It seems that Venezuela can return to democracy (I hope Trump gets it right!) It would be time to think about investing there and, perhaps, in all of South America. How to do it?
On Monday, November 10, 2025, in Barcelona – IESE facilities – there was a meeting of Latin American MBA students with Mr. Felipe Vicini, president of the INICIA business group (Dominican Republic). The message: If you want to invest in Latin America, the short term is 25 years.
The group now called INICIA began its existence 150 years ago with the arrival of the family’s ancestors from Italy. Its investments range from agricultural production to financial services, including the educational, health, cultural, real estate, sports, media, cinema and entertainment sectors…
The argument is the virtues of: prudence, perseverance in work, austerity and patience. Geopolitical changes on the continent are unpredictable. If nervousness comes into play every time there is one of them, the risk of making hasty incorrect decisions is enormous.
That was the businessman’s lesson: INICIA’s mission is to generate wealth and social well-being wherever it is established. Preferably in countries that have their coasts on the Caribbean Sea, plus Ecuador and Peru. That is why its short term is 25 years. In less time you don’t change anything about the environment.
With hopeful horizons (the so-called golden decades of Latin America) come classic investment funds
It is a zone of opportunities. From time to time, hopeful horizons appear. But also some “black swan”.
With hopeful horizons (the so-called golden decades of Latin America) come classic investment funds. Funds with mandates to execute operations that are monetized in a short term, at most five or seven years.
Sometimes his predictions come true. But, also other times, in the middle of that period, a “black swan” appears. For example, in the figure of political change in elections where a populist party (whether left or right) wins. So The “short or medium term” investor becomes nervous and liquidates the assets, even at losses.
On the other hand, in periods of euphoria, business groups like INICIA can financially successfully monetize their assets, because classic funds want to enter into the game of good expectations.
In any case, Patience and endurance end up rewarding investors with a vocation for permanence and constant improvement of the environment. Hence, INICIA’s business portfolio includes the educational and healthcare sectors in which the economic and social profitability periods are very long.
In recent years, many investments in Latin America have suffered from the short-term syndrome
The MBA students were surprised by this business philosophy. They are accustomed to measuring ROE and other short-term profitability indicators in their pre-MBA work and in the cases they study during it. Thinking of 25 years as short term exceeds your calculations, even personal ones.
In recent years, Many investments in Latin America have suffered from the short-term syndrome. Many North American and European multinationals (including Spanish ones) have left the South American continent and the Caribbean. They have been years of economic and political anxiety.
However, from the point of view of the long-term economic and social investor, it is precisely in these gray periods when the future opportunities and investment. Of course, this requires financial strength that can only be given by prudence (leverage yourself with debt only enough), perseverance in work (day by day you make your way), austerity (control your expenses closely) and patience (don’t get nervous about changes).
These are four virtues typical of family business groups, in which time is measured by generations. Families settled in their territories for a long time and that usually started with an entrepreneurial great-grandfather or grandfather who created a small business; the germ of the current business group.
And it is on these family “multilatinas” that the future of these countries depends. Much more than politicians who only think about upcoming elections or foreign investments, which often have a medium-term or speculative vocation. Will their citizens and governments recognize this?
** JR Pin Arboledas is a professor at IESE.