Alejandro Betancourt Lopez is a respected entrepreneur and investor born in 1980 in Caracas, Venezuela. He started his career in the early 2000s when the energy sector in that country was quite strong. Betancourt now focuses primarily on the technology and finance fields, which carry their own sets of challenges. Betancourt operates on the principle of not giving up after you fall, so he’s never been shy about investment. He considers challenges as something to face head-on, which is why he has invested in companies that were struggling at the time of Betancourt’s involvement.
Philosophy
Betancourt enjoys the challenge of finding businesses and helping them succeed. His primary drive is supporting the right ideas and showing that his support was justified. Alejandro Betancourt Lopez also feels that making these businesses sustainable proves to himself that he can add value to the projects he chooses to be part of.
Betancourt has continued to find challenges by investing in his passions for new technologies, which has become an increasingly larger part of his portfolio over the last decade. Common themes of interest to Betancourt include expanding existing retail businesses through marketing strategies based on social media. Alejandro Betancourt Lopez has also found ways of using innovation to expand into new markets during an uncertain economy.
Hawkers
Hawkers is currently a successful brand of trendy sunglasses, but that success didn’t come overnight. The company was launched in 2013 when one of the founders found some Knockaround sunglasses that he believed would have a high resale value. He initially bought 27 pairs for $300 and began selling them online, based on the key selling points of accessibility, attractiveness, and lower prices.
Hawkers’ sales rose quickly, and it became Spain’s official distributor for Knockaround within six months. Its annual revenue exceeded 15 million Euros in 2014 and revenue reached 40 million Euros in 2015. However, this extraordinary growth was limited by rising costs and a lack of operating capital. The founders were considering closing the business when Betancourt became involved as an investor. He organized the company’s first funding round for external investors in October 2016, which raised $56 million.
Hawkers also appointed Betancourt as president the following month, who quickly made some leadership changes and took over administrative control of the company. Its sales rose to 10,000 units per day, the company was worth $70 million within months after Betancourt became president. He has said that he was always optimistic about Hawkers’ potential from the beginning of his involvement with the company. In 2018, he invested 20 million Euros of his own money in Hawkers, becoming its majority shareholder. His leadership has made the company a strong brand that’s internationally recognized for selling high-quality sunglasses at an affordable price, resulting in the company’s continued growth.
What’s Next For Alejandro Betancourt Lopez?
Jobandtalent is currently one of Betancourt’s projects that he’s most passionate about. He was an early backer of the company and is still one of its biggest shareholders. Jobandtalent is an online staffing agency founded in 2009 and based in Spain. It uses advanced methods and state-of-the-art tools to match job seekers with employers, which is one of the factors that initially attracted Betancourt to the company. Jobandtalent’s platform is designed for a fluid economy, which proved particularly useful during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The increasing use of remote workers and social distancing has made in-person interviews highly challenging, making online hiring platforms like Jobandtalent the norm rather than the exception.
Referring to his challenges with Jobandtalent, Betancourt says, “Well, I think this is going to sound like a cliché, but I think the key to success is to just try to always think outside the box.” He adds that his professional philosophy as an investor is to always try something new. Following a trend means that you’re competing with others but visualizing what will happen when new tools become available allows you to predict the future. This approach means that you can get to a new market before traditional players.
Change is a constant feature in the modern business world, but it’s also an opportunity to capitalize on. Companies like Hawkers and Jobandtalent exemplify Betancourt’s approach to finding and overcoming challenges. His strategy is based on providing markets with solutions to their problems that are both practical and innovative.
