“La innovación nace de los momentos duros”

 

This is the advice that Carlos Añaños gives when he recalled how he and his family turned one of the hardest and worst parts of their life into their multinational company. In this episode of “Learn from Leaders” I sit down with Carlos Añaños, founder of AJE Group and Founder and Executive President of the Patronato Pikimachay. He explained to me the hard lessons he had to learn already at 8 years old having to go out in his family’s farm and scout out in the trees protecting it from the Narco terrorists in Peru. Sadly, his family later lost that farm and had to go out and buy an apartment in the city because of the crisis occurring in the 80s and the violence that was occurring. It was because of this crisis that he was able to find an opportunity selling soda in the city as access was blocked off by the terrorist and they were able to begin a brand. For the next 30 years he spent flying the world growing that brand selling and working until he couldn’t anymore. He sees that level of effort and dream as the greatest tools he had and what got him to his place in life. Now he is spending his time working to give back to that community that was so devasted during the crisis and is still weak because of it, he wants to give others the start where he got his.

 

“Como vas hacer arquitecto de tu destino si tu no lo cree”