About

‘I believe that having an engaged team of well-prepared lawyers is the key to going smoothly through long days and achieving good results’, explains Santiago Gini, regional legal manager of global online marketplace OLX. A diligent lawyer who emphasises efficiency in processes, Gini has overseen a number of operational changes to ensure the provision of legal support to the business is as comprehensive as possible. The team works towards common goals that are ‘reviewed frequently’ including the setup of internal key performance indicators to further help organise and measure output. In his regional role, which he assumed in 2015 after previously managing legal for solely Argentina, Gini has directed a Latin America-wide communications program that is intended to ‘advance the mission of the company in a cost efficient and effective way’. A results-driven lawyer, Gini has recently reviewed the regional business and tax model and has implemented changes in order to have greater efficiency yet retain the ability of the company to achieve its commercial goals. Speaking highly of his legal team, which is comprised of five lawyers, including one based in Colombia, Gini is mindful of the often difficult context the company operates in. Citing Argentina’s 2015 measures that included ‘a complex foreign exchange policy and a very voracious tax legal frame’, efforts were needed to overcome these challenges. Playing a key role in communicating these complexities to other stakeholders, Gini found that presenting ‘tough scenarios and problems in simple ways could be very useful to get things in done in complicated situations’. Able to provide value to the business in several ways, whether directly monetarily or in less tangible ways, Gini always works towards achieving a high impact on the final numbers.