Boluda Lines CEO Gorka Carrillo gives a talk in EDEM on “The ABC of Internationalization”
“Maritime transport is vital for the economy, and it is responsible for transporting 90% of world trade, which provides the fuel, food and raw materials essential to modern life,” said Gorka Carrillo, CEO of Boluda Lines, Boluda Corporación Marítima’s division for comprehensive international freight transport and management services.
Gorka Carrillo’s statements were made during his talk “The ABC of Internationalization”, given on November 17 at EDEM Escuela de Empresarios. Located in the Marina Real Juan Carlos I, EDEM is a private non-profit foundation whose mission is to train business leaders, executives and entrepreneurs and to promote leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and the culture of endeavor.
The importance of maritime transport is such that, as the International Maritime Organization rightly points out, without it “one half of the world would die of hunger and the other half of the world would die of cold,” Carrillo said.
The CEO of Boluda Lines focused his talk on maritime transport on the African continent, giving a detailed outline of Boluda Corporación Marítima’s experience in international freight transport and management since the 1980s in Libya, and principally since 2000 in West Africa.
Accompanying Carrillo in his presentation was Carlos Álvarez, responsible for the Boluda Lines trade delegation in Mauritania and Senegal for more than 5 years, who offered insights from his extensive personal experience, highlighting potential difficulties for expatriates in countries at such different stages of development, such as culture, housing, safety, medicine or mental health.
The internationalization of Boluda Lines in Africa actually began in Morocco (Casablanca in 2000 and Agadir in 2001), followed by Mauritania in 2004, Dakar (Senegal) in 2006 and in 2011 the Cape Verde islands.
Gorka Carrillo explained that now “is a good time for foreign companies to invest in Africa”, due to factors such as emerging new markets, a political class and qualified officials, as well as improvements in the good governance indicator.
The Boluda Lines CEO added that the continent is” the second fastest-growing region after East Asia, and its average growth, in a continent of more than 1.1 billion people, is expected to reach 4.5% in 2017″. Among other statistics in his presentation, he referred to population demographics, with 70% under 30 years old, and where more than 50% live only in 7 countries out of the 54 that make up the African continent.
Currently more than 1,500 Spanish companies operate in Africa and almost 20,000 export to the African market. Gorka Carrillo stressed that “Spain is the third leading country in the world in number of bids won from the African Development Bank in the last year.” Most of the Spanish projects developed in Africa are related to energy, water and roads.
