When Juan Manuel Santos takes over as Colombia’s president in August, the Harvard-educated economist will continue many of the same pro-business, pro-U.S. policies of President Alvaro Uribe that helped transform their South America country into a magnet for foreign investment. But Santos, 58, plans to boost emphasis on creating jobs and modernizing the economy, now that the two-term Uribe has wrestled down Colombia’s once severe security problems — with Santos’ input as his former defense minister. Those are among the upbeat conclusions from participants at WorldCity’s Global Connections event held… Read More
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Discovery's Henry Martinez
Swine flu: Mainly precautions, one illness for local multinationals
A number of South Florida’s more than 1,100 multinationals have offices and significant interests in Mexico, so when the swine flu scare struck, a number closed offices, cancelled trips, rearranged meetings, and ramped up precautions.
Neoris, an IT consulting company with global headquarters in Miami and parent Cemex in Mexico, and Discovery Latin America, are two examples of companies that ramped up precautions.
“What I find curious is that out of our 3,000-plus employees worldwide — including 1,200 in Mexico alone — we only had one isolated case of the swine flu, ironically in New York,” said Jairo Fernandez, Chief Human Capital officer for the company. “Thankfully, that employee has recovered and is doing well.”
Neoris’ Jairo Fernandez, photographed at a recent WorldCity event
The company took a number of aggressive steps, however, eventually including asking employees to work from home and cancelling all company flights to and from Mexico. “Thankfully, our flexible work processes and technology allow our employees to telecommute,” he said.
In the initial stages of the scare, the company had “purchased masks and hand sanitizers for all employees,” he said, and “also set up a screening center in its reception areas in it offices, where workers were checked for symptoms.”
“Discovery closed our office early last week,” said Henry Martinez, executive vice president for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic for Discovery Networks, “and conducted business through phone and computers from individual’s homes.”
“As of mid-week, Discovery was back up and running with all staff reporting to work and thankfully none ill,” Martinez said.
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