Entrepreneur Alejandro Betancourt Lopez’s bank statement shows an impressive net worth of $2.6 billion — but that much cheddar wasn’t a snap to come by.
“Nothing at all is easy,” shares the Venezuelan billionaire. “I’m the type of person that starts a venture and then in the middle of the venture says, ‘Why did I get into this? ‘Cause I’m not sleeping, I’m going crazy, but it can’t stop.’
“I think the drive is something that you gotta keep. What I have learned is that nothing comes easy. Even if the idea is great, if even you have the right people, if even everything’s aligned, it’ll always surprise you with things that are not expected. And you gotta be there to make sure that you push through and you keep everybody working, you keep everybody focused, and you keep everybody being creative and evolving and innovating.”
You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere
Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, Alejandro Betancourt Lopez moved to the United States to pursue his college education, ultimately earning dual degrees in business administration and economics from Suffolk University in Boston.
After graduating in 2002, Betancourt Lopez returned to Caracas and began trading commodities in the financial, real estate, and agricultural sectors as the business manager with a private firm. He subsequently worked his way up the ladder, taking on senior positions with the global oil solutions and technology company ICC-OEOC and BGB Energy.
Betancourt Lopez became director of the Canadian company Pacific Exploration and Production, the Senegalese company BDK Financial Group/Banque de Dakar, and the multinational asset management company O’Hara Administration. He continues to lead all three of these organizations today, both as a senior administrator and a controlling party/primary shareholder.
An impressive CV to be sure. But if you want to know where Betancourt Lopez’s creativity really shines, you have to take a look at his dive into the fashion space.
Alejandro Betancourt Lopez: Made in the Shade
The Hawkers brand of sunglasses had already carved out an extremely comfortable niche in the international sunglass market by developing less expensive sunglasses that resemble the trendy designs and mimic the desired functionality of Gucci, Prada, and other luxury brands by the time they caught Betancourt Lopez’s keen eye. He was initially an angel investor, attracted to Hawkers’ unique ability to disrupt the global sunglasses industry by bringing its products to market at a far more reasonable price point.
Sure, Betancourt Lopez is an ace moneymaker. But his instinct to plunge into the then-nascent social media space, partnering with influencers and taking advantage of rock-bottom online advertising costs, catapulted the brand into uber-trendiness, making Hawkers the shades to be seen in with the perfect young demographic. And Hawkers rewarded him by appointing him chairman of the board — and the largest shareholder.
Under Betancourt Lopez’s direction, Hawkers remains the fastest-growing brand-name sunglass company globally, subsequently boosting Betancourt Lopez’s beefy bottom line. But anyone who knows him wouldn’t be surprised. He’s also generated the big bucks through several entrepreneurial ventures like the car service company Auro Travel and the digital employment app JobAndTalent.
Always looking forward to future endeavors, Alejandro Betancourt Lopez continues to see tremendous potential for business growth, even amid the uncertainties of the current economic climate. This holds particularly true for his ongoing work with Hawkers. “We are focusing on developing further in Europe and Latin America, but we also want to see what happens in the U.S.,” he says. “I believe we are definitely going to grow, but we want to see if we can grow at a higher pace, meaning growth of over 40% revenue year over year.”
‘We Can’t Become ‘Fantasy Guys’
So where does this exceptional grit and determination come from? It’s just one component of Alejandro Betancourt Lopez’s larger approach to investment and growth, which he has constantly refined and optimized over his decades of investment and administrative leadership.
Alejandro Betancourt Lopez’s firm belief in the power of perseverance over adversity is part and parcel of a leadership approach that blends optimism with realism. “Every successful entrepreneur or manager is betting on something, so they have to be optimistic,” he insists. “Not ‘dream-on fantasy land,’ but optimistic. He goes on to explain the specific leadership role of the administrative leader in this endeavor. “It’s your job to support optimism with a realistic view,” he insists, “because we can’t become ‘fantasy guys’ who are just dreaming of something that is never going to happen.”
Another ingredient in his secret sauce to collecting a net worth of $2.6 billion? People, especially those at the helm.
“You can have many great ideas, but the execution is what matters,” he says. “I believe that management — the right executors or executives who turn these ideas into something real and convert them into something pragmatic — is what makes the difference. Even if the ideas are great … if you don’t have the right people behind them, they’ll be difficult to pull off. So, for me, the critical part of the whole equation is to have the human factor from the very beginning.”
With strategies in place that are logically sound, Betancourt Lopez can remain steadfast in his path forward even when progress becomes extraordinarily difficult. After all, “nothing is easy” was the first thing to spring to his mind when asked what fundamental lessons he has learned over the course of his outstanding career.
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