What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

I handle a dual role, business and legal, so the challenge has been leading two separate teams and making them work together smoothly. It has been very time consuming, but fortunately, I have achieved a balance thanks to the extraordinary work of all the members of Nexus Group team, both legal and business. We have managed to build an excellent legal team that is involved, not only in the legal affairs of the Nexus Group, but also in the day-to-day performance of our portfolio companies of Nexus Group (SMI, La Tinka and NGR).

Furthermore, I have the honour to be chairman of the of Recicla LATAM, a non-governmental organisation in association with SMI and other market-leader companies as key allies who promotes a circular economy, encouraging government, businesses, and civil society to articulate and participate in all-encompassing solutions towards sustainability.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

It seems that artificial intelligence will be gaining space in the day-to-day legal advisory business quite soon, as it is doing within other business sectors. Matters such as drafting contracts or reviewing them may turn into a more automatised processes. We may not be far away from the day when legal queries made by internal clients will be answered by AI. This could change the role of in-house lawyers, allowing them to have more time to utilise on complex issues, while menial day-to-day tasks can be accelerated with the use of AI.

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?

Sustainability is the first on that comes to mind. Recicla LATAM works on four key fronts: (i) generating environmental awareness and promoting recycling culture; (ii) improving working conditions by formalising the market; (iii) implementation of recycling stations; and (iv) collaborating with governments to implement the circular economy in legislation. Recicla LATAM has reached around 90k citizens, trained around 400 recyclers and installed around 2.6k recycling stations not only in Peru, but also in Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador. It is a privilege to be involved in this cause which not only reduces global emissions but also creates millions of new sustainable jobs in the region.

Also, the challenge of internationalisation of our group is a challenge in which I have been involved. SMI, as leader in the Andean region, Center America and Caribe is a case study of internationalisation and the challenge is to replicate it in the rest of the portfolio companies.