of
the Ecuadorean economy who
rely upon us.”
Alvear, the current
President, is continuously
on the look-out for new
opportunities and in recent
years has launched both a
consumer product operation
called Nutrihome and a
construction and home
improvement chain called
Prohome. While looking to
improve the service and the
range of products it provides
at home, it has also started
developing its own brand
products and is now looking
to replicate its success
elsewhere. “If you went into
a hardware store in Colombia,
Peru or Ecuador, you wouldn’t
be able to tell which country
you were in,” he says, “our
markets are so similar. I’d
like to make inroads into both
Colombia and Peru within the
next five years. It won’t be
easy,” he admits, “but that is
our goal.” 
Alcaldía
Guayaquil
8
9
e c u a d o r
e c u a d o r
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
Living the High Life in Samborodon
Better, Faster, Cheaper
Opening cyber
highways all across
Guayaquil
If you sail into Guayaquil up the Rio Guayas and then follow the river’s right fork as it turns into the Rio Babahayo, it is
not long before you reach the canton of Samborondon, the city’s upmarket residential and intellectual quarter with some
claim to being the cradle of Ecuador’s 19th century struggle for independence; for it is here that Simon Bolivar’s righthand man Antonio José de Sucre worked out his victorious strategy before the pivotal Battle of Pichincha.
I
f Guayaquil is the
Pearl of the Pacific,
then Samborondon
is the pearl within
that pearl. One of Ecuador’s
most exclusive districts, its
downtown La Puntilla area
features a number of gated
communities (urbanizaciones
cerradas) and several
world-class developments
including the ground-breaking
Lagos Town Centre Plaza
that pioneers the concept of
self-sustaining communities
and where residential,
commercial, cultural and
industrial units happily rub
shoulders around wellproportioned communal open
spaces.
La Puntilla is also home
to many of Guayaquil’s
great and good, including
local man, Omar Quintana
Baquerizo. A former footballer
and politician, one of
Quintana’s major claims to
fame came in 2005, when
as President of Ecuador’s
National Congress, he was
the driving force behind the
so-called Portability Bill
which allowed mobile phone
users to switch providers
and still hold on to their
original phone numbers. A
major triumph for Ecuador’s
consumers. Quintana is also
a long-term campaigner
against corruption and was
behind a draft law aimed
10
at bringing transparency
to the public procurement
system thus increasing both
consumer and corporate
confidence in tendering and
bidding procedures.
It is, of course, also
where its Mayor José “Coco”
Yúnez Parra lives and works,
which in his case amounts
to one and the same thing;
and Samborondon could
not ask for a bigger fan or
more passionate advocate.
“Samborondon is Ecuador’s
luxury zone and its fashion
capital,” he says, “and some
day soon we will also be a
major tourist destination. It is
already a centre of academic
excellence.”
Samborondon’s
emergence as an
educational hub is an
extension of its desirability
as a place to live, he
explains. Because it is
surrounded by several
rivers in addition to the Rio
Babahayo, the canton is
consistently two degrees
cooler than downtown
Guayaquil and therefore
a more pleasant living
environment which accounts
for the high proportion of
urbanizaciones cerradas
scattered throughout La
Puntilla; and the inhabitants
of these upmarket
communities (gated or
otherwise) have in turn
Earlier this year Ecuador’s Telecommunications Minister
Jaime Guerrero attended a ceremony to celebrate the
start of construction at the Latin Fiberhome fiber-optic
cable factory.
Interior of luxury residence in Samborondon.
Samborondon is already recognised as one of the best academic centres in the country and is also rapidly emerging as the most fashionable districts to reside in the whole of Ecuador.
created a demand for
high-quality schools and
universities.
“La Puntilla has some
of the best and most secure
schools in the country,”
he says,” and we have
two excellent universities,
in the UEES and Ecotec.”
Mayor Yúnez is particularly
proud of Ecotec’s new
campus, which has been
built in line with the latest
principles and techniques of
environmental sustainability.
He also recently approved
plans for the construction of
a “green” industrial zone as
well as of another university
that will be situated in the
north of the canton, and a
state-of-the-art hospital
that is to be built and
operated by the non-profit
Johns Hopkins Hospital
medical institutions.
An old friend and
political soul mate of
Guayaquil’s Mayor Jaime
Nebot, Yúnez takes his
social responsibilities
extremely seriously and
has therefore made
great efforts to ensure
that Samborondon’s
attraction for high net
worth individuals looking
to enjoy the quality of life
it has to offer is not pricing
out less affluent locals.
By managing to keep the
property speculators at bay,
he has been able to offer
working families from both
Samborondon and Guayaquil
the opportunity to buy land
which will nevertheless
retain its value, while at the
same time catering to the
needs of wealthier home
buyers at a more advanced
stage of their lives.
“It doesn’t matter if they
are locals or foreigners, when
people retire the first thing
they look for is security and
a good level of amenities,”
he says. “They will find
everything they are looking for
right here.”
In his capacity as
President of the Wander
Jahr S.A. construction
company, Quintana could
not agree more. “I believe
that Samborondon has got
everything going for it,” he
says. “It is a comfortable
place, it has good schools,
the best universities and
churches.” These are
not just idle words, for
Quintana is someone who
is happy to put his money
where his mouth his and
is the man behind several
of Samborondon’s most
prestigious developments
including, O’Mar
condominiums, Sydney
condominiums, Monaco
complex, and Montego Bay
I & II condominiums within
the exclusive Singapore
Residential complex on the
Samborondon pathway;
and the Dubai complex on
Isla Mocoli in the middle of
the Rio Babahayo, across
from Plaza Lagos. Currently,
Wander Jahr S.A. is working
on the Diana Quintana
building. A structure that
will create 32 offices and
170 parking spaces. This is
another of major projects
that Omar Quintana is
undertaking.
In Quintana’s opinion,
the only thing missing is a
bridge linking Samborondon
to Guayaquil. Thanks
to the efforts of mayors
Yúnez and Nebot, even that
shortcoming will soon be
addressed and plans for
a metal bridge connecting
Samborondon and the
neighboring canton of Daule
to Guayaquil and so to the
Narcisa de Jesus Highway
are already well at an
advanced stage. With his
successful track record in
spotting opportunities in
Guayaquil, Samborondon
and up the coast in Playas,
Quintana’s verdict that the
bridge will be “a wonderful
thing” for all concerned
should not be taken lightly.
Yúnez, for one, is in
full agreement, because
the bridge will not just be
of benefit to La Puntilla’s
residents but should also
accelerate the economic
development of the rest
of Samborondon. To the
north, the city’s hinterland
is a predominantly rural
landscape populated by
a network of villages and
agricultural communities
whose staple economy are
its rice fields. The building of
this and two further bridges
that are planned for the
future will not just help the
commuters of La Puntilla but
will greatly improve the rest
of Samborondon’s chances
of diversifying its economy
and of attracting inward
investment.
“We have a first-class
labor force which would be
perfect for new agriculture or
construction projects, “Yúnez
says, “and the quality of our
education system means we
can provide businesses with
high levels of skill in several
different disciplines.”
The chances are we
will be hearing a lot more
about Mayor José “Coco”
Yúnez and the canton of
Samborondon in the not too
distant future. 
It is Jaime Nebots mission to bring high technology connectivity to the city’s schools
T
he occasion was of great symbolic significance, because demand for high-speed
broadband services in Ecuador has been growing exponentially for some time now, and a
shortage of competitively priced fiber–optic cable has been holding back the government’s
efforts to grow both the on-line retail industry and all aspects of ebusiness. More than that,
the Latin Fiberhome factory will in time turn Ecuador into a net exporter of fiber-optic cable and give it the
production capacity to meet all the needs of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
Latin Fiberhome is a joint venture between Guayaquil’s Telconet and China’s Fiberhome
Telecommunications and marks the latest step in a 19-year journey that has seen Telconet grow from an
internet service provider with a 128-kilobyte capacity to a 40-gigabyte ISP and corporate communications
operator that employs 1,200 people, that is growing at between 30% and 40% each year and whose
data centres are the only ones in Latin America to have been graded as Tier IV, the internet industry’s
equivalent of a seven-star hotel rating.
The factory is most definitely not the end of that journey, Telconet CEO Tomislav Topic is keen to point
out. “We are currently installing a direct underwater cable from Jacksonville, in Florida, to Guayaquil which
will make Ecuador one of the best connected countries in Latin America by the end of the year,” he says.
“Eventually we are going to connect every single home in Guayaquil to our fibre-optic network and we are
planning to install Wi-Fi facilities in 2,400 schools across the country. We are going to change the whole
landscape of connectivity throughout Ecuador.”
The rolling out of Wi-Fi across the city is a project very dear to Mayor Nebot, who is on a mission
to turn Guayaquil into a digital city. On top of his programme to distribute free Samsung Galaxies to all
25,000 high-school graduates, he wants to establish 6,000 wi-fi spots throughout its several districts.
“Everything that is technology related is important,” he says.
Tomislav Topic is not about to argue with that. 
11
e c u a d o r
An independent supplement produced by International Investment Guide for THE MIAMI HERALD and EL NUEVO HERALD
The changing physical landscape
of Guayaquil
As might be expected from a city that is simultaneously striving to reinvent itself as a commercial and industrial hub,
a tourist center and an upmarket residential destination, the nature and appearance of the buildings now springing up
across Guayaquil vary enormously.
W
hile
gleaming
new
high-rise
towers sporadically sprout out
of its downtown area, there is
also an equal demand in the
suburbs and down the Guayan
coastline for quality residences
and state-of-the-art shopping
complexes and often for both
on the same site.
This can be a challenge
for both architects and
developers as they find
themselves trying to cater
to the potentially conflicting
demands of tenants with
different agendas. One man
who has made it his business
to overcome such obstacles
is César J. Mesa Maldonado,
President and founder of
Metros Cuadrados, property
developers and strategic
consultants, who have been
involved in some of the city’s
most significant and symbolic
mixed use, hotel, residential
and commercial real estate
developments over the past
two decades.
“Back in the mid-1990s,
three separate recruitment
consultants approached
me about opportunities in
Guayaquil and so I decided
to have a look,” he recalls.
Cesar, who now describes
himself as “Colombian by birth
12
and Guayaquilan by adoption”
has never regretted the
decision and found himself at
the very heart of the Guayaquil
renaissance almost as soon
as he arrived.
One of the first major
projects Mesa helped make
happen was the 145,000 m2
Mall de Sol mixed use complex
in Guayaquil’s downtown
business district and which is
now home to the ultra modern
business center that bears the
same name. The Mall de Sol
happens to be on the same
street as the Howard Johnson
hotel which Mesa also
played an important role in
developing and which marked
the beginning of his long
and fruitful relationship with
Guayaquil’s burgeoning tourist
industry. He was subsequently
involved in the development
of the iconic mixed used Gran
Manzana building complex,
which boasts 300 commercial
premises and a large number
of restaurants, cafes and bars
as well as the 112-bedroom
business class Sonesta Hotel.
Demand for Mesa’s
services and expertise has
grown in parallel with the
fortunes of Guayaquil itself,
and five years ago he and his
children Camilo and Juanita
decided to set up Metros
Cuadrados both in recognition
Mall del Sol is one of the biggest shopping malls on the South Pacific Coast with almost 200 retail outlets under one roof.
of this and to promote their
services more effectively. “Our
core strength is managing
and structuring projects and
the project management and
construction of real estate
projects,” Mesa explains.
“We support our clients’
investments by entering
into strategic alliances with
top-notch partners who can
add value. We also manage
our schemes here by way of a
legal trust arrangement which
reassures investors that their
money is secured and its use
is being regulated by the terms
of some clear and transparent
rules. When it comes down
to it, our heritage is our
credibility.”
Metros Cuadrados is
currently involved in several
major developments in
Guayaquil itself, including
the ground breaking City
Plaza and in the district of
Samborondon. City Plaza
is a mega project that will
see the construction of 500
offices, 250 apartments
and a hotel, as well as an
enormous food court and
entertainment area.
Mesa is also casting
his net further afield,
both geographically and
conceptually. About one hour’s
drive from central Guayaquil
he and his colleagues are busy
organizing the 400-apartments
and hotel Ocean development
at Playas, which, he believes,
brings something new to the
local market. “Guayaquil has
to demonstrate that it has
something different to offer”,
he explains. “At the Ocean we
are looking to create some
alternative forms of recreation
and entertainment, which
we hope will become a major
tourist and health center for
Guayaquil and the whole
of Ecuador. It is a work in
progress.” 